Los Angeles herald., 1907-03-27
Mayor Leads Raid
on DiSorderly
Houses
Hundreds of Women Are
Arrested and Lock-
ed Up
Men Caught In Police Dragnet Are
Permitted to Go After Being
Thoroughly Flight
ened

In a sweeping raid or the enLlre pen-
derloin district last night led by Mayor
Harper and the police commissioners $50
women inmates Of disreputable houses
were arrested and taken to the station
and locked up pending the payment of
bail.
Not house in the tenderloin was
missed. Word had gone around from
the mayors Office at late hour that
o'clock and strike hard Like flash
at that hour the tenderloin was raided.
Fifty houses gave out their roomers,
police automobiles and patrol wagons
began swarming back and forward from
the police station to the district bear
ing crowds of painted women, while
hundreds of men thronged the streets
and yelled and cheered and hooted as
the wagons passed by.
At an early hour this morning the
wagons were still making their weary
trips while the corridors of the police
station, the matrons department and
every available foot Of space in the
building was occupied by some painted
women who gibed and laughed in turn
or wept and walled in drunken frenzy.
Mayor Directs Raid
Mayor Harper, who was on hand in
the police station, stated that the raid
would cover every disreputable house
in Los Angeles and that not one would
be missed. The wagonloads of women
arriving at~the police station every
moment confirmed his statement.
Shortly before IL o'clock last night
officers began to be numerous around
the tenderloin district. To the dark
streets south of Commercial, little
groups of officers received statements
telling them what duty they were to
perform.
Each group divided into pairs and at
II they began to creep in toward the
tenderloin. At the houses on North
Main street, so offensive to the eyes of
the thousands who use the Main street
cars every day and night, an officer in
plain clothes lounged in the doorway.
They were apparently like the many
other loungers and their actions failed
to indicate their purpose.
AS II o'clock drew near Sergeant Krie-
ger approached. AS he passed his men
on guard he simply saluted and the
Never were the denizens of the under
world so thoroughly startled. The Off
GERS locked the doors on the inside and
dashed up the stairs. They called for
the landladies of the places and each in
turn was told to get her girls together
and dress them. The babble ensuing
was deafening. Women partly clothed
dashed about the corridars in terror,
The landladies made earnest appeals to
the officers but POLITICAL pulls did not
go. The officers had their orders to put
on the lid, and they did it.
On Commercial Street
on Commercial street, the rendezvous
of Tom Savage's crowd, the. scenes
were actually pitiful. The lights
blinked down at the crowds on the
sidewalks and the houses were being
we'll patronized. Drunken men and
sober men trudged up the stairways
through the swinging doors to see
"Nell, or Babe, or Lou, or Dot" or
whom ever he wanted, and the blonde
girls and the brunettes held little
cigarettes between their teeth and
called enticing things at the visitors.
1t all occurred so quickly that they
did not know what had happened. Two
officers suddenly appeared from the d.
rection of Main street. At the no.
torious crib house, 2041a Commercial
street, they suddenly dashed UP the
stairways and In a second the house
had been raided. The man in charge
of the place went from door to door,
banging against the panels with his
fists. BUSY, busy" the girls cried from
within and the man invariably an
swered:
ITO h with that. you're all pinched,
come out and get dressed"
AT that yell the doors opened and
girls began to throng the corridor
Their plight was pitiable.
Have Pity on Men
Police Commissioner Schenck stated
that the men visitors were not to be
molested on the ground that too many
homes would be ruined by such an ac-
ton and after giving the visitors a
good scare the police permitted them
to part. They scurried down the stairs
Of the places like rats deserving a ship
Some OF them forgot their hats. one
man ran along wearing one shoe and
carrying the other In his hand. or
those who managed to get out OF the
district many men OF Los Angeles
lcOntinued ON Page Three.l