The herald., 1897-08-01
A SQUALID AFFAIR
The Bradbury-Ward Elopement Re
viewed by a Trenchant Pen

Or all vulgar and squalid "elopements
| the bradbury Ward elopement is in our
recollection the most squalid and the most
vulgar. Ii there is ever any romance about
| such affairs, there was none about this
one. From the day the flight began, with
the fugitive pair drinking whisky sours"
in low Los Angeles gin-mill to the day
when it ended with the fleeing lovers
drinking ''gin-fizzes' in a low San Fran
cisco lodging house, there is not a single
Hash OF romance. 1t is most prosaic this
"elopement" in a Pullman car, with Pull
man porters and Pullman conductors
| squirting at the "lovers' from the inside
window of the drawing-room and persis-
,ent reporters ''peeking' at them al sta
| tions from the outside window of the
| drawing-room.
| This elopement was not only squalid and
vulgar, it was not even amusing. The only
| CLEAN of humor shed upon it is through the
tact that 1T was apparently conducted un-
der the auspices of the daily press. From
| first to last the press has been to the
! lovers a talkative Telemachus a guide
| philosopher and friend. 1t would even
seem as II the press encouraged the affair
1t is an open secret in newspaper circles
that the arrest of the guilty couple was
brought about entirely by the desire of an
evening newspaper to make a scoop"
over it's rivals; hence it pulled the wires
which worked the puppet officers of the
Society for the Prevention of Vice" The
city editor of a morning paper was Justly
incensed at this attempt to hog tooth
some scandal; therefore, by flank move
ment he obtained possession of the elopers,
and, under the guise of friendship, secured
quarters for them where he could tap them
freely for news and keep his hated rivals
in the dark. But when the rival reporters,
smarting under their ''beat" discovered
this trick, they swore out q warrant for
the arrest Of the city editor on the ground
of being accessory to the adultery!
And so 1t goes. The trail of the news
paper is over it all. During the week that
the sensation lasted the six daily papers
of San Francisco printed nearly two hun
dred columns about the matter-the EX-
aminer one day had five portraits of the
guilty wife. And this mess of sensational
and spicy scandal was set before the COM
munity by the action of the Society for
the Prevention of Vice." Heaven save the
mark! AS if fifty to crown its criminal
folly, the society, after prosecuting the
man Ward in the police courts, allowed the
woman Bradbury to go scot free. After
such action they had better withdraw their
charge against Ward. Not jury could be
found in all the length and breadth of this
broad land to convict lin, after his guilty
companion had been dismissed unpunished
llelc ID St NGIJ ollOIS Oellel III Tic IuluuS
of all sensible men that while it may be
possible to "seduce' girl, it is not pos
sible to "seduce" a married woman.
We do not envy the positions occupied
before the community today by President
Sullivan and Secretary Kane, of tMe $50
ciety for the Suppression of Vice." They
have been made tools of by sensational
newspapers-that is, we hope so. 1t would
be unpleasant to think otherwise, although
the sudden dismissal of the charges against
the woman, to the bewilderment of the So
cietys attorney, has a suspicious look
President Sullivan and Secretary Kane
may lay the flattering unction to their
souls that they have spread widely the
news; of an elopement which would have
been almost unnoticed had the fugitives
been allowed to go to Tophet unarrested
that the arrest was brought about at the
behest of sensational newspapers; that
the morbid matter has been avidly read
by thousands of young women and girls
who otherwise would have known nothing
about it; and that absolutely no good has
been accomplished, but rather much harm.
We recommend to Colonel Sullivan and
Secretary Kane, in view Of their achieve
ments of the past week, that they change
the name of their institution, and call it
1.-THE Society for the Dissemination of
Vice."-San Francisco Argonaut.