The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1917-07-25
Raid Was Result of the Re
cent Conference With
the Governor.
FIRST STEP IN
CLEAN UP CRUSADE
Sheriff Did Not Even Tell
His Deputies Until Just
Before Raid.

Iroprlotors of every resort in ths
red light district. as well as every
. occupant were arrested last night in
raids .ci 10y Sheriff Van Pe.t. i'm which
United States Marshal !. r Per
Nln~ and ucput3c, assisted. The total
arrests numbered $50
Sheriff Yam PcIt had about dozen
. aePuuc7 and for two hours women -
the underworld We're troopcd 10 the
. county Jail. Very shortly afror the
/ laIalnc parties began 20 get busy. the
( word spread far and wide. and in
/ short time the county Jail was crowd
81 with the prisoners. friends" in
/ terestcd in their behalf. and bonds
men,
Proprlctors of housese were releas-
ed Ca bonds Of 500 each. while in
mates were released on $40 each. All
bonds wee made returnable at 10
o'clock this morning. Those who
care to do so, may plead guilty. a
number. however. engaged counsel
last night and it was announced thar
the cases would he fought TO the last
ditch, 1t might be stated that very
few made this boast. and in every
case it was found that the females
making these assertions were on the
verge Of intoXication.
The raid. according to officials. IS
the first step toward the eradication
1sr+lv ,,UrUeU w1IU usauv D., -
night were allowed to return 10 their
unfortunately situated homes. and
were not molested by the second visit
Of the officers. The statement was
stressed. however, that the vii!
probably not be tolerated in pensa-
cola after tomorrow
Actions Louder Than Words.
Sheriff Van Pelt refused during the
afternoon to make statement rela-
tive to the conference which he had
with Governor Cats the dav pre-
viously Last night. however. he was
more laxative. Asked if he had any
statement to make at that time. he
said: None except that have done
what was expected of ne The gov
ernor intimated that what he wanted
was the red LIGHT district cleared 0It.
1t will he. I did not tell a soul Of my
intentions. and not a deputy even.
knew until tonight what I wanted
done. They all acted in conjunction
! though. and results speak for them
selves"
County Solicitor w. A. Blount, who
also went to Tallahassee in response
to a wire from Governor Cats, was
| present durinc the evening at the
county jail This morning at ~
o'clock he will file informations in
every case made last night. The
proprietors Of the resorts. of course,
will be charged with keeping house
Of ill-fame while the inmates will
. be charged with occupying such
I places.
/ There was no color line drawn. Ev-
| erything and everybody in every
! house in what is characterized as the
Z restricted district, were taken over
! to the jail. One old negro woman.
/ who said she was something "like IS
or IS years old" was a prisoner. She
| carried an 18-month old negro child,
/ the daughter Of her daughter, who
was on the second floor of the county
iai building. pleading for an oppor-
tunitv to consult a bondsman, several
Of whom were present signing bonds
for the release of the women. This
woman was a prisoner from tire fact
that she was discovered in the house
when tie deputies reached the scene.
Not only were the women in the
district arrested but number who
gave their house numbers in promi-
nent resident districts were also made
! prisoners. One woman and her
daughter. residing on East Chase
street. were among the number. Tf's
woman was among those who were
hailed up in the city court some time
ago in the agitation which was start
ed by the activities of Mrs. Sharp'es
and local workers. or reforms. She
! created quite a scene when she at
tempted to prove by one Of the off
GERS present that she was living
right, we'll within the law and trying
to be respectable as long IS she stay
ed in Pensacola"
The officers first visited ana took
in custody every negro woman they
could find in & certain area, and
charged then1 with violating TIE law.
This was done TO keep them from
! scattering said the deputy. "Our eN-
perience in the past has been that
when raiding starts, the negroes sep
arate and vanish as if they are s~al-
lowed Up b. the earth"
In A number Of cases, men we're
/Co-4;r,,,J m ps1a TbvaaN