Excellent Following God one day at a time One Man's Calling : One Man's Calling, Ch 26 by Wayne Fowler

In the last part Ben started a boy’s baseball group. Ben confronted Diamond Jim about Angelo. Diamond Jim donated to the boys’ cause. Considering Diamond Jim’s donation, as well as the likely source of some of the funds, Ben thought that he would pay one of the bordellos a visit, especially since rescuing women had been one of his callings. First, though, he had to consider how he might help those he managed to save. Chicago wasn’t quite the same as Colorado. Skipping supper that evening, Ben again fasted and prayed. The next morning Ben and Tony took a horse-drawn taxi ride as far west on Harrison Street as the man was willing to take them. He promised to try to work that area and to be there for the return trip in six hours. At the livery stable where they were delivered, Ben rented a single horse carriage. He would have preferred a saddle horse, but for Tony being along. An hour-and-a-half at a pretty good trot later found them at a Methodist church in Lombard. Ben felt right, that it was far enough from the city. The Methodist pastor was excited to help, exactly the type of mission the people of his church had been praying for. There was a farming family named Peck and a restauranter named Babcock. Between them, they could engage and protect all the women Ben could bring. And the Methodist membership would be delighted to help them in their restoration. In fact, the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad made a stop at Babcock’s Grove. It wasn’t difficult for Ben to find one of Diamond Jim’s bordellos. He could have asked Angelo, but thought better than to involve him in any capacity. Next, Ben studied the train schedules and learned that the depot he needed was number four of the seven in the city. The train he needed ran twice a day. Ben surveyed the area for churches, visiting with the pastors. He also located several other of Diamond Jim’s bordellos. Within a few days, he had memorized railroad schedules and routes to depot number four from each of the bordellos. Each building had its own surreptitious exit challenges. He also had flyers printed relevant for each. Street corners affording him surveillance was the easy part. “Wish you could, Tony, but I’m going to be doing some evening preaching every once in a while, and well, it’s just a little too …” Ben thought better than to challenge the boy’s bravado by saying dangerous. Instead, he said late at night. “What I need you to do,” Ben said, is to keep the schedule for me: White Stockings home games, baseball practice and games, and the Harrison Street Bridge days. And to make sure we have flyers. Also, I’ll be giving you a copy of the one I’ll be needing from time-to-time. The printer shop knows you, so they’ll take your orders. The downtown days are the only ones you can’t go with me. On those days, you can work on the ball field and help your mother.” Tony was moderately dejected, but proud of his list of duties. Ben paid for a visit to the bordello, resolving to find a better way to rescue the women. He selected a young woman that his spirit told him had been recently crying. “Leave your clothes on,” he said, confusing the young woman, girl actually, now that he had a better look at her. “Annie, do you want out of this life?” Unable to speak without crying, as touched as she was by Ben’s compassion, she nodded as though to rattle her brains. Tears flowing, she first asked, “Where to? I have nowhere to go. If I don’t shape up soon, they’re going to give me drugs, they said.” “Somewhere safe. Honey, we’re only on the second floor. I’m going out that window and you’ll have to drop to me. Can you do that?” She hesitated, but finally agreed. “Just drop bottom first, like you’re falling onto a bed. I promise I’ll catch you. Is there anything here you have to have, to take with you?” She shook her head no. Standing together in the alley under the window, Ben looked her square in the eyes. “Keep a hold of my hand and don’t let go. Don’t run, and don’t talk to anyone no matter what. Can you do that?” She agreed, nodding. “No one will be able to see you. No one at all. As long as you hold my hand. All right?” He dared not take a taxi, certain that some of them received kickbacks from Diamond Jim’s organization for steering customers his way. Until standing at the ticket booth at depot number four, no one saw Annie. “Annie, are there others who want out?” “I’m not sure … Yeah, Caroline. She has red hair.” Ben didn’t know what red hair had to do with anything, but figured that Annie thought he might need the information to help him pick her out. Answering Ben’s questions, Annie