, 1885-10-28
THAT CASE
Is Tried at Last by Six Good Men
and True.
Some Moral Reflections Upon Our
Police System.


For about a week there has been a
notice daily in the newspapers that an
elderly woman, a Mrs. Wicks, and two
young women, Gladys Osborne and Con
ME Glover, would be tried on a charge of
being inmates of house of ill-fame. The
case has been postponed for one cause or
another from day to day and the defend
ants have been stubborn in their determi
nation to fight the matter out on that line
if it took all winter. They would not
tamely 60 before a Justice and plead guilty
and pay a fine and costs to the extent of
SIS each, from which the arresting officers
might obtain a fee and then let the poo
souls 60 until some other officers might
take it into their heads that it was time
they had another fee and arrest them
again. Judge Lee, the police justice
before whom these cases have frequently
been brought, is a Just and honorable man
and Il warm hearted one withal, and he
had become tired of this sort Of proceed
ing, and yesterday the case of these
women came up IN his court and n Jury
was summoned. Mr.. Pratt conducted the
case for the prosecution and Messrs.
Fisher and Rowen were counsel for the
defendants. The case was tried for all
there was in it, and the hearsay and pre-
JUDGED and biased opinion of policemen
wern't altogether sufficient to mulct three
women. The jury decided against the
prosecution. Indeed, there wa no evil
dence against the women except hat of
the arresting officers, and it wasn't even
good circumstantially, in law. The only
point which was made that would have
been calculated to cast a suspicion upon
the women, and then only because their
former character had been bad, was of n
character calculated to criminate the Off
Ger as much as his intended victims.
The result of the trial was that the six
gentlemen sworn as the Jury found the
three women mot guilty, and they were
discharged.
Now, the fact of the whole business is
that certain men in this city clothed with
police authority should be taught that the
morals of the city ought not to be made a
matter oil traffic. Policemen. constables
and the like should be paid a certain sal
airy and the fee system should be fired"
and when it might be found that they
couldn't be watchful and careful of the
clty's interests upon their salaries, they
ought to be fired also. If this prin-
cipal were adopted, and by proper surveil-
lance it could be shown then, that police
men made arrests Of IN to swell
their records, - and allowed bad men
to 60, because the said bad men were not
safe to deal with, the proper authority
should make it torrid for said policemen.
In short, it isn't exactly the thing for an
officer to make a big show of duty and
forthwithness when it isn't dangerous, and
at the same time make himself exceed
ingly and unanimously invisible and
anonymous when it is.
There is no doubt but that care should
be taken to confine within bounds the So
cial evil, and this should be done because
1t is social evil, and not to assuage the
greed of the fee-fiend. The m of the
town are frequently arrested and no good
citizen is worrying about it, but many a
fair minded man thinks that there is
some Inconsistency in the matter o farrests,
when a gentleman from the headwaters of
Bitter creek, out for his night to howl,
can 90 around and shoot a gun in the
streets, kick the panels off of fences, car
inmate the town generally and make him
self altogether exceedingly numerous, and
yet not be arrested until lac has undressed
and gone to bed and laid his arms aside.
. Moreover, it isn't precisely perfect that
the bad man should be allowed to go
scott free for lack of evidence against him
on any charge, while on the same day
some unfortunate soiled doves from the
very house where the bad man was found
asleep are brought up and sentenced to
fines or Jail on the glib, and anxious, and
brisk evidence Of the officer, who knows
nothing wrong of the bad man-which he
ddrcS to tell.
The fact is that Cheyenne needs some
good police officers, and no additional
ones.