The Golden Room

'Why not try to locate ex-Everleigh girls and get one of them to talk?' said aide Gus Varney.

'No good,' countered Harrison. 'Even if we could find them, they'd only be able to talk about the past, not about what is going on there today.' Harrison was briefly thoughtful. 'Something else just occurred to me. A better idea, if it can be made to work.'

'What's that?' inquired Gus Varney.

'The old Trojan horse trick.'

Varney appeared puzzled. 'Trojan horse trick?'

'Filtering someone from our side into the Everleigh Club. Letting that person find out first-hand that the Everleigh girls are still taking men to bed for pay. That would be solid proof.'

'It would be, indeed,' agreed Evans. 'But how could you get such a person in without arousing suspicion? I imagine the Everleighs will be doubly cautious about customers right now.'

Harrison nodded. 'They've always been cautious. They've admitted only persons well known to them, or customers who were recommended by trusted friends or who could prove their social standing and respectability.'

'How does a man make himself obviously respectable?' asked Jim Evans.

'Many ways. It could be his manner of dress, a refined voice, even something as simple as a fancy business card.' Harrison put down his cold cigar. 'Definitely a business card,' he said with certainty. 'Simply print an embossed card with a name on it, the name of a real factory in – in, say St Louis. Who could tell it was fake? I'd say the Everleighs would believe it immediately.'

Several aides voiced their approval.

'One of you, properly attired for the evening, could present this card for admittance. First, you'd ask for a girl, and the two of you could have a real costly dinner to prove you're a sport. Then the two of you could go upstairs and have your fun. After that, you could be a witness before Chief of Police O'Neill.'

'Wouldn't that be entrapment?' someone called out.

'I think our friendly courts might shut their eyes to that. Of course, it would be better, once finished, to tell the girl what you're doing. Since she'll be out of a job anyway, you could suggest she come along as a witness to back you up -in return for a sizeable bribe. That would be perfect.'

'Who's the lucky man?' Gus Varney wanted to know. 'Who gets the call?'

'Well, let me think a moment -'

Harrison examined each of his aides carefully, trying to imagine which one might be able to carry out the infiltration best. Most of them had been on his staff too long a time and might be recognized by another customer at the Everleigh Club. At last, his gaze fixed on Gus Varney.

'You,' said Harrison. 'You're the lucky one, Gus. Not because you're so beautiful and sexy.' Varney was, in fact, a beanpole and almost chinless. 'You've been on my staff the shortest time. You're from Detroit and haven't been around Chicago very long. Not that many people are familiar with you. You're the least likely to be recognized. Yes, I should say you'd be about right. You want the job?'

Varney grinned. 'If you're willing to pay for the evening, I'd love to have dinner and drinks, and a tumble in the hay with a beautiful girl.'

'Then you've got the job,' said Harrison. 'Get yourself dressed neater than you are now, get that business card printed, and find out from Coughlin and Kenna how things are managed in the Everleigh Club. Let me work out the amount we can spare for a bribe, presuming anyone can be bribed. Are you sure you can do what you have to do in bed?'

'Haven't failed yet,' said Varney.

After worrying for twenty-four hours about bringing the matter out into the open, Minna Everleigh finally decided that she had no choice. She sent Edmund around the Club to inform his fellow servants, the musicians, and all the girls that Minna wanted to meet with them at three o'clock in the afternoon.

Minna was in the Turkish Room, rearranging the pillows and divans and shutting off the gushing water fountain in the centre of the room, when the girls and servants began to appear.

The coloured servants arrived first, most coming from their comfortable quarters in the basement. Next, the five members of the Everleigh Club orchestra arrived. Standing at the perimeters of the Turkish Room, they watched as the girls filed in, a few fully dressed, most still in peignoirs, a dazzling array of youthful brunettes, blondes, redheads. As they came in to take their places, Minna stood at the head of the room and greeted each by name. 'Hello Virginia… Avis… Margo… Fanny… Belle… Phyllis… Cindy,' and so on until she had welcomed them all.

When the entire group was settled, and with all curious eyes on her, Minna began speaking in her deep voice.

'Aida is tending the front door, so I'm handling this gathering alone,' Minna began. 'It is of great importance, this meeting, and I thought I had better let you in on our problem as soon as possible.'

Minna scanned the still-puzzled faces before her and then she resumed.

'As you all know from yesterday's papers, Mayor Carter Harrison is our sworn enemy. I need hardly remind you that he won re-election on a reform platform. He had pledged to clean up the Levee, and his first priority was and is the Ever-leigh Club. Can the mayor shut us down? The answer is a definite yes, if he can prove that our Club is a house of prostitution. You and I know that is absurd…'

There was a ripple of laughter in the Turkish Room.

'… and so I am glad we all know what this is,' continued Minna, also laughing. 'From now on, the Everleigh Club is a very fine, exclusive restaurant and all of you – I address the girls now – are floor show entertainment. That fact has been conveyed to the mayor by two of our friends, Aldermen Coughlin and Kenna. Now the mayor must try to prove that we are more than a restaurant. He will need actual witnesses if he hopes to shut us down. We must make sure that no investigation will reveal that we are anything but the soul of purity and innocence.'

Phyllis, a tall blonde, came to her feet. 'Minna, what happens to our earnings if we can't have men upstairs?'

Minna chuckled. 'Who says you can't have men upstairs? I just say no one must ever know about it.'

Finding her package of Sweet Caporals, Minna shook a cigarette free and lit it.

'There will be business as usual,' Minna went on, 'but maybe not quite as usual. While we can trust our regular customers, we will have to be entirely wary of strangers. Unless they come in with bona fide referrals, or with suitable identification, we will have to turn them away. This may lead to a slight cut in your income, but you will still be doing well enough, certainly better than any other females in the Levee. Aida and I can screen the customers. You can leave that to us. What we cannot screen is your own behaviour away from the Club when you go strolling in the afternoon or when you have your day off to shop, attend the theatre, or whatever. If any one of you even hints that the Everleigh Club is continuing as a brothel, and a witness to your words goes to Harrison or to the police, then we are lost. If loose talk gets us shut down, then we will be forced to close. That will mean all of you will be out of work. You'll be struggling to get any kind of low-paying and degrading job in some shack in the Levee.'

Avis, a small, curvaceous brunette, rose to her feet. 'Minna, how long do we have to live under these conditions? I mean, worrying about everyone who comes in here and being quiet with everyone on the outside. How long?'

'Not long,' said Minna. 'Just long enough to let the mayor be satisfied that his reform effort has worked, and that he has satisfied voters he has kept his campaign promise. By then he will relax, and devote himself to larger matters. It won't be long.'