Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1897-02-13

stated yesterday, the police have bae,
o o;. 10 ferret out all cases in tbi
city where immortality is carried %. ON
especially those where men and w vo
men not married are living tooether
anu a Today number among the color.
ed element have saved themselva.
trouble by getting married. Raids
were made On many such parties
yesterday afternoon and the nnmhe,
brought before the Mayor this mornino
reached hity-one. Forty-eieht were
disposed of and the remainder with ad.
dltlonal parties who are to be arrested
during the day will be tried tonight
PROBABLY the largest crowd ever at.
tracted to the station house was on hand
last night IN expectation of witnessing
Inc trials, which, it was expected.
would come oil, but they were neces-
sarlly postponed until this morning.
Long before eight O'Clock Market al
ley was crowded with an eager throng,
and when the door was opened in five
minutes time every available inch of
space IN the court room was occupied.
There were ffty-one cases on the
docket, and an all-day's sitting of the
court seemed probable, but after FORTY.
eight cases had been disposed of court
adjourned until o'clock tonight. The
first case called was that of Young
colored man charged with leading a
mulatto girl astrey. The case was
clearly proven and the Mayor told the
accused he could marry the girl or 90
to the grand jury. The prosecuting
was willing, but Barkis was not,
and the accused was sent on
to court Then followed the
cases which had attracted the
crowd. The proprietresses of several
well-known dives were brought into
the dock. This class had the fnes re-
duced to S12 and ten days in Jail. They
mostly urged that if released they
would shake the dust of the city from
their feet Immediately. Judgment in
these cases and in those of the inmates
who had been fined for IMMORAL con-
duct was suspended for ten days, at
the end of which time they were told
to appear and answer judgment A
A host of negroes of both sexes who
Sc each. In all the cases the Mayor
admonished the accused that if they
continued in the commission of this
species of misdemeanor he would have
them arrested and impose the full pen
atty of the law upon them, which is
from $50 to $500. Last night the sta
ton house was crowded to its fullest
capacity, and every effort was made to
render the female prisoners comfort
able. The upper rooms were occupied
by the white women and they smoked
cigarettes and acted as ovially as though
in their own houses. There was con-
siderable sympathy expressed for them
on account Of their sex, but every one
realized that the oflense for which they
had been apprehended was one which
it is necessary to occasionally check.
Some liz the group have long since be,
come back numbers, age, wrinkles and
gray hairs showing that they have seen
their day and are destined to die in
poverty and neglect. Others, in the
midsummer of lives OF dissipation,
who thoughtlessly imagine they will
always attract, made themselves
as conspicuous as possible. In a
few years they, too, will be CON-
PEELED to stand aside for another genera
ton, when the gilded halls of vice will
be no longer their homes and they will
find themselves repudiated and ne"
elected by the very people who are
now rushing them through the butter
fiy existence of short summer. Pc
pie naturally feel sorry for the female
sex when they get entaugled in
the law; but in our commseration the
fact should not be ignored that very
large percentage of the ills to which
flesh is heir come from the deliberate
violations Of the law of God and man,
and the sins of past ages are often visit
ed upon succeeding generations. While
our sympathy is excited the fact re-
mains that to tolerate lasciviousness is
danger more to be dreaded than gam
bling or any other species of INSIDE
meanor, for those who make it busi-
ness steel their consciences to the re-
suits, and Notwithstanding their mode
of life brings people to untimely deaths
by the curse of an outraged
heaven and is fruitful cause
of murder and attempts to MUIR
der, they persist in defying God and
man. All will remember the attempt.
ed murder and suicide at the corner of
Lee and Duke streets about year ago,
to say nothing Of previous tragedies IN
our streets or attempts on human lille
in which lewd women figured.