The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1892-05-30

mare of crime and sensuality to compare
lively respectable variety theater, the big
gest half OF the battle would be won.
Pursuant TO this plan a series of pen
pictures were published describing in de-
tail as accurately as one dare describe such
things in public print. Where the pictures
lacked truth it was because the whole truth
would have been too disgusting TO publish.
Said THE CALL in its article on the Gre
mOTne of April 4
place nightly, and often this number is
greatly increased
There are two grades at the Cremorne
On the main floor are the accommodations
for those who have only a few dimes, or
perhaps dollar, to spend The 20 lady
walters here mostly wear long skirts. They
are h0mely as q rule, though blaze and i'm
modest enough to suit the vilest of man
kind. Men of Drawn and muscle sailors,
laborers and shabby lOafers cOpgregate
here. Beer is only five cents and drunken
ness prevails.
"a gallery lines :hree of the walls. On
each side Of this are the 'DoXeS'-foul, dirty
little pens with shabby lace curtains in
front. The most attractive and short
skirted Of the mattresses work the boxes
Many of them are half naked, and of all it
is true that their costumes are exceedingly
scant-immodest in the extreme. A quart
bottle of stale beer drawn from the keg is
two bits. The ladies smoke cigarettes,
for which you pay % cents for pack Of the
meanest 5-cent brand.
'At the rear of the gallery is the bar.
Colored walters are In attendance here.
The ladies DO not serve the drinks.
The stage performance IS Of an order so
obscene as TO shock and surprise even the
New York BOwery FOUNDERS, and the orgies
which take place in the galleries. in and
out of the boxes, would be tolerated in no
public place in the civilized world outside
OF San Francisco.
blacklegs and thieves, but mostly the human
jackals who live on the earnings of the
lady workers and mattresses.
Now and again you see q young face
among the latter. Girls who have just
started on the downward road are often TO
be found in the galleries Of the Cremorne.
What a fearful plunge toward hell they
have already taken And there is no hope
for them And the pity of it is more than
words will tell.
Sometimes, too, one sees that the lady
walters hands are hard and bony. These
hands tell mournful tale. They speak of
good intentions, of hard toll, of a striving
and trying and ending in - damnaton.
sat ii o'clock the orgies of the CTemOrne
are at fioodtide. There is a horrible din,
above which can be heard an occasional
curse or vile epithet, though the weakened
orchestra is completely drowned. Tobacco
smoke and the fumes Of bad LIQUOR are so
thick as to render the atmosphere opaque.
The indecent jokes Of the stage performers
are inaudible, but their actions and poses
speak founder than words. The bar is Co
iug rushing business. Every body is al
most or entirely drunk. Satan is king and
500 men and women are being damned In
body, mind and soul. Sometimes the num-
Der is greater; never less. And seven nights
a week.
"But not until the " ee small hours Of IN,
morning-till. indeed, every ytt TINS last
cent has passed into the possession Of Jack
Mailman and his pal. Ed Holman, and their
acconipliees in crime; till the bottom dregs
Of nights fearful reyelTy have been drunk
are the orgies Of the Cremorne abated for
the nonce.
''In the cafe at the end of the long
galleries for hours after midnight the short
skirted harpies prey upon all who come into
their clutches. Those without money are
told to go when the show is over, but for
those who have money the show is never
over"
In the same issue THE CALL rapplausel
told how young men are drugged and
robbed and cheated at the Cremorne. At
great length the fOulness and iniquities of
this resort were described, and when this
part Of the work had been fully done the II
property-owners in that block, by whose
leave alone the Crem0rne continued its eX-
istence after being repeatedly interdicted
by the police and refused q license by the
Police Commissioners, were interviewed
and the interviews published. With but
few exceptions the signers declared they
were sorry their names were appended to a
document giving such place life and de-
declared very positively that they would
not sign again.
One good result Of THE CALLS [appauseI
crusade was to again waken the police On
the Sth of April Captain Short raded the
place after securing evidence that several
boys were there. The boys were caught in
the dive, but when the case was called in
the police courts each lad swOre he was
over 16 years old, and though it was palpa-
bly, plain that some Of them could not have
been 10 the case against the proprietors was
dism ssed.
Previously. time and again. the police lad
raided tie Crem 0Tne, but in every case q
police jury of their peers acquitted the
accused. Once Chief Crowley employed two
shorthand reporters TO take down all the in
decencies OF the stage performers language;
policemen in citizens clothes watched the
actions of the performers and described
them faithfully 10 the jury. But with all
this evidence acquittal was thel only result
April The CALL published in same de-
tail the history Of the Cremorne. showing
its bloody and obscene record. its murders
and its multitude of crimes. In one month
two murders were committed at the Gre
m0rne, and the criminal court records
abound with the names If criminals who
graduated at the Cremorne.
Later on THE CALL undertook the task
and after long and hard work accomplished
it-0f interviewing every person who owned
property on the block IN which the Gre
morne is located. All but six OF the 60 odd
property declared they would not
sign for the continuance OF the Cremorne.