Salt Lake evening Democrat. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1885-1887, 1885-12-15
IN THE DISTRICT COURT.

The motion of Prosecuting-Attorney
VArian in the case of S. III. Lewis and
the ruling of the Court thereon created a
genuine sensation yesterday. We do not
propose to discuss the law of the case, no1
to say whether it was right or wrong, but
to make some general comments.
This case was brought in the Justice OF
the Peace's court and the defendant was
found guilty as charged in the complaint.
He appealed to the District Court, and
there his case was dismissed without
prejudice. The statement of the Prosecut-
ng-Attorney showed that houses of i'll
fame had been established in this
city for the express purpose of entrapping
men into them. The scheme seems
to have been very successful, according
to all the rllmors. When men had been
entrapped into these places they were
then spied upon by men there for that
purpose. The men who resorted to these
houses went there for the purpose of vio-
lating law, and while they were en-
trapped they were not entrapped as inno-
cents. The men, if they be men, who
performed the part of spies, ,debased them
selves more than those who went there
and we've spied upon. The man who
could perform the part of the spy in these
cases must have been actuated by mo-
tives of revenge, and his nature is OF
that kind which delights in low and
loathsome things, and he is entitled to
the contempt of all decent men. The
baseness of the spies does not palliate the
guilt of the spied. The case of the spies and
the treatment which they should receive
is well illustrated by the story of the gun
ner in '93. He had allowed cannon to
get loose in the ship in the midst of a
storm and the havoc which it wrought
can only be told in the language of Victor
Hugo. By superhuman efforts the gum
ner got control of the cannon and made
it fast. A subaltern stepped up to the
commander and drew his attention to the
heroic manner in which the man had fl
nally conquered the cannon, land suggested
that such conduct merited the bestowal
of the Cross of the Legion of Honor.
The suggestion was acted upon, and the
gunner was given the cross for his heroic
conduct in getting control of the cannon
after he had let it get loose, but after his
decoration he was ordered out and shot
for letting it get loose. The evidence of
the spies should be received and then
they should belpunished for conspiracy.
The establishment OF these houses was
clearly for the purpose of getting men to
violate the law that they might be pun
ished, and the sudden flush of virtue
which the city and county authorities
have had is altogether too spasmodic to
be healthy. Houses of ill-fame are motor
ious in this city, and the city authorities
have rather encouraged than discouraged
them, while the county authorities have
ignored them. But this is
not all. The District Court and the Pros
ecuting-Attorney have ignored them as
well, and the instructions of the Court
Yesterday to the Grand Jury is about as
spasmodic as the efforts of the city to
suppress sexual vice in the last three
weeks. Yesterday, we believe, was the
first time that the District Court has ever
ldverted to the matter, and we have
never heard of the Prosecuting Attorney
bringing a case under Section 1896 of the |
Compiled Laws to the notice of the Grand |
Jury.
This is the thing of which we complain
md not of the instructions of the Court |
% the Grand Jury in the Lewis case.
Why this has been we are unable to say,
put it has been, and the laches of the |
Federal authorities have been as great as
hose of the municipal authorities, with |.
his exception, that the latter have used |
houses OF lll-fame as a source of revenue.
All laws should be enforced, and the
shortcomings of one court cannot justify
he shortcomings of another. 1t is to be
loped that in future there will be more
igid. enforcement of the laws by both
federal and local authorities, and above
IL it is desirable that no such places as
hose referred to by Mr.. Varian shall
yer be opened again in this city, for
heir purpose is a travesty upon law and
nstice and an outrage upon humanity.