Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-09-10
CLEANSING THE DIVISION.

Warrants Asked for Eighty-Seven
Keepers of Disordcrly Houses.
There is to be another attempt made at
cleansing that section Of the city that is
commonly known as the Division" At
tempts of this sort have been made in the,
past, but the class of women at whom the
war was directed are still in evidence, and
the Division itself Is still the Division. 1t
is generally believed that the police depart
ment, as we'll as other officials of the gov
eminent are in favor of combining women
of ill repute to a certain limited section of
the city, where they can be kept under
close supervision. AS the evil Is managed
in Washington, this is quite possible, for
the first precinct staten house Is located
in close proximity to that section OF the
town, and a dead line is drawn about it,
outside of which the women may not live
and ply their trade. In case Of robbery
being perpetrated or any disturbance of the
peace occurring the house is Immediately
raidcd and the offenders are brought into
the Police Court 1t has been Judge Mil
lers policy in the past to impose a jail SEN
tence on women who are charged with
keeping disorderly houses, on the theory
that fine can be easily paid and has no
real effect. The police officials are satisfied
that it is impossible to stamp out the evil.
They say it will only spread and create
new centerT of infection. The best thing to
do, they say, is to keep it under close
surveillance.
This is one side of the case. On the other
hand there are those who believe that the
best plan Is to invoke the power of the law
and at least to make the effort to eradicate
the evil. 1t is in line with this that the
present attempt is to be made to clear out
the Division.
This morning Mr. Mullowney, the as
vnjt TOD tot iStr a
in his office busy over the preparation of
informations for trial in the Police Court
when Major Blood. who is well known
around the court and police headquarters,
appeared and asked for warrants against
the keepers of eighty-seven houses Of i'll
repute in the prescribed district.
Mr.. Mullowney told him to come back at
1 o'clock. and they would go over the evil
dence together. The man said that he
could furnish all the evidence necessary to
brig about convictions in every case.
How do you know" asked Mr.: Null
lowney, that all these eighty-seven houses
are of disorderly character"
Il have been in every one of them
In case an attempt is made to press the
charges the district attorney WILL of course,
have option in the matter. He will be
compelled to issue the warrants, and if this
is done there will naturally be little diff
ficulty in securing evidence against the
first precinct could furnish all the evidence
necessary.
Refused to Issue the Warrants.
At a late hour this afternoon Mr.. Null
lowney refused to issue the warrants
asked for This action was taken on the
ground that the mere admission on the
part of the keepers of such places would
not suffice as evidence against them. If
they were brought into court it is fair to
assume that they would deny ever having
admitted that they had been engaged in
the business. The evidence submitted to
Mr.. Mullowney he decided was not suf-
ficent to justify him in issuing the war
rants MIR. Mullowney had a conference
understood that the district attorney ap-