That's the scandalous "oriental" dancer that caused so much talk in the mid-1890's. She was known to most as "Little Egypt",as some may already know, there were a handful of these so-called "Little Egypts" in several clubs around the U.S., though the idea and character emerged from the midway of the 1893 Chicago Exposition. The name of the lady just above was known as Ashea Wabe, to make her name sound more oriental, though she was a French girl originally named Catherine Devine. She was an up-and-coming young dancer by 1896, and it just so happened that she was invited to dance before a group of wealthy young men in New York.
This was originally a "stag party" if you will, held by P. T. Barnum's grandson, Herbert Barnum Seeley, for his brother Clinton Barnum. It was held at the exclusive 5th avenue restaurant Sherry's. It was a typical lavish gathering of the rich in the gilded age, with several courses of food, lots of drinks, and of course, the most up-to-date entertainment. Seeley had arranged for one of the biggest local booking agents, Mr. Phipps, as some may recall from a catalogue I have used pictures from before on this blog. Mr. Phipps was able to book a familiar face:
Dan Quinn.
Quinn was only booked as a minor part of the entertainment for the evening, though the circumstances of the star for the entertainment did not make him a minor character in this scandal. Quinn did what he was supposed to do, came out, sang a few songs, thanked the respectable audience, and went back to the dressing room. Though he did not at all know of the intentions of the men hosting this party, and didn't exactly care to, as he was already backstage when the rest of the entertainment played out. Quinn did not know that this "Little Egypt" as he had heard of, was a French dancer who was fully willing to dance nude for these men, and if everything was to go as planned, this was going to happen. However, this was not at all what came about. Just in the middle of when she was dancing before the men, a high ranking and well-known policeman named George "Whiskers" Chapman, busted in through the door after hearing murmurs around of this indecent doing, and upon hearing suspicious sounds from down the stairs at the building. He didn't get in to investigate until after she had danced for them, and when most of the performers were in the dressing rooms. He found a few women, including one named Cora Routt, who was just in the middle of getting changed when Chapman threw open the curtains, and multiple witnesses stated that he said to her, "You are unfit to call yourself a woman!" This, however, was not the only thing that caused Chapman trouble, he noticed several men in the same dressing room with the ladies, causing more suspicion.
A trial was called for quick by the chief of Police, Peter Conlin. This case was shot in evidence, and most all of the testimonies conflicted with what Chapman had stated. It took until the final day of the trial for Quinn for finally be prosecuted. Quinn was the least valuable of any of the people they had called to the stand before that, as he had seen the least, in fact, he wasn't in the dressing room with the women until after Chapman showed up, but he heard yells from where he was. The most important of what Quinn said would be these here:
Prosecutor: Did you see Little Egypt's costume?
Quinn: Yes sir, I had a splendid opportunity to see her costume. She wore fleshings, I believe. From the waist down was a black skirt; around the shoulders was a small, short jacket. The head and bare arms were all I saw exposed. Just above the waist fleshings were exposed.
and this:
Prosecutor: Did you go into the dressing room?
Quinn: I did.
It is also noted in the very paper that this was written in that Quinn would not wholly swear whether it was actual flesh or fleshings that were exposed.
Quinn was able to reclaim his position in the "Columbia Clan" without too much damage to his popularity by early 1897, which was good for him, as he did not need going to prison for who knows how long, leaving a wife and four children at home.
Hope you enjoyed this! I'll get into that post on Les Copeland soon, I did this post upon the kind obliging of a friend of mine.
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