The Washington times., 1911-09-27
ROLLER SKATERS,
INDIGNANT, HOLD
MASS MEETINGS
Judge De Lacy's Order to
Be Home by $50 P. M.
Results in Protests.
Heads up! There they conc!

Heads up! There they como!
A whirling, writhing, swaying line OF
ghost-like figures bearing down on you
and emitting shouts and glee1ul yellsr
amid which you can hear the rhythmic
counting: "One-two-One-two"-thats the
skating string"
Eight, ten, a dozen, sometimes twenty
of them, start off on wild dash, swing
4 ing around corners and narrowly avoid
ing vehicles and street cars until some
unlucky mortal loses step, and then the
"string" will pile up in an instant in an
igncminious heap.
Besides the heartter spirits who 1e-
light in these hazardous excursions,
hundreds of individual skaters nightly
convert certain localities into verltable
outdoor rinks.
Popular Sport Now.
Just as the evenings are growing cool
and the skating season is budding into
record-breahng popularity, comes the
stern mandate of Judge William H. DE
Lacy, that youngsters on roller skates
will not be permitted on the streets af-
ter $50 o'clock.
INDICATION meetings were held on all
the favorite corners last evening. Out
on Eighth street southeast, near Penn
sylvania avenue, around the House OIL
fee building, on H street northeast,
where all the trouble started, and az
other points that afford good level
stretches for the skaters, the young
sters rolled up to about dusk, and with
a watchful eye for policemen who frown
on congregation discussed the mandate.
Judge De Lacys warning was the re-
suit of two eases that have come be-
fore him within the last week OF young
girls who were brought into Juvenile
lnYlNr nnn6t1Nf WhnQa "
cuse for being out late was that they
had been roller-skating.
Il can't think what the parents of
this city mean" the Judge said, by
letting young girls, or boys either. t9T
II o'clock at night. Some OF them are
even out at midnight / do not want
anyone to think / am opposed to skat-
ing. a healthful and invigorating eX-
elcise, but the skaters should be home
after dark
May Face the Court.
Whereupon the judge told a police
ran of the Ninth precinct to take all
children found skating after $50 o'clock
to their homes and tell their parents of
the order II they persist in disobey-
ing, they are likely to be taken into
Juvenile Court.
The youngsters are not the only pro-
testants against this mandate. Last
night the Southeast Citizens Associa-
tion discussed the matter, and Allan
Davis principal Of Business High
School, was one of the chief critics of
the order.
The words after dark in the courts
warning constitute the chief complaint.
Mr.. Davis pointed out that 1t gets dark
early now. and school children have not
timc enough to get a REASONABLE amount
of outdoor exercise before nigh. falls
lIaIf-past nine, according to Mr.. Davis.
would be a more reasonable limit to The
skaters.
The practice of skating on the streets
sprang up two winters ago, coincident
with the revival of the craze for indoor
skating 1t gained even larger oroPor-
tons last winter, when the sidewalks
around the Library of Congress formed
a favorite rink. But children were eX-
cluded from the sidewalks by the po-
lice, and they took to the streets.
Met Vigorous Protest.
An agitation was raised to prevent
them from using the streets on the
ground of the danger II entailed, but
this met with such vigorous protest that
the matter was dropped. This fall the
sport has blossomed with new life, and
Judge De Lacy, early this month, is
sued a warning against skating on
business streets.
Then he waged war on what he
termed the midnight Skaters and
first issued a warning to parents to
keep their children off the streets at
night. little later came the order to
the police. !