The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1892-05-01
COCKERlLL'S LETTER
DR.. Parkhurst's War on Vice in
Gotham.
TROUBLE IN THE -FOUR HUNDRED.
Archie Gunter Blossoms Dat in Opera, ana
Promises to Make Both Money
and Fame


IN this city has born considerable fruit.
We have obtained from one grand jury
very sweeping and well timed presentment
of the vices which sap aud undermine our
community: have had lot of dispossess
suits started against people who conduct
immoral embellishments; have had clos
ing Of saloons TO some extent on Sundays
and have had change in the police agency
which promises 10 bear good fruit For
three years at least Superintendent Muir
ray was absolutely unable to give necessary
attention TO the police department, and In
spcetor Byrnes, naturally hampered by the
limitations Of the pro TEN. intendency,
could do nothing decisive. Now that we
have Byrnes at the head OF the police de-
pRrtment he will be able TO carry out.
think, some needed reforms. His first de-
cree shifting the various police captains TO
new districts is wise and ludicious per-
Torrance. The tendency on the part of
long stationed police captains is 10 become
absolute autocrRts Of their districts. They
naturally form closs friendships and IN
spire bitter enmities. Removing them TO
unfamiliar sections of the city has 8 ten
dency to break up ooteries of law-defers,
defects great deal of temptation and be-
gets a wholesome regard for the the muta-
bility Of human affairs. One of the results
of this systematic effort at general refor-
sands, OF deprsved women are being driven
from the open haunts of vice into private
and secret avenues. a gentleman told me
yesterday that he had been compelled to
remove his family from an apartment mouse
uptown because three women Of bad char
scter had succeeded in establishing them
selves there. This general impression is
thst in pursuing this policy society does
not cure itself of its vicieu.s Rbscesses. but
merely scatters them. Inspector Byrnes
used to have a theory in dealing with the
criminal and vicious classes OF the commu-
nifty the best thing that could be done was
10 keep them IN one particular quarter of
the city. Decent people would have no call
10 visit that section, and the contamination
would naturally be much less than if the
whole mass Of abandoned and degraded hu-
mainly were scattered unfortunately.
This idea cannot De said TO be q new one
in dealing with this most serious problem
of great municipalities When James l.
came down from Scotland TO take charge
OF the British throne he found London
about as wicked and deprayed as Sodom
and Commercial combined. In his shrewd,
Scotch way he arrived al the conclusion
that the best thing 10 do for the town was
TO COOP up all the thieves, scouadrels and
wicked women in one section and keep
them under restraint. That old part of
London known as Whltefriars was the dis
trict assigned 10 the Of colored population.
= line of const2bulsry surrounded the dis
trict, and so long as the crooks STAYED in
side Of what was called 'Alsatla' nobody
cared not even sublime tTanslators Of the
Bible in St James palace-wh6t they did
or how they did it. According 10 .ds YER
acious Chronicler Of "The Fortunes of
Nigel" the outcasts of Alsetia haa a sort
of independent government within their
lines Of jurisdiction. They had chief Whc
settled their ordinary disputes, ana they
seemed 10 get along pretty well. 1t was
only hen they attempted TO make sorties
for purposes of plumber that they got them
selves into trouble. I suppose the time
came when the Foody-good people of Lon
don OK high reformatory impulses concluded
that II was thei- duty to dispense al this
wickedness and divide it with the commu-
nifty. ! don't know how the system worked
Ia the olGen time, but do know that to-day
there is not city on the face Of the globe
where there is so much open, shameless
and repulsive vice as can be found in Lon
don, day or night. And that, too. in decent,
emi-respectable sections. Whether DIR.
Parkhurst's efforts will be productive of
lasting good or not l am not prepared to
say. He has certainly stirred the sgnant
pools of corruption, and the doors that per
meate the community are not pleasant.
suppose things will rectify themselves in
due time. AS the old western philosopher
used to say: "When things are bad they
never get much better, but when they're
darned bad they just cut loose and better
themselves"
A FAIR AMERICAN PRECEDENT.
Miss Georgine VOTERS, who has just re-
covered 3 verdict of $50, goo for a breach-of
promise to marry, bids fair to be the hero.
Inc Of famous American precedent. Ju
rists and CounselOrs for 8 generation viii NJ
doubt be talking about ths verdict in tht
case of Wolters VS.. Schultz-thRt is. if the
court of appeals allows the verdict to stand
and q legal authority who has followed the
case pretty closely tells me that the recorC
viii. in his opinion, show no error grave
enough to warrant q reversal. BarGell vs.
Pickwick has, since the immortal "Pick
wick Papers, first made their appearance
been the best known breach of promise
case The plaintiff there, toe. got hel
damages. But she was no such lookinl
woman as Miss Wolters. And as this es
timable young lady, VIII she mill she, is 4
become a character in the legal history ant
literature of the country, something abou
herself and her family ana the law sui
they compelled her to bring will be inter
esting. The VOTERS cigar shop is well
known to men about town, but the fai
plaintiff has only beer identified with il fol
a short time II is on Sixth avenue, JUS
below the Eighteenth street elevated sta
ton and is owned and managed by Mr.
Wolters ST. When his son, who used Il
GSBlSN Dllu Al NA5 kalE EOb aA1ASu e@llN Sc
Cd in business for himself Mr.. Wolter
got his daughter Georgine TO come down
from the living apartments upstairs an
assist him behind the counters. VOTERS
Sr. is a figure in German life in New ork
He belongs TO number of associations an
is president Of several clubs and organiza
lions of his countrymen. When his fellow
members began telling him TO look cut 10
Schultz and the defendants friends bega
telling Schultz 70 "look out for old ma
Woltersn the elderly and highly respecta
bic tobacconist inquired into his daughter
love affair and got the impression that a
was well and that his daughter, as is by
means unusual in German circles, was, g.
though poor in this worlds goods. about l
marry a very rich man, who thought non
the less Of her Tor working in her father
shop. Louis Schultz the gay bachelor o
forty. seems TO have been not unlike "Bab
Buntingn Arbuckle, the rich Brookly
bachelor OF forty, who has also been tn
unsuccessful defendant in q celebrated &C
lion for damaged heart. There must b
something in the mental atmosphere of
bachelor of forty which inspires him I
scoff at the pleadings of susceptible femal
affections. MIR. Schultz chose to scofI
asPooh % he is said TO have exclaimed whe
he was warned that the Wolters famil
would call him TO account for his trifline
s.Poohn' Old Wolters has no money. 1 ca
huv him of for thousand dollars" Blu
Mir. Schultz didn't reckon on the sturd
responsibility which is so eminently char
acteristic Of the u,iddle-class Germa
meuaee. The Wolters, father and brother
compelled Miss Georgine TO bring thi
breach of-promise suit, although SD
ahrank from the notoriety involved, an
the verdict of S25,0 900 in her favor alread
causes Mr. Schultz TO sing a very difTerer
fr,1fo 10