Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1958-01-21
Twas Muqqed'

IL Is lronlcal that IL has taken an
attack on Mrs. Willie Snow Ethridge,
wife Of the publisher Of the Louisville,
KY, newspapers, to focus national at
tention on the terror which rules the
streets Of Washington after dark. Iron
zeal or otherwise, however, the people
Of this city owe a debt Of gratitude to
Mrs. Ethridge.
The attack on Mrs. Ethridge &C.
Cured last October. She was walking
along Woodley road, Just OF Connecticut
avenue, good" section Of the city,
when two hoodlums slipped up from
behind. One slugged Mr.. Ethridge and
the other tried to grab Mrs. Ethridge's
purse. She held on to it and. physically,
came out Of the encounter with nothing
worse than wrenched arm. The yokers.
or muggers, have been caught. have
pleaded guilty to attempted robbery and
are awaiting sentence.
Mrs. Ethridge was lucky. AS her
article in last Sundays This Week mag
azine reveals, she suffered mostly from
shock that such thing could happen
on the streets of the Nations Capital.
AS she put it, "It Is disgrace that the
citizens Of these United States can't
walk the streets Of their Capital, or Of
any other city Of this land for that
matter, without being mugged by hood
lums."
1t Is indeed q disgrace. But Mrs.
Ethridge should not have been surprised.
For this sort Of thing happens almost
every night on the streets Of WASH
ington. And in all too many cases the
victims, men as well as women, have
been brutally beaten. Mrs. Ethridge and
her husband, If We may say so again,
were lucky.
What is the real reason for this7
Why Is 1t dangerous to 60 out on the
streets Of Washington at night? Why
is 1t that in certain sections Of the city.
no sensible man or woman would think
Of walking the streets alone after dark?
In comment accompanying Mrs.
Ethridge's article, Senator Wiley. who
has made a study Of juvenile delin-
quency. offers an explanation. The one
basic" cause, he says, Is public indif-
ference" To this we would like to
register respectful, but emphatic, dis
sent. Whatever may be the case else
where, the people Of Washington most
certainly are not Indifferent. But they
are voteleSS-and helpless.
The fault does not lie with our un-
dermanned police department. The po-
lice, on the whole, have done a good
Job. But in far too many cases they
have rounded up muggers and yokers,
only to find them roaming the streets
again few days later. One explanation
may be found in inadequate facilities
and certain "softness" in handling
criminal juveniles. Another explana-
ton concerns a trend in appellate de-
cisions which, in our judgment, are
overweighted on the side Of the criminal
at the expense Of the public, and which
impose needless and unwarranted bur-
dens on police and prosecutors. The
Mallory ruling Is case in point.
We would suggest to Senator Wiley
that the people of Washington are not
Indifferent to this situation. But they
must look to Congress for relief, and
II Is extremely difficult TO get Congress
to act on matters which are supposed to
be essentially of local concern in WASH
ington. Perhaps Mrs. Ethridge's article
will help in this respect. In any event,
she has turned spotlight on the prob
lem, II not on the causes and the solu-
ton, and for this the people Of WASH
ington will be grateful.