"Minna dimmed the lights, the signal for the second act of the show. In rehearsals, she'd used real torches but found they'd 'smoked up the room', so she'd decided to improvise during the real event. A servant wheeled a bull made entirely of cloth into the room. The girls raced toward the structure, punching its head and biting its hide, spitting white flurries of cotton....This was exactly how the infant..had been killed. For sound effects, a male butler bellowed each time a mouth clamped down...Then Minna pointed a finger, and servants fetched platters piled up with uncooked sirloin. For ten minutes, the harlots tore into the raw strips, ripping the meat with feral bites, their faces stained with pink slashes...The Germans loved it."
"When the platters were empty, Minna threw on the lights. She would now take the visitors for a grand tour of the Club. The harlots trooped back upstairs, changed..into evening gowns, pinned up their hair, wiped the blood from their cheeks. A few girls brought dignitaries into the boudoirs, eager to display other talents besides playacting Greek mythology, and hurried downstairs to join the champagne toast when their guest were satisified."
"Minna instructed everyhhone to raise their glasses, toasting the Kaiser in absentia and the prince in the flesh (although the Kaiser, after learning of his brother's visit to the Club, cast a mild insult by asking the vintage of the wine served). She was delighted when the Prince returned the favor, comparing Chicago with Berlin, pointing out the American city's ever growing German population. He called...Minna and Ada Everleigh 'frauleins'. Ada, who never drank beer, showed her respect by gulping down a tall mug of pilsner. Minna then ordered the table cleared. She had one more surprise."
"Two butlers helped Vidette, the best dancer...up to the mahogany surface. The orchestra struck up "The Blue Danube", and the harlot kicked again and again, her feet flying higher each time, legs meeting and parting...In the middle of her routine, one high-heeled silvers lipper launched from her foot, sailed across the room, and collided with a glass of champagne. Some of the liquid spilled into the shoe, and a nearby man named Adolph scooped it up."
