Los Angeles herald., 1906-05-15

Worse than the notorious crib dis
trict in its palnniest days; teeming
with every vice known to the slums
of modern city and peopled by women
and girls of the under world; a red
light section has again infested the
City of the Angels, and despite the al
legged careful watch of the city police,
nightly shrielLs its unclean condition
to all who will listen.
When the old cribs, the great red
brick barracks of Chinatown, were
raided and their occupants scattered
to all points of the compass, not so
many months ago, the organizations
of the city came forth for right and
made 1t a point to see that the places
were kept closed.
The old red brick was wrecked and
today stands a. mass of crumbling de-
bris as monument to the work of the
decent people of Los Angeles.
But at the very doorway of the old
district, within three blocks of the
former home Of the lost, another Sec
tion has sprung up. so far outstripping
the former place in the depth of it's
crimes that there can scarcely be a
comparison.
Police Make No Report
In the very center of the wholesale
district, in region, supposed to be one
of the best guarded localities of the
city, the new district has eaten its
way and, while people walk far out
of their way to avoid the sights and
sounds of the street, the police Off
GERS of the neighborhood seem to have
| forgotten the existence of the beat for
| no report Of the disreputable houses or
their occupants has been made either
to the heads of departments or the
mayor.
From North San Pedro street on the
west to Alameda on the east, and
thence down into the shadowy corners
| of Ducommun and Jackso nstreets, the
houses have spread and crawed like
some great Shiny monster of evil, blot
| ting out the homes and small resi-
dences of the working men and women,
who have fled as If from pestilence,
selling their property and taking their
families and little ones out Of the
reach of harms way.
Day after day children, women and
men of all ages and sizes are COM
PEELED to pass through the little city of
the dead on their way to the business
| section Of Los Angeles.
At Night a Region Of He'll
| Daily the little ones are startled by
| the sight of gaudy clothes, painted
faces and leering men and women who
grin like fiends at them as they pass
But at night the region is hell.
Dante's conception of the lost souls of
hades was a farce by the side of the
awfulness of the district.
| Last night, as for weeks past, the
district was in full swing Down Jack
son street from North Spring two men
on tour of investigation marched
| quietly towards the mouth of the abode
of crime.
Everything was dark and quiet on
this road to the underworld.
The faint glare of the street lamps
was scarcely reflected at the distance,
and solitary stable lamp swinging
from doorway was the only light on
the street.
But at the corner the full scene
came into view. AS far South as Second
street the lights hung from doorways
and windows and the lodging signs
with Transient" marked in heavy let
ters' were. nailed to the gate posts.
Describes Revolving Scenes
Scores of rooming houses with quaint
Japanese signs reflected their gaudy
lights on the pitiful little gardens be-
! fore them.
On the west side of North San Pedro
street. sitting we'll back from the street,
two little cottages seemed, feeling more
shame than their occupants, to try to
hide from the criticism of the world.
AS the watchers passed the place,
three Japanese boys trotted past and
walked into the yard. For a few mo-
ments they stood there. whispering in
their queer chattering voices and then
one more bold than the rest walked up
to the door and knocked. In an in
stant the door opened just enough to
show stream of light about a foot
wide
what do you want?" said the voice
of girl, and as she saw the Japanese
she closed the door and appeared at a
window and screamed at them: go
away, you filthy yellow beasts; you
can't get in here. No one but whites
can come to this house!"
The girls face was flushed with
anger even beneath its covering of
paint and her voice seemed that OF a
peevish child more than that OF a