Anthony Comstock was a self-proclaimed ‘Weeder in the Garden of the Lord’ who sought to impose his understanding of law and sin on the general public. He was employed by the government as a United States Postal Inspector. He was instrumental in the development of anti-vice laws that criminalized any use of the U.S.
Prostitutes were active all over New York city, “While three and four story row houses and boarding houses proliferated, a sometimes confusing array of baudy houses appeared. In fact, the distinctions between public brothels, parlor houses, houses of assignation, furnished room houses, and panel houses were often unclear.… Read more.
Billy McGlory was one of the most infamous men in Manhattan in the 1880s, at the center of organized crime and well connected.
Adapted from Wikipedia .
William “Billy” McGlory (1853 – ?) was an American saloon keeper and underworld figure in New York City during the mid-to late 19th century.… Read more.
There was a fairly open gay culture in Manhattan in the last decades of the 19th century, including private clubs where men could openly solicit the company of other men. A 2012 weblog post at The Art of Manliness provides some wonderful images from that time and place.… Read more.