St. Paul daily globe., 1885-11-07
Ed Stevens Denies That He Ever Took
Brides from Minneapolis Women
Of III Repute.
They Say He Did, However. and
That They Were the Constant
Subjects of BlackmaiL.
The Allegation Made that Capt. Chase
Received Money A1so--More Dams
aging Testimony Coming.
The Police Scandal.

moneys nau Deen palQ al divers tllneS ny
keepers of houses of ill-repute, and by the
so-called roomers. to insure to them inl-
munity from police prosecution. YeSter-
day, in pursuance of the call issued by the
mayor, the police commission began an in
vestigation into the scandal. and the devel
opments were of a racy character, and from
some of the written statements made by
certain parties, which have not been yet in
vestigated. the case promises to be even of
a more salacious nature.
Although it was at first proposed that the
investigation should be conducted with
closed DOORS after an argument of an hour
or 50 it was decided to make it open, and
the reporters were invited in.
ED A. STEVENS,
one of the defendants in the investigation,
was the first witness sworn. City Attorney
Carlton appeared for the commission. to
conduct the questioning. Mr.. Stevens at
first interposed an objection to being the
first witness. but at the request of the mayor
he set aside the objections and took the
stand. In opening his testimony he de-
tailed at length the methods of the admins
tration in controlling the social evil. He
rected the adopted system of notifying the
houses on First street to come forward and
pay their semi-m0nthly fines. Some, he
said, only paid once month.
Aid. Cooley-Why are these discrimina-
tions made?
Witness-Those having the largest NUM-
Der of inmates have been fined twice
month"; and those having but few inmates
only once month.
Aid. Cooley-Have you kept record of
these fines?
Witness-Yes sir. Some time ago when,
in making public speech, Dr.. Ames made
charges against my integrity
Il object" interrupted Aid. Lawrence
quickly, I'VE are not investigating Dr..
Ames, and although l am willing to give
this defendant the widest liberty and every
reasonable show, we are taking up valu-
able time and to no purpose by allowing
him to bring in foreign matters. The wit
ness must contine himself to this particular
case"
The witness then explained that for his
personal protection he had given to the
court the number and location of the houses
of ill-fame so that at no future time could
it be charged against him that he had taken
moneys from any of them.
NEVER RECEIVED MONEY.
In reply to the question as to whether he
had at any time received any money from
lII6 hG6pGI VI dill luuldlG vi d IOuSS, lliC
or other purpose witness said: ''Never, di-
rectly or indirectly"
''Have any of the madams or their friends
ever made overtures to you with moneys
asking for immunity or protection?"
Yes; l have been approached by al
most every one of them"
Have you ever granted them immu
nity?"
stNavaro
''Do fines paid save the keepers or in
mates from prosecution"
'I have always told the madams that
they are at all times liable to prosecution
to arrest, either under the ordinance or
statute, Notwithstanding the fact that they
paid their fines regularly"
Mr.. Stevens here stated that the only
thing that could possibly be construed into
permit was in cases where madam is
allowed to run house which had previ-
ously been vacated by another madam.
.'Do you know Lille Vinette?" interro-
gated Aid. Sly.
Il do; she occupied the Paris Gibson
house, which is one of the three closed re-
Gently"
Ibid she not offer you $40. and did you
not accept it before you closed her house
up?"
''She offered me money, but 1 didn't ac-
cept it."
Were you ever approached by the
owners of houses of ill-fame?" asked Mr..
Carlton.
HE GOT FIFTY DOLLARS.
Eyes; Joseph Lee, who owns about half
the houses on the south side of First ave-
nue., came to me with money. When Carrie
Moore was ordered to remove from Second
street I ascertained there was vacant
house on First street. and for getting him
tenant Mr.. Lee gave me $50. and that is
lust what real estate agent would de-
mand."
Mr.. Sly-But the witness has said that he
never received any money.
II have never received any money for
immunity or permit"
After few like questions and answers
the witness was asked to testify to what
he knew regarding the girls called
''roOmers."
"ScanIans place at the corner of Wash
ington and Fifth avenue south. and Tan
ner's European hotel so-called. 407, 400
and All Washington avenue south, are the
only two know of where large numbers of
girls congregate."
''About how many roomers are at Scan
lan's on the average?"
Il do not know"
cat Tanner's?"
''Ten; probably dozen or fifteen at
Scanlan's, speaking generally"
''Were you directed by Mayor Pillsbury
to go with Capt. Chase to these places?
"A week ago last Saturday, in converse
tiOn with the mayor, matters concerning
roomers came up; l reported that
Scanlan's and Tanners were practically as
much houses of iil-fame as are the houses
on First street. If delegated to me, | was
satisfied that / could clean them out. The
mayor thereupon instructed me to do So
to clean them out"
AND OTHER BOOMERS, TOO,
ssNot only these places, but all Others"
interposed the mayor.
Yes, there were quite number of other
roomers around the city. l then suggested
to the mayor as matter of courtesy that
Capt. Chase should be notified and in
structed to act with me. The mayor aft
erwards saw Capt. Chase and myself and
made the request. That evening we went
to Tanners l was spokesman; told Mr..
and Mrs. Tanner the mayor directs that
the place be closed at once; that is, that you
must get all these sporting girls out He
says, What for?' We'll. you know what
for. The mayor will not let house of ILL
fame run longer here Mrs. Tanner re-
piled she had as much right to run there as
the houses have on First street. | sup
plemented my remarks that while the house
must be closed there would be no
raiding done until the next Wednesday.
We went to rooms and 4, near the
Office"
Mr.. Stevens drew diagram of the sec
ond story of the Acme hotel, and said,
''All who have not been up there had best
look at this
Aid. Pratt-Probably all will look if you
put it in that way.
OAld. Lawrence-Pll look, most GER