Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1905-08-04
A BAD M.

Under the above caption the Albu-
Journal speaks as follows Of
d~isgraceful custom that has been
n vogue In that city:
II Is recorded that a long time
ago. over In Judea. a woman was
taken In adultery--'in the very act"
the account SAYS. and the police
took her before a great teacher who
happened to be In the country at
that time. The law said that she
should be stoned to death and they
thought they could make a point
against the teacher by getting him
to prescribe some other form OF
punishment. After listening to their
statement OF the case. he said. all
right. let her be stoned. but let the
n among you who Is without sin
cast the first stone. At this they all
sneaked away except the woman,
"and he said unto her. woman
where are those thine accusers,
hath no man condemned thee?' And
but ooih nv hluus b<Olu. anu IC
said unto her, Neither do ! condemn
thee; 90 and sin no more"
But that all occurred a long time
ago and we do things differently
nowadays. The case OF the young
woman who was found dead In her
room a few mornings since Is a
fair Illustration Of the modern meth
Cd. She was suspected of the crime
Of which the woman above men.
toned was accused. All those for
whom she had worked testify that
they never saw ANYTHING out Of the
way In her conduct, and declare
that she was a modest, well behaved
young woman. But she was a strang,
or In town. totally without friends
or Influence. and therefore not In
q position to resent or resist any
demand for money that might be
made upon her. Hence. without any
evidence against her. a policeman
hedged about with all the majesty
OF the law. called upon her and de
manded his blood money. A help
less, friendless, timid girl. there
was nothing for her under the cir
cumstances but to comply. She
paid the fine" demanded OF her
and was thereupon registered off
cially as a common prostitute. The
disgrace was more than she could
bear. and she appealed her case tc
the great tribunal OF that Judge
who had said neither do | con
denim thee"
Under the present system a pros
tltute is a yagrant. and acting on
this 1t has been the custom for years
past for the police TO collect a fine
on the first Of every month from
every inmate OF the houses of III
fame, and this collection, we are
Informed, amounts TO almost enough
TO defray the expenses of the police
department. This is all wrong. II
we want to license this sort of bus.
mess, let us do It openly and hon.
estly, and not try to whip the devil
around the bush by calling 1t a
fine And. above all, let us not
put such discretionary powers In
the hands of the police. Matters OF
this sort belong to the courts. and
should be attended to by the courts.
Our present system of dealing
with this subject is a disgrace to
the town and to the civilization of
the age, and IL the suicide of the
Zimmerman girl shall wake up the
people Of Albuquerque to the enor.
nifty Of our offense against good
government and good morals In
this matter. she will not have died
In vain.
We are glad to read and reproduce
he above vigorous attack upon the
eprehensible Albuquerque system.
The Albuquerque plan of licensing
is a disgrace to the terri
DRY and the practice Of devoting the
ines to the maintenance of the police
was bound to lead sooner
n later to some such tragedy as that
which occurred and the story of which
y told fully In a news article re-
published today from the Journal.
Albuquerque was inclined to brag
hat last month the revenue of her
'olice department amounted to $500.
Us a matter of fact such an income
vas a reproach TO the city. Had it
II been received from legitimate
ines. IL would have been bad enough.
but nine.tenths Of the money came
rom licensing prostitutes. not accord.
ng TO the forms of law but In absolute
iolation OF law.
Every month. the police officers,