said, “They don’t let us newer girls out. They bring us everything. And they guard us. Some of the ones that have been there a while sleep in the … rooms, well, you know. We sleep on the top floor in, like a dormitory.” The next night, Caroline led him to a room at the front of the building on the third floor. Yes, she wanted to leave, as long as it wasn’t just to another bordello. No, she had nothing she needed to take with her. “Can we get into one of the rooms toward the back, maybe on the second floor, but at least one with access to the fire escape?” Ben asked. “We don’t dare use the stairs, we’ll be seen,” Caroline said. “But the middle room on the right has the fire escape. But the ladder at the bottom has been removed. I checked one day.” While Ben thought, Caroline came up with the solution. “I’ll go to the bathroom at the end of the hall. When you hear the door shut loud, that’s when you can go to the middle room. But we’ll only have a few minutes before someone comes back to use it again.” Ben nodded. Ben needed to help Caroline get out the window since it didn’t open quite as far as Annie’s had. And Caroline was considerably chunkier than Annie. Ben gave pause mentally, but didn’t hesitate physically. Catching her from the second-floor landing buckled his knees, but he gave God all the glory for the success. Employing the same tactic as with Annie, they made it onto the train. Caroline didn’t know for certain whether any of the other women would take the leap to escape. She thought a few might, but wasn’t sure. She did, though, tell Ben of a shop that two or three at a time were escorted to in order to buy clothing. Ben reconnoitered the shop, finding a back door easily breached. It was a few days later that he saw a man walk three women into the shop. He stayed on the walk out front. The man gave Ben the eye as he entered. “You want to get away?” Ben whispered to a lady examining undergarments. Her first thought was that he was attempting to pick her up. Ben’s eyes told her differently. “When?” “Now.” “Gladdy,” the woman yelled in a frantic whisper to another woman an aisle away. With her head and her hand, she motioned for the one named Gladdy to come to her. “Does Sybil want to get away with us?” “Us?” “Yeah. Him and me, and you.” “I don’t … yeah, she does.” “Get her. Quick,” the first one, who turned out to be Mary, demanded excitedly. Outside, Ben at first wasn’t sure how a procession of three would work, whether all three would be invisible. But as he gave his instruction, a holy confidence overwhelmed him. “Don’t let go of each other, and don’t run, No matter what.” They understood. The shop was several blocks from depot number four, but no one complained. And no one saw anyone but Ben. The next time Ben was preaching at a downtown street corner near a Diamond Jim bordello, Big Jim and his two henchmen appeared. The two assumed their positions behind Ben. “I ain’t sayin’ nothin’ ‘bout who dun what,” Big Jim charged, invading Ben’s space and peering eye-to-eye as Ben held his balance on the soap box. “But some a’ my girls is missin’. An’ folks been seein’ a lotta you ‘round here.” Ben turned on his gaze. “Just so’s you know. We’re watchin’.” Diamond Jim sauntered away, attempting, but failing to reach his desired posture. Imagining the heartache of some of the women working for Diamond Jim, Ben plied his passion into preaching words of God’s love, determined not to scamper off by Diamond Jim’s influence. It wasn’t long before Ben saw a uniformed policeman walk around the back of the bordello. Ben followed. “Hey! You can’t piss here.” “Thank you, Officer. Just stretching my legs away from the crowd. Know what I mean? Standing on that box for hours at a time …” “Sure. I couldn’t do it ten minutes.” “This your new post?” Ben asked. “Kind of rotten duty, standing here in an alley all night.” “Gettin’ paid for it… twice, if you get my drift.” The officer winked. “I don’t think so, at least not tonight. You know who I am?” Ben considered kicking the officer where he would be disinclined to visit any woman for quite some time, maybe knocking him in the head to affect his memory, too. Instead, Ben cast such desires aside and silently prayed. In answer to his prayer, the officer would discover physical intimacy impossible for the rest of his life. Author Notes Ben Persons: a man following God's call Tony: a twelve-year-old boy, Ben's helper Angelo: a young, tough guy that Ben converted and then convinced to be a policeman Diamond Jim: Vincenzo Colosimo, Chicago precursor to Al Capone's Chicago Outfit Diamond Jim was a real Chicago character who owned bordellos, gambling halls and bars.

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