affic. Rescue work was being done
but the trade went on. The wicked men and women who bought and sold were
not interfered with. The laws were weak and there were many loopholes.
The workers were not of the earth's mighty and none of the churches and
ministers were actively engaged. Here and there was a mission, now and
then a Home opened, but all this was to save the sinner, who was there
to find and punish the rascals? What could be done? It was a most
discouraging and appalling task.

I remember that it was during the winter of the Spanish-American war
that Rev. J. Q. A. Henry, D. D., then pastor of the La Salle Avenue
Baptist Church of Chicago, invited me to go with himself and a friend to
investigate the conditions in the "under world." At that time Dr. Henry
was making a heroic fight on the frightful situation in the business
district. Whole streets were given over to open vice. The vilest
saloons flaunted their damning attractions in the face of every passer
by. That good Minister of God had no small part in the awakening Chicago
has since experienced. It was while with Dr. Henry that I visited for
the first time the notorious resort at 441 South Clark street. It was
then in its strength and full of pride. The madam carried a key to the
police patrol box at the corner. No secret was made of the business
carried on. The company within was friendly and tried to be
entertaining, but under all was an awful sadness, the smiles were
shallow, the whole air of the place spelled ruin. Only a few months
thereafter and that house was closed. In the autumn of 1903 it was
leased by Mr. O. H. Richards, superintendent of Beulah Home, and opened
as Beulah Home South. Into those same parlors I went on Thanksgiving
Day, 1903, and there united with a little band of Christian workers and
helped to organize a company of people that has since given to the world
the Midnight Mission in Chicago and the Illinois Vigilance Association
for the suppression of traffic in women and girls.

In that house of sin, made into a house of prayer, I first met Rev.
Ernest A. Bell, now the honored Superintendent of the Midnight Mission
and the corresponding secretary of the Illinois Vigilance Association.
It was he who suggested that the war be carried into the streets, and
led by him a few men and women ventured forth and assailed the hosts of
sin at the very doors of the brothels. The dens were invaded and men and
women warned. The City Government wa