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Storyteller's Cabin |
Written by Craig Dominey
Most club owners would be ecstatic at such a large crowd, but not Josie Arlington. She dragged on her cigarette and bitterly whispered to herself, "What hypocrites."
For she also knew that not one of these gentlemen would dare acknowledge her presence outside the secretive walls of the club that bared her name: "The Arlington." For Josie was the most infamous Madam in the most scandalous district in New Orleans: Storyville.
Josie always said that the life of a Madam chose her, she didn't choose it. She was orphaned at age 4, and the only parents she knew were the nuns at St. Elizabeth's Home who took her in. But their attempts to scare the fear of God in her over the years eventually drove her away - and straight onto the mean streets of New Orleans.
Now as crazy as New Orleans is these days, back in the nineteenth century it was downright lecherous. There were red light districts all over town, and while the trade was not officially accepted, it was certainly tolerated. Josie knew where the real money was to be made, and became a teenage prostitute under the control of an older lover.
Life as a prostitute destroyed many women in New Orleans, but not Josie Arlington. As the years went by, she gained quite a reputation as a tough, no-nonsense woman of the night. She even got into a legendary fistfight with a rival prostitute, biting off part of her lips and ears!
But Josie knew she couldn't work as a prostitute forever, and to make a life for herself, she would have to take advantage of the very men who were taking advantage of her. She would have to become a Madam.
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