The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-07-03
GUNSON HAS EASY.
CHARACTER TEST
Authorized to Arrest Women
Who Speak to Three Men,
He Says.
HE DEFENDS HIS COURSE
Detective Testifies He Saw
Girls Flirt With Army ~.
Officers at Hotel.
HE DEFENDS HIS COURSE

ing 10 ItleCllNc JohH - -
depreciation of his instructions. He
testified TO this yesterday at Police
Headquarters. where he Is on trial be-
fore Deputy Commissioners Leach, Por-
ter and Mrs. O'Leary on charges grow
ing out OF his arrest Of Miss Sallic Co.
Bin and Miss Lillian Cohen on Broadway
the night Of March 1, He had seen item
speak to two army officers. Their con-
viction in the Jefferson Market Court
was reversed in General Sessions. : l
The detective said yesterday he had
seen the same two young women stroll
ing through Peacock Alley at the Hotel
Astor the night before their. arrest,
smiling at the men who were seated
there '." b.. -.
Gunson admitted that he had not
overheard the conversation between the
girls and the army officers. When he
questioned one of the latter he was told
he said. that the young women had
asked them IL they were out for good
time" and suggested going to the
Parisienne Restaurant at Eighth avenue
and Fifty-sixth street. But there was
no evidence that any money had been
proffered or asked or that anything was
said in connection with a hotel. he de-
clared under cross examination by Mrs.
Clarice Baraight. counsel for the two
girls who appeared as complainants.
Mrs. Baraight was vehement In her
denunciation of system which per-
mitted arrests without actual first hand
knowledge by the officer OF the converse
tion between men and the women he
accused OF solicitation. After the hear
ing she said she would recommend to
the Police Department and the Magis-
trates that the present situation In this
respect be changed She also wanted
the man arrested and that the corrobo-
rating police officer appear in court and
testify, practice not usually followed
at present.
a. why He Arrested Girls.
Detective Gunson said he had been
assigned to work In connection with
The suppression of prostitution and
gambling In the Fourth Inspection Dis
trict last March He saw the Goblin and
Cohen, girls walking through Pea cock
Alley at the Astor and smiling at men
on the night of March 3, he testified, and
Detective Joseph Maloney. who works
with him, had told him he had seen the
girls there two nights previously and
had warned them to leave, The two
officers walked out BEND the young
women and followed them down Broad
way to Forty-second street and across
that thoroughfare to Sixth avenue.
On the night of the arrest Gunson
described how he met the girls again on
Broadway, traied along behind them as
they again walked through the Astor's
corridors and how they accosted the
army officers in front Of Shanley's as
they. were walking south toward Forty
second street. His story was practically
the same as that given by him before
Magistrate Mancuso In the Jefferson
Market Court when the girls were
Yicted.
After he had placed them. under arrest
and was walking along toward the
police station, he said that the Goblin
gkl told him she had All influential
friend WHO would see that he was
broken.
Eight out of every ten women I ar
rest tell me that so I didn't pay much
attention to IT," said the detective.
Gunson. in answer to question by
Mrs Baraight, denied that he had
twisted either of the girls arms
you are empowered to arrest a girl
after she has talked to three men. re-
gardless of who spoke frst?" Mrs. Bar
aiet asked
Yes" said Gunson, III I've seen 'em
before
The Hotel Aston has been greatly
troubled over the presence OF undesir-
able women there In ever increasing
SO 1t was testified by Fred NJ. Muschen-
helm. the proprietor who said he had
asked the cooperation of the police, and
had talked the situation over with
Inspector Dominick Henry. the Inspector.
in command OF the district.
When Henry was asked by Mrs. Bur-
aigbt II he was just as careful to pro-
tect girls as to arrest them, he SAID he
was even more so. 1
I'D rather see nifty cases go by than
cause one innocent girl TO suffer-" he
declared.
Crusader Testihes.
Harold Noar, attached to he Division
OF National Defence of the Police De-
partment, described his activities about
hotels and the white light district in an
erdeavor to deal a body blow at the
social evil lie said ne wore the uniform
OF United States Army officer, acting
under Inspector Henrys orders, and that
he understood that his doing so had
been sanctioned by higher authority"
He had seen the Goblin and Cohen girls
at the Hotel Clardge as long ago as last
February. he testified. and on one oc-
cason they had piled into a taxicab and
driven OF with man. He testified TO
seeing them at the Aston on March
and said they also left that establish
ment with man.
Mrs Baraight questioned Noar closely
regarding Nhis activities while in the
army uniform, but the latter denied that
he had flirted with the girls himself
and then placed them under arrest He
said he was always accompanied by an
other detective and a First Lieutenant
In the army. Paint, rouge and n certain
accent of speech were the three things
that directed his suspicious against
young women, he confided' to the COM
missioners.
''I never approached a woman unless
was approached by her frst." said
Noar.
"Do many approach you?" Mrs Ba-
raight asked.
Yes a great many"
Two traffic policemen formerly at
tached TO the Army Intelligence Bureau
at the Army Building on Whitehall
street. William Delaney and William b.
Mott, said the two girls were employed
there as stenographers and that Miss
Cohen was known as Jackie"
would that indicate to you that her
reputation was bad?" Mrs. Baraight
asked OF Mott
He admitted that It wouldn't. Mott
denied that he had made advances to
either OF the girls or asked them out
with him.
Commissioner Leach said II probably
would be q month before the findings In
the case had been arrived at and pre-
Z scented to Commissioner Enright for his
! approval.
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