Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1906-08-07
Owners Of Des Moincs Property
Leased For Immoral Pur-
poses, Are Indicted
POLK COUNTY GRAND JURY ACTS
Punishment, Should There Be Convc-
ton, Would Be In Nature of Fine,
As Corporations Cannot Be imprs-
oncd end the Actions Arc Not
Against the Persons Themselves

Des Moincs Aug 7.As its final act,
the Polk county grand jury yesterday
afternoon struck a blow at the social
evil In Dcs MONIES by striking at what
they believed to be the foundation ~
the owners of the property where II is
alleged seats OF vice in Des Moines are
located
Indictments charging the owning and
leasing of property for the purpose OF
prostitution and lewdness were return
ed against:
Il. NJ. Hubbel. Sons Il Co, (incor-
porated).
Marcus Younker,
Des Moines Union Railway Com
pany.
Judge James A. Howe. of the Grim
inal division of the district court hxed
the bonds i'm each instance at 5000. Mo-
tice of the indictments was at once
served upon the Institutions charged
with the crime, The actions are not
against the persons themselves. aud
accordingly there can be no prison
punishment. foi corporations cannot be
imprisoned The punishment should
there be conviction. would be III the
nature of fire.
The apparent effort of the grand
jury was to clean out the district sur
rounding the Lincoln school, as II is
claimed the purpose of some OF the
places maintained in this district is so
apparent as TO contamiuate the minds
of the children ranging from five to
sixteen years who attend here.
There is strong intimation in the
indictments evidence that one woman
succeeded In fixing" 1t to remain in
the locality, but Chief OF Police Jones
and Secretary H. u. keases. of the
West Des Moines school board both
claim they know Of no one whom she
could have Fixed
When the crusade was started
against the women in this district some
months ago. Secretary keasey says one
woman pleaded with him for mercy,
vindicating her corrupt life by claim
ing that she had sick husband and
his mother to support and care for.
The most startling evidence present.
ed the grand jury Is that given by
Chief Of Police James w. Jones, who
outlines the method of practical license
in vogue in the city. He says. how
ever that the money collected by the
city is for crimes the women have
committed with the officers knowledge
during the preceding month. and not
for crimes they are to commit during
r.te ,.I1 ty,ep
statement is the fact that there Is
grade of fines, whereby the women
who are permitted to maintain houses
pay more as they get into better neigh
borhoods And when one woman
moved into a thoroughly respectable
neighborhood he says he refused to
take any fine at all, saying he would
pull her when there was a complaint
made but made no efforts, 1T seems,
to do so until there was a complaint
Chief Jones testifies:
my name is j. w. Jones, chief of
police of Des Moines going on three
years Mr.. Pattee goes around and
notifies the women what day to come
in, and the judge sets the day so they
won't have any other cases on that
day. And whatever day the judge and
Pattee fix is the day they come in.
Pattee has little book that he puts
their names down in, and after he no.
titles them he files an information
against them. John Peterson swears
to all the informations that are filed
down there. Pattee knows where the
houses are. The girls change. For
instance, they will be in this house
this month and another next month.
They bring all the warrants into our
office. Sometimes the women will
come in there and If the judge was not
there Peterson would take the money
and wait until the Judge comes. then
he takes the money and the warrants
into the judge and turns them over to
him. They do not give them a receipt
for the money they pay; it is the same
as pleading guilty. They are charged
with being in a disorderly house and
houses. They plead guilty every
month The system was in vogue
when l came into office. 1 think Pat
tee has a record of all the houses that
are paying. If there is any complaint
made we simply go and pull them and
throw them in. These are generally
up around in the residence district
The only reason 1 can give for the
houses around Lincoln school is that
there is no other place in particular for
them to go without someone kicking.
l would say that the average income
from houses of this nature would be
$1,000 per month | presume there
are from seventy-five to eighty paying
fines"
Poweshiek County Central Fair.