Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1860-05-26

in the Press of last Sunday, entitled "The |
Mayor and the Bad Women The effects Of
this essay we have observed in various ways.
To get the Mayor out of his difficulty, good |
deal of outside talking has been done in
several quarters, some ofwhich was not very |
complimentary to us; and finally an article,
written in less barbarous English than the
average editorial patois of that journal, makes
its appearance in the 7Tmes-a most proper
vehicle for such purpose-in which all the
means to help public man out of an uncom-
Portable position are employed with very lit
tie regard to truth OF consistency.
The order issued by the Mayor to the police
was, as we understand it, substantially this;
That all women found unattended by some
person of the other sex, after certain hour
in the evening, were to be seized upon by the
police, and consigned for the night to the
cells of the station-houses; from which species
of imprisonment, as It is well known, no per-
son can be regularly discharged except
through the intervention of the Municipal
Court. In pursuance of the order, whatever
it may have been, the station-houses-if the
newspaper reports can be belieyed-were for
several nights filed with what were called
in the slang of the local columns, "unfortu-
nate women,p who were regularly brought
before the Police Court in the morning. and
discharged upon payment of costa most
infamous ruling in any case, and common as
it is Infamous, upon the practice Of which we
intend, before long, to speak as it deserves.
Such was the state Of facts upon which we
animadverted. 1t was upon this condition of
things that the Mayor was claiming high
credit for his efficiency in improving the
morals of the city and-until we felt moved
to expose the wickedness Of the proceeding
was obtaining great honor and glory at the
hands of those gentlemen of the press whose
speciality it is to be the conserrators Of the
public virtue! - 49, ~ @A l -
1t is now said by such as undertake the
defense of his Honor, that the order was only
in respect to such female pedestrians as made
themselves conspicuous by their misbehavior;
or, as the Times states it: :" It is not to ex-
clude these unfortunate wretches from the
legitimate use of the streets that the Mayor
has instructed the Police, but to restrict
them in the liberty they were in the habit of
exercising, to the offense of decency and good
morals" tl -.r
To this it is sufficient to reply that no new
order from Mayor Bishop was needed
to empower or instruct the Police Of this city
to arrest such as annoy others, or attract atten-
ton by their improper conduct in the streets.
This is, and always has been done daily and
nightly; INDEED it is, in frequency and
amount, the principal business of the officers,
as is known to every body who pays the
slightest attention to the subject. If, there
fore, the Mayors instructions extended no
farther than this, they were unnecessary, and
all the claims set up by himself and his sstel-
lites to extraordinary vigilance amount sim
ply to an attempt TO impose upon the public
belief in his energy and faithfulness as 8
guardian of the public morals, which is ut
terly destitute of foundation. %. q g
But this plea in behalf of His Honor is pal
pably untrue. Otherwise, how came it tina
the number of women arrested was SO largel,
and so suddenly increased? And how CAM
it that they were discharged in the morning
without fine or Imprisonment "a thing tina
does not befall such as are taken up charge'
with offenses against the public peace or tn
publicsenseo propriety. Thereason why the,
were set at liberty was that they had beei
guilty of no breach of law or ordinance. TIL,
Court could not fine or imprison, or we ma,
be very sure it would have done so. We ar,
therefore driven to one of two conclusions
either that the rule was executed according
to its intent by the watchmen; or tina
the watchmen, in making the arrests, greatl
exceeded the spirit of the rule: and as n
charges of having overstepped the line Q
their instructions are made against the watch
men, how can we escape the conviction that
in filling the station-houses, night after nigh
with unfortunate women" they simpl
obey the orders of their principal the Mayor
We are, therefore, constrained still to hol
the chief magistrate of this city guilty of til
high crime of oppression under color of h
Office, with this additional feature of faggrav
ton, that his power has been exercised upo
the poor, the weak, the frie ndless and the III
fortunate.
But the key to the Mayors conduct al
the spirit by which it was dictated may
found in another part of his defense as it a
pears in the Times. Speaking of women wi
find it necessary to be in the streets aft
dark, the writer says: "Their occupatiC
outlaws them.p The Mayor-for we mu
look upon the article in the Times as emans
ing from some person in his interest-fr
admits that women have rights in the pub
streets, and denies that he has invaded the
and then assuming that all women found
the streets after certain hour are prostitut
and that all prostitutes are publicly offens
affirms that they are outlawed by their oc,
pation-that is to say; they have no rig
whatsoever. This is to begin by begging
question:, and to end by affirming an
truth. There are no outlaws in America
such as are madetso' by the commission
some crime by law prohibited. Women
treated by the Mayor of Cincinnati as Il
treat negroes in Kentucky. Every negr'
under legal suspicion of being slave. !
color outlaws him. He is taken up upon S
picion, and if not proven to be chat
means are used to make him one as soon
convenient. Here every woman is un,
municipal suspicion of being no better Il
u. L.. r D. r - -