[Handwritten note to Carlton Merritt on stationary of the Lafayette Baths and Hotel] by Terwilligar, Frank - 1913

New York, 1913. Single sheet of stationery, 6x9.5 inches, together with original envelope "You will please find enclosed $2.00 and tell Mr. Berean I accept his proposition in regard to keeping the plot in order. Thank you very much for your trouble. Yours sincerely, B. Frank Terwilligar." The Lafayette Baths were a prominent locale for gay assignations in this period, a favorite hangout of the painter Charles Demuth and many others. The New York Society for the Prevention of Vice infiltrated the establishment and filed a report with the police in 1916. In the ensuing raid, 37 men were arrested, including the manager, Frank Terwilligar, whose son, Henry, committed suicide after attending the trial. The elder Terwilligar left the business soon thereafter, though it continued under different ownership.