Sin in the Second City by Karen Abbott is the story of two sisters, Mina and Ada Everleigh. In the turn of the twentieth century, the Everleigh sisters took Chicago by storm by creating a brothel that had no match at the time. The author masterfully describes the journey of the sisters with a mix of their own words, multiple letters, newspaper articles etc and added vivid imagination of her own. She also ventures into contemporary society, cultural norms and some innate human characteristic.
The Everleigh sisters are a mystery. To these days, no one
knows if the story they told about their life are fact or made up. They were born Minna and Ada Simms. They both
married two Lester brothers. If the sisters are to be believed, the Lesters
were terrible and abusive husbands, so they left the marriage, but carried the
name "Lester". After arriving in Chicago, they changed the name again, this time
to Everleigh. That's the name the author used throughout the book and that's
the name by which history remembers them. Later in their life they changed their
names again. Their grave-rock reads "Minna Lester Simms" and "Aida
Lester Simms".
This novel begins in Chicago, where the sisters created
their masterpiece, in the "Everleigh club". A high end brothel for the
rich and famous. Before moving to Chicago, the sisters owned another brothel in
Omaha. After the exposition ended and their business dried up, they looked for
new town to settle in. After touring many states , they chose Chicago. It was a big booming city
and was perfect for their business . " Chicago, Illinois! she said. An
abundance of millionaires, a well protected red-light district, and not one
dominant brothel ".1
The sisters had great business minds. They wanted to create
something different from anything they had seen. They did great research and took
advice from many madams. They also put
in their own artistic touch to make it the most tasteful brothel of that era.
People form Europe, which was the epitome of culture at that time knew about the
Everleigh club, evident from the visit by Prince Henry of Prussia. They also
catered to millionaires and other rich businessmen. They successfully created a
classy establishment where people with money can have fun not only with the prostitutes
but also can dine at the pullman buffet, listen to the piano music, visit the
art-room or even read some books at the library.
The sisters were turned off by the white slave trade going
on during that time period, so they vowed to treat their employee well. The
employees of the Eveleigh club were treated like princesses . They paid
handsomely also, " One hundred dollars a week was an unthinkable salary in
other houses. " .2
The girls were taught to act like a lady. They were
treated not like a prostitute but like a regular
employee. The "butterflies"
of Mina were lucky be working there indeed.
The brothel created by the sisters were like nothing anyone
had ever seen. Reading the description of the place, it is very easy to forget
that real sex acts were performed between those walls. The sisters were very
tasteful women for their time. They tried to fine tune every intricate details.
One of the first thing they ordered was a very expensive gold piano and hired a
professional who played it, they lovingly called him "the professor". They put
mirrors on various walls for decoration.
They created some room that were depicting various exotic parts of the world, such as Japanese
room, Egyptian room, Chinese room etc. They had a library full of classic
literatures, poetry and philosophy. Their art room consisted of, " a few
bona fide masterworks and a reproduction of Bernini’s famous Apollo and Daphne,
which the sisters had failed to find in America. After learning that the
original statue was at the Villa Borghese in Rome, Minna sent an artist to
capture its image".3
There were politics surrounding Chicago's
levee district. Ike bloom was the rising leader, " nudging meeker men aside
and assuming power throughout the district".4 Even the police officers
were bribed, " Every time a new police captain rose through the ranks or
was ushered in with a new mayoral administration, Bloom called him to “make
arrangements” for protection payments".5 Another one was big Jim Colosimo . These two character reminds
reader of the typical gangster whom people had to pay money for protection. As
the story moved forward, the sisters learned that there are other people over their
head and yields more power.They tried to keep those powerful people as happy as possible.
Eveleigh sisters were way ahead of their time. They created
an establishment that is perhaps unrivaled in history. Their intelligence ,
hard work and perhaps some luck made them best Madams in town in a very short
period of time.
1. Karen Abbott. Sin in the Second City: Madams, Ministers, Playboys, and the Battle for America's Soul (New York: Random House, 2007), 22.
2. Abbott. Sin in the Second City, 37.
3. Abbott. Sin in the Second City, 67.
4. Abbott. Sin in the Second City, 56.
2. Abbott. Sin in the Second City, 37.
3. Abbott. Sin in the Second City, 67.
4. Abbott. Sin in the Second City, 56.
5. Abbott. Sin in the Second City, 56.
