The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1894-12-01
CRUSADES AGAINST ART
Social Purity Society Moves Against
DecOllette Dress at the Opera.
SOCIETY LADIES' INDIGNANT
Mrs. Grannis VIII Not Interfere with Liv.
ing Pictures Saveeus They Appear in
the Boxes at the Grand Opera.
Remarkable Police Activity.
BY the United Press.

Olner Dy certain women, Hedueu Ny
Mrs. Elizabeth B. Grannis, against the
mode of dress popular among attend
ants at the opera.
Police Captain Max Schmittberger
who presldes over the Tenderloin dis
trict, sent out some of his policemen
last night to gaze upon the thinly clad
feminine charms on exhibition in vari-
Gus places of amusement in the dis
trict.
The managers of theaters where liv-
ing pictures are produced declare that
they are willing that any society or
person may make the fullest investiga-
tion, even If it be Captain Max Schmitt-
berger, the policeman who in under
indictment for levying blackmail upon
women of the town. The crusade
against living pictures in the thea.ars
was started by some advanced advo-
Gates Of social purity. The alert New
York police, alert to forestall all sorts |
Of reformers now since the LeXow COM
mittee exposures and the late election, |
determine to precipitate themselves |
against the fad and prove their deli
cacy and virtue.
Dul, dIdS lbl human lbl'1iollN VI 'i'~ /
metropolitan police grade! Superin- |
tendent Byrnes, Inspector Conlin and |
Captain Scmittberger had scarcely |
decked themselves in the borrowed |
plumes of the London "PrudeS on the |
Prowl' and quiXotically moved against |
the women who compose the living pic |
tures, than they found that they had
overshot the mark. For years the po-
lice led a crusade against the unfor-
tunate women of the town, but it was
crusade for plunder
All the world has been made acquaint-
ed with their prowls in that direction,
and it is perhaps for that reason, if
nothing else, that the best women of the
city, the leaders in culture and purity,
are not supplementing the present
prowl.
Mrs. L. B. Grannis a leader in the
social purity movement, has declared
that the pictures are not Objectionable,
and already her protest against the
iconoclastic prudes Of the police has
borne fruit in an expression of graft
tude from those women who make their
living by appearing in animate repre-
SenldllOIS Vi ldHlOuS NOlhS VI III l.
This move of the police, however. has
set Mrs. Grannis and, as the latter says,
other women Of the Society for the Pro-
motion-af Purity in other direotion'
They say that they intend to compel
change of dress among the social lead
ers at the opera. Mrs. Grannis declares
that she and others have taken notes
at the opera recently of the manner in
which the women of prominent families
were dressed, and that another force
will be at the Metropolitan opera house
tonight for the same purpose She says
she will compel the police to take ac-
ton If change in the mode of dress is
not made.
Began with the Bilihoards
The movement started several months
ago by the defacing ofpictures of partly
clothed women on the billboards by the
small boy. From this the attention of
the police was turned to the Ewing pic
lures, and steps were taken to put
stop to them, but there is no reference
in the penal code to this style of display.
The only law which could be construed
to bear on the case was Sections 3l7
and 3lS of the penal code, which calls
for the suppression Of all placards of
lewd nature and all displays which are
disgusting.
Superintendent Byrnes and Inspector
Conlin believed that this could be made
TO apply, and officers were sent out to
get evidence. Captain Schmittberger,
of the "Tenderloin," in whose precinct
most of the alleged Objectionable dis
plays are made, was directed to go
from place to place and view the pic
lures himself and report to the superin-
tendent. The captain did this last Mon
dan night, and on Tuesday morning
he applied to Justieos Hogan for war
rants for the arrest Of several man
ayers Justice Hogan declined as he did
not consider policeman sufficiently
expert in art to judge such a delicate
question. He therefore advised the
captain to interest the Society for the
Promotion of Purity and let them act
in the matter.
Several well known society women
today expressed their Indignation at
the remarks made by Mrs. Grannis in
criticizing the toilettes worn at the
opera, which she characterized as more
indecent than the living pictures exhib.
Tied in the theaters. A very prominent
society woman when seen today in re-
lation to the subject, said:
cit Is simply outrageous to say the
least, to have these public remarks and
comparisons made on the women who
represent the best and wealthiest fami-
lies In New York. From time immem-
orial women, wherever they have ap-
peared in Europe, either at the court or
pubic balls, have always appeared in
low evening gowns. The comparison
urawn between the wealthiest women
Oh this city and the women who appear
IN the living pictures Is beyond ridicule
nave attended the opera for many
years and not once have / ever seen
any one immodestly dressed"
WIN Look After Society peo pic.
MIS- H. B. Grannls announces today
that she has turned her attention To
what she calls the immodest wav in
at the opera.
iheir low neck gowns" she said
are extremely immodest and disgust.
lng' ana 10 not have, by any means, q
sanitary influence on those who desire
to follow and copy these leaders OF
fashions, 1t is right there that reform
is needed and II cannot induce these
prominent peaple to change their cos
tunes. so as to conform with goot
morals and sound Judgment in dress, j
will bring the matter 10 the attention
OF the police.
AT last evenings performance Of the
opera | had several watchers on hant
who took notes on the manner I'm which