The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-03-09
Their Trade Is What Keeps I'm
morality on Pay Basis.
BONDSMEN ARE UNPOPULAR
Police Have Little Use for Men
Who Put Up the Cash.
Formally of Arrest and Women
Can Go on Their Way.

destrian as the big machine Swung
into position before the door of po-
lice headquarters. A uniformed pa
trolman alighte1 and was followed
into the lobby of the station by a
woman. 1t took no second look to see
that the woman was indignant. They
always are. Her picture" hat, habit
ually tilted daringly at forty-hve
degree angle, was slanted more tnan
usual while well-worn furs around
her shoulders bore evidence of being
hastily adjusted. Her coat collar was
open sufficiently to show a rumpled
silk waist, and hastily dabbed powder
was thicker on one side of her nose
than on the other.
A minute after a couple of plain
clothes men who had also arrived in
the car Sauntered in behind a man
with all the appearances of the pro-
verbal 80 cents with the three rubbed
out. At the direction of a station
man he deposited himself in a lobby
chair and sheepishly invoiced his sur
roundings. But not so with the woman.
She tilted her chin and marched back
| to the desk sergeants cage and to the
bored desk sergeant's Name, please"
replied that she was known asN Mag
gle Jones, F'lorentine Smith or Sally
MCGEE. After she had also divulged
age and occupation, the sergeant
WTOle lnNeSIlSdtlOH or OlSOrQeTly
conduct" on the right hand side of
the blotter.
Then she wanted to use the tele-
phone. Permission was granted and
she called a number. She may have
stayed in Jail an hour or two or pos
sibly overnight but eventually there
appeared the person who owned the
telephone number she called, a per-
son known as a professional bonds
man, a gentleman whose sole occu-
patton in life consists of putting up
financial collateral as a guarantee
| that 'soiled angels" bootleggers, pet
| ty thieves and other similar charac-
their freedom long enough to make"
| enough money to pay their fine when
| their case is called in court.
She Kept Right On.
! In the instance of this particular
| woman, she was released pending
trial on paper bond" the bondsman
charging by no means minimum
fee for same, and left the station.
The next night she changed her
| working territory and the cop on
| the beat didn't recognize her. BY
| grace of the professional bondsman
| she was enabled to continue her trade
| without anything but temporary in
terruption. The money to pay the
| bondsman, to say nothing of a COM
ing fine, had to be obtained some
| way.
But to return to the sheepish young
man who followed the woman into
| the station. He may have been
booked as found in given a lecture
and allowed to depart or forced to
put up small bond which he
came before the judge. He may have
been one of the numerous down-heel
young men about town or the scion
Of respectable and honest parents.
| Little attention was paid to his case
| and he suffered little consequence
ton" of getting caught. 1t wasn't
long until he put on a clean silk shirt
and went OUT again.
| The woman drew a sentence and
| fine and was out again shortly, ply
ing her trade as before. True. this
isn't happening these days like it did
| a few weeks ago because "a cleanup
| of street women who menace the So
| cial and physical welfare of visiting
| soldiers is in progress, but that has
| nothing to do with the point of the
/ story The point is, the woman piled
| her trade of shame, but without the
| professional bondsman and the silk
| shirted young man about town she
could not do so. But for the latter
| there would be no such trade. But
for the former, the trade" would be
so unreliable, so dangerous that only
| a few hardened women who could
be easily disposed of would deal in it.
| It is hard for anyone, even the po-
| lice, to do anything with the "silk
shirted young man." the law does not
provide a penalty of any consequence.
But, at that, it seems that the police
may be able to make it rather I'M
| comfortable for him in the present
crusade which is not a matter of law
but a matter of general public well
| fare. AS to the professional bonds
man, he has thrived here since the
tir1e that one towns constable repre-
sentcd Topeka's law and order. By
a "gentleman's agreement the police
are giving him a chance to keep out
/ of this anti-vice campaign. If he
refuses to travel down his white
washed alley, other paths will not
be strewn with roses. Men who sign
the freedom papers of immoral and
diseased women that, tho the free
dom may be temporary. they may
\ continue to scatter their crimson
curse are due to find themselves as
unpopular as a pro-Hun in Paradise.
|