The Washington herald., 1915-09-07
ADMITS DIVES EXIST
NEAR CAPITOL OF u. S.
CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE.

ferred to. We have repeatedly tried to
clean them out. Between August - and
July Lieut.. Cats and Detective Howes
made 4l9 arrests in the District. Sub
sequent to July they have made eighty
one arrests. In a majority of cases the
persons arrested have been dismissed with
nominal fines This is due partly to the
| inab bilty OF the detectives to catch the
guilty in the act and partly to the re-
stricted character of the law under which
they should be convicted
| Mai Pullman's informant suggested
that the boldness with which the women
operated last Saturday night could not
be reconciled with the majors statement
that frequent arrests have been made
among them.
1T simply shows how badly they need
the money" asserted Maj. Pullman. THE
women in this block are of a low class
understand that most Of them are ne
groes. though many could be mistaken
for whites. Also. the police In this pre-
cinct have to cover a very large territory.
which explains in part our inability to
wipe out these houses"
This statement by Mai Pullman is the
first official intimation that the police.
who successfully eradicated the old Ten
deroin district directly south OF Penn
syIvania avenue. have been unable TO
cope with the influx of vice in the new
'red-light" region, near the Capitol.
Conditions are immeasurably better
than they were when We first tackled
the vice problem continued Maj. Pull
man. Vice in Washington today exists
in an infinitely smaller quantity than
some time ago. 1t is true that some
prostitutes continued to do business for
a number of months after he enactment
of the Kenyon law. as is proven by the
hearing in open court in the Ardmore
case. Starting in August year ago.
however. the District authorities have
made constant efforts to rid the city of
the disreputabe business which was for
merly sanctioned.
Several sections Of the city have been
notorious from the time Of the civil war
as gathering places for low prostitutes.
Reference is made particularly to Mis-
souri, avenue and Maine avenue. Since
the first of April of this year, when l
assumed the duties of superintendent of
police, the blocks on these two streets,
which have been the gathering places of
scores Of prostitutes. have been cleaned
up by the police of the Sixth precinct
and the Fourth precinct. If prostitutes
come into these sections again or operate
in any other section they again will be
raided.
There will never be time In Wash
ington, perhaps with its $4,000 or go. 900
of white population and approximately
100000 of Colored population. when all
of the people. men and women, will be-
come entirely moral
IN August of 1914. former Commits
sioner SIddons and the present Superin-
tendent of Police made a tour of sec
tions OF the city where vice was known
to exist. and as result the vice squad
was appointed several weeks later. The
record Of the men assigned 10 this work
speaks for itself. Hundreds Of arrests
/, have been made and for the first time
in the history of the city every section
of the Federal and District law has been
brought into play to keep down the vice
traffic The most notorious place in
Washington for known prostitutes to
gather has been raided and closed. The
Mann white slave law has been enforced
for the first time against cabmen who
have transported persons in the District
OF Columbia for immoral purposes. The
law Of conspiracy has also been invoked
against persons conspiring to defeat the
Kenyon law.
The statement that the inmates Of
the dives say that they have nothing to
fear infers that policemen on the beat
or in the precinct know of the existence
Of these dives and have given them pro-
lection. II there is a single case where
any person can substantiate such a state
ment. the member of the force RESPONSE
BILE for giving these inmates the impress
sion that they have nothing to fear
will be suspended and either sent before
the grand jury by the United States dis
trict attorney or put before the public
trial board for neglect of duty"
There will always be loose characters
of both sexes and both races who will
try to continue the practice of CONNER
cialized prostitution. The police authori-
ties. however, in all cases follow up every
suggestion given of suspicious characters.
and no person claiming to know Of the
existence of vice dens. dives, or disorder
ly houses of any kind in the shadow Of
the United States Capitol or out OF the
shadow of the United tSates Capitol. has
any moral right to refrain from inform
ing the police OF these places"
Capt. Williams. Lieut.. Cats. and De-
tective Howes corroborated, in part, Mai
Pullman's statement that the police have
been cognizant Of the prevalence OF vice
in this new district, as exposed yester-
day morning by The Herald.
Following the expose yesterday morning,
certain precautions were taken last night
by inmates OF the district mentioned.
They were less braxen In their solicita-
tions, and several admitted no unknown
men without a signal which seems to
have been agreed upon and which con-
sists Of a newspaper folded in q certain
manner A policeman wAs stationed in
the block last night.
EarIy in the evening a nrivate fnv>afa-