Los Angeles herald., 1908-07-11
TO WAGE WAR ON
HAUNTS OF VICE
W00LWINE MOVING AGAINST
HOUSES OF INFAMY
SENDS LETTER ON SUBJECT TO
MAYOR HARPER
Asserts Young Girls Are Lured from
Dance Halls and Says Police
Commission Is Block
ing Action

Prosecuting Attorney Thomas L.
Woolwine yesterday took the initial
step in a crusade against the disrep-
utable houses of Los Angeles. He
stated that there was an alarming
growth of the social evil in this city
and that the influx of women of un-
savory reputation from other parts of
the country was on the increase.
The disreputable resorts, he asserts,
are recruited not alone from other cit
les but from the dance halls of Los
Angeles. A body of cadets exist
whose purpose it is to lure young girls
who frequent the more or less respect
able dance halls to houses where they
become unwilling victims. 1t is said
that the price paid for these girls is $25
each.
While Woolwine recognizes the i'm
possibility of eradicating entirely the
evil, he is of the opinion that, If 1t is
not better controlled than at present, 1t
will spread to undue proportions and
invade the respectable residence Sec
lions of the city.
For this reason he wrote the follow
ing letter to Mayor Harper yesterday:
ITO Hon. A. G. Harper and the board
of police commissioners Gentlemen:
az wish to call your attention to sec
ton 315 of the penal code of the state
OF Cal1IOrnld, as IOllOWS:
Every person who keeps a house of
i'll fame in this state, resorted to for
the purpose of prostitution or lewdness,
or who willfully resides in such house,
is guilty of a misdemeanor; and in all
prosecutions for keeping or resorting to
such a house common repute may be
received as competent evidence of the
character of the house, the purpose for
which it is kept or used, and the char
acter of the women inhabiting it
ut is common knowledge that houses
Of i'll fame are allowed to flourish, prac-
tically without molestation, in this
city. By reason of the non-enforce-
ment of the law referred to such places
are rapidly growing in number, and
common prostitutes are flocking to the
city daily.
ut is your duty to enforce the pro-
visions of the section referred to. Since
my appointment to this office I have
at all times been anxious and willing
to prosecute all persons violating the
law, but have been unable to secure
arrests under the same, or to secure
the evidence necessary for a convic-
ton of such persons, owing to the ac-
ton of the police commission In rela-
ton to the enforcement of the law.
ut is unnecessary for me to state
that we, as officers of the law are not
concerned with the WISDOM OF unWlS-
dom of the law, but 1t is our plain
duty to enforce it as we see It. The
legislature has declared that the above
mentioned acts shall be unlawful, and
we have no alternative but to carry
out the expressed will of the people
through the legislature and enforce
the law as we find It.
II would therefore ask that you in
struct the chief of police to proceed at
once with the enforcement of all the
provisions OF said statute, and would
further ask that you inform me at
your earliest convenience as to what
action you propose to take in the
matter.
Awaiting your reply, I am
VERY respectful yours,
THOMAS L. WOOLWINE."
1t is the prosecuting attorneys desire
to act in harmony with the police de-
partment, but by the terms of the city
charter the department is subordinate
to the police commission, and action
in the matter will have to come from
that quarter.
AS Mayor Harper is now on his way
to attend the Elks' convention at Dali
las, it is not known what action he will
take in the matter.