DUNEDIN DAMSELS.

NZ Truth, Issue 141, 29 February 1908, Page 5

DUNEDIN DAMSELS.

THE VOLUNTEERS AND THE VIXENS, Johnstone and Mowat Fix Bayonets. < A Recruiting Ground for Prostitutes.

Dunedin people, again and again, have had. reason to remark on the number of young girls who frequent the streets at night, a prey to the loafer and the drunk and the hoodlum—and, yes, the Chow. They wander about m twos, hanging on to each other's arm, and anyone desiring their acquaintance may obtain it with an insinuating address and a brazen front. They never stand; on ceremony. All they ask is a' cordial " Good-night, " and the thing's done. They are the best friends m the world to actors' and showmen, travellers and members of the racing fraternity, and any one of the latter bearing a distinctive air has m a short time quite a number of the modest maidenly creatures within reach. "Truth" doesn't suggest that every girl who perambulates Dunedin streets between seven and 10.30 m the evenings is not all that she ought to be, but this paper does assert that there is a large and ra-pidly-growing class of young women m *tbe townv whose favors may almost be had for the asking. They ate not exactly prostitutes, but they offer a fine recruiting ground for that ancient profession. In the days before the purging of the police force by the D. I.C. scandals, when the pro. m all her plorv flourished about and around Dunedin, this young' woman class referred to did not possess its present numerical strength or significance. .Now, when the courtesan only manifests herself at odd and unexpected times, and is conetantlv harried and hunