White Pine news. [volume] (East Ely, Nev.) 1920-1923, 1922-06-25
ATTORNEY TURNS PURITAN
WANTS CITY TO CLOSE DENS

At the meeting Of the mayor and
city council held last Tuesday night
the following letter from District
Attorney Charles A. Walker was pre-
scented:
Ely. New, June s. l922.-To the
Honorable Mayor and City Council
of the City of Ely: Gentlemen--If
the people of Ely want Its restricted
district abolished 1t can be done In a
quick, efficient and clearcut way. II
our city ordinance No. 22 is enforced
II will leave the deputy attorney gen
eral, Mr.. G.. +. Foreman, In his pub
lie nuisance action to enforce the
400-yard limit law, without a SUBJ
ject matter. Why carry on a long
drawn out legal proceeding before
our district court to close up only a
PART of the district which chances
TO be on n side of an imaginary
line when the proper civ officials
can close the ENTIRE district in enc
hour? 1t must be humiliating to the
good peopel of Ely who believe In the
enforcement of our laws TO have II
the common talk of the state that
we are SO derelict in the enforcement
of our ordinances that the attorney
general. sitting in Carson City, deem
ed 1t wise and ~expedient to appoint q
deputy here 10 take action on his
own initiative, and this action can
only affect the status of those houses
within the 400-yard imaginary line
from the Catholic church. The line
runs through the center of the dis
triet, where the houses are sand
wiched together like sardines In a
box and additional houses are being
opened after the arrival of nearly
every train. There is no moral rea.
son why one house should be closed
and an adjoining house be permitted
to run. Let's close them all or none.
Ordinance No. 22 covers ALL of
the houses within the city limits and
therefore Is just twice as effective as
the law under which the attorney
general Is acting-this In addition to
the fact hat the entire district can
be closed In n hour under warrants
of arrest issued by City Judge Par
ker. while under the attorney gen
erals nuisance action months and
possibly years will, elapse before
there is any direct result. and in the
meantime all the Objectionable
houses are running full blast. I
know there are those who believe In
maintaining a restricted district, but
I venture to predict that IL II was
put to popular vote three-fourths OF
the women and two-thirds of the men
would vote against 1t.
There are few states. II any,, other
than Nevada that permit a restricted
district. Such a district and its I'm.
mediate neighborhood as always a
hotbed for drunken Indians, boot.
Logging to minors, peddling of mar
cotics. hangout far ~procurers and
gun tooters. We have all of these
and seldom an arrest. There are
also a~blebodied men In this town
whose hangout Is the restricted dis
trict. They sleep most of the day
wear good clothes. eat p~orterhouse
steaks, always have some change in
their pockets and yet have not done
a lick of legitimate work for years.
They should be vagged under section
Fl of ordinance No. 3, Anyway, Ii IL
about time the moral policies of this
city ceased to be dictated by boot
ieggers, the property wner OF the
restricted district. the occupants and
their male consorts; and anyway.
again and more important, city ordi-
nance No. % prohibits all houses OF
illfame within the city limits, and
city ordinances are al much a part of
our municipal law as are acts OF the
legislature. acts of congress or even
the constitution of tho United States.
The ordinance reads as follows:
"Ordinance No. a.
An ordinance to suppress, all
houses Of illfame and all places to
which persons may resort for iewd
or la~scivious purposes or purposes of
lewdness or prostitution within the
corporate limits Of the city Of Ely.
The city council OF tho city OF Ely
do ordain:
Section 1. 1t shall be unlawful
for any owner or agent OF any owner
or any other person to keep any house
OF illfame or any place to which per-
sons may resort for lewd or lasciv-