Los Angeles herald., 1909-02-11
OFFICIAL DEPRAvITY

Richards and e. c. Bichowsky, sets
gard to the personal and moral char
acter of Mayor Harper and his chief Of
police, Ed Kern, which demonstrate the
urgent necessity of ridding the city of
Los Angeles of officeholders of this
type.
The good name of Los Angeles is at
stake. The dignity of the highest mu-
nicipal offices has been dragged in the
mire by Harper and his boon COM
panions We don't want officials who
engage in riotous and Iewd debauchery
and go on filthy sprees. Such creatures
must be dismissed from our public SER
vice without loss of time. The sooner
they are sent about their business the
better it will be for the reputation and
prosperity of Los Angeles.
The grand jury minority reporters
believe the public ought to know all the
facts in the case, although some of
these facts are shocking and repulsive,
and under ordinary circumstances could
not even be referred to in the columns
of a decent newspaper. But the cir
cumstances making up the deplorable
situation with which Los Angeles is
confronted are far from ordinary They
are extraordinary. The minority grand
jury reporters say:
Part OF said (grand jury report
referring to the visit by the mayor and
others to a certain house of prostitu-
ton and which is designated as being
more of an orgy than an official visit
is misleading in not fully setting forth
the facts. The evidence showed the
visit was in no sense official, but made
at a late hour of the night (by the
mayor in company with Chief of Police
Kern and some dozen or more young
men Of the city as an aftermath of an
entertainment which they had just
left, that on that occasion members of
said mayors party purchased and
drank liquors, caroused and danced
with the women inmates of said place,
said women being but slightly clad in
indecent costume.
Said report fails to set forth the
facts ascertained by the grand jury
that the mayor and Chief of Police
Kern, in company with others, on other
occasions visited houses of prostitution,
and members of the party bought and
partook of liquors therein.
Said report fails to state the facts
ascertained by the grand jury that
Chief of Police Kern not only failed to
close a certain notorious gambling
house within the boundaries of the city
of which he had knowledge, but that
he frequented such place and on occa-
sions gambled therein
Such charges affecting the character
and conduct of Messrs. Harper and
Kern are bad enough and shocking
enough. But worse remains behind.
The Harper administration not only
cherished and encouraged vice, but
actually assisted in their business
transactions some of those horrible
creatures, the human vampires that
prey on women of the underworld. The
minority report shows that in the dis
trict set apart for evil purposes by our
CIIy OlIlCldlS IGIlIdlS cS IlSn DIS PlAU per
month per room for each woman We're
charged, and in some instances bonuses
of 800 to $3.50 per room. A calculation
would show that the income from four
brick buildings mentioned in the re-
port Ghey contain about $50 rooms)
would amount to over 100000 a year.
AS far as ownership of property used
for immoral purposes is concerned it
is shown that one certain person held
the title (papers being in escrow to the
real property upon which three of the
brick buildings are built. This title
was acquired after the district was
established by the Harper administra-
ton. It further appears that this man,
prior to that time, was wholly without
means and lived upon the earnings of
fallen women. The deal by which this
property was secured by this man was
| initiated in Mayor Harper's office.
Property owners had previously pro-
| tested to the mayor against the estab-
| lishment of the red light district in that
neighborhood. The mayor was instru-
mental in bringing the agent of the
owner and the agent Of the purchaser
| together in the mayors private office
at the city hall, where the negotiations
which resulted in the sale were begun.
| The mayor was cognizant of the erec-
! tion of the brick buildings and of the
uses for which they were designed and
| intended, and acquiesced in that use
despite the vigorous protest of certain
| persons owning property in and about
said district.
! For the honor of Los Angeles, the
sooner city hall is cleaned the better it
will be. Mayor Harper and his official
! boon companions who besmirched the
good name of Los Angeles and sacrl-
feed their personal regulations for the
sake of paltry personal or financial
advantage, must without delay be re-
placed by faithful, honest and upright
public servants, whose efficiency and
! good conduct will remove from our city
the odium put upon it by the disgrace
full, wretched and filthy record of the
! Harper gang.
The name of Grove L. Johnson viii
now scintillate in history along will