Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1885-03-30
A Citizen Who Calls for Their
Suppression.
An Evil Which is Alleged to Have
Lately Grown to Alarming
Proportions.
Minnie PaImers Pet Wildcat - This
Weeks kmusements - The Cigar
Makers Trouble Exaggerated
Church Improvement 49,
Miscellaneous.

Nov that reform seems 10 be the watch
word of the hour" said g gentleman, last
evening, would it not be 9 good idea for
some OF our newspaper men to call the at
tention Of the authorities TO the presence on
our principal streets, after nighttsll, of num-
bers o females Of notorious by unsayory rep
utations? The natter is really becoming a
serious one, and it is high time some means
Of Kidding the sidewalks of these pests was
being found. i don't know to what lengths
our city ordinances go on this question, but
they should be looked up, and if not strong
enough to accomplish the purpose Council
should enact a suitable law. For some
time past / have been paying
considerable attention TO this matter,
my notice having been called to it by
being personally sccosted in a most out
rsgeOus and profane ann BY two
females, Just south Of the intersection OF
Maine and Fourteenth street, and since
then, probably at the risk of being taken
for a d~isreputsble character myself, l have
passed 8 number of evenings in stink
ing" as Mark Twain would say, along the
dark side Of several streets in the central
portion Of the city, taking mental notes OF
one Of the many phases OF wIckedness and
crime. These abandoned women are of
two or three classes, and appear to confne
themselves almost exclusively to certain
streets and squares. One of their fayorite
stamping grounds appears to be Main
street, from Twelfth to the stone bridge,
another is along Market street, from Four
teenth to and across the creek bridge,
another seems to be on Chspline street, from
Twelfth to the Capitol build
ing, and yet another. although am told tits
not as bad as formerly, is the old Central
market, on the South Side. Nightly along
these thoroughfares females, mostly young
girls of from Is or 10 to 20, may be seen,
singly or in couples, bold faced and with
traces of the life they lead indeGbly stamp
ed upon their features, going up and down,
FIVE, ten or fifteen times IN the course OF the
evening, jostliDg against men, speaking to
them, or, as has often occurred IN my sight,
openly Insulting them, using language too
foul TOR repetition. These creations do not
confpe their attentions to any class, but &c
cost all who come in their way, from the
boy of fifteen years to the gray haired man.
The saddest part of the story is that these
girls are, in three cases out OF
four, the daughters Of respectable people,
who would be pslsied with horror if they
suspected the truth. Many OF them are
from the country tr SMALL down-ther ri ier
towns, who, coming 10 the city to work as
domestics, have been led ns'ray and o
have gone to the bad. l tell you, with all
the ~esrnestuess | sm capable Of, that
parents should never allow their daughters
40 90 on the streets alone after nightfall.
This seems harsh, and will inevitably call
down on my head the indignant protests OF
numbers OF people, but | NEAR it IN all
kindness and in the hope Of doing good. l
know of so many cases, as who does not, Of
temptations aud sin resulting from this
pernicious habit, that ! take this occasion
Of crying out against it.
"But | am afraid | have strayed pretty far
from what | had in my mind at the outset,
and that is the clearing of our streets Of
females already fallen. Let our public
guardians put q stop to this evil, which has
gone on until it has reached proportions
little dreamed Of by many of our people,.
Without endorsing all that has been said
above, the evil complained of really exists
to a great degree in our city, and is IN
doubtedly growing. 1t is extremely doubt
full, however, If our present city ordinance
could be made to cover the ground. From
a hasty glance, none of the sections Of the
ordinance in relation to ~offenses seem to be
adequate to suppression of the matter
complained Of, although, in times past, ar
rests of women have been made when de-
tected in the act of accosting men.
Let Us hear from other citizens on this
matter, with suggestions as to the remedy
to be applied.