Police officers made raids on several bawdy houses in the Island ward on the Saturday, Sept. 20, 1862.
"The notorious `Tlll Wade' was arrested and convicted of keeping a house of ill-fame," the National Republican reported. The following were arrested with her: Ann Cavanaugh, Eliza Taylor, Nelly Davis, Jenny Berry, Ida May, Eliza Brown, Sarah Lee, Josephine Picker, Eliza Brady and Mage Thompson.
Matilda Wade's establishment appears on the Provost Marshal's list as located in Fighting Alley in the Island. It had 6 inmates and was ranked "low."
The report does not say where the following women were arrested, but they were brought in shortly after the first group in three sets:
Theodocia Herbert, Lida Lucas, Isabella Bennett, Eliza Lucas, Jane Shaw, and Elizabeth Gibson.
Julia Clark, Mary Kelly, Caroline Butler, Mary Fulton, Virginia Crowder, Sarah Brown, Maria Bransell, and Mary Chipley.
Mary Ward, Mary Brown, Charlotte Ann Mason.
Mason "was fined $20.94 for selling liquor, and all the others, who were of all complexions and degrees of beauty or decay, with mixtures of chalk, paint, tinselry, and ribbons, were disposed of according to the proof of particeps criminis. Some were sent to the workhouse, others gave security for future good conduct, and still others ordered to leave the precinct."
"Breaking up the Bawdy Houses," National Republican, Sept. 22, 1862.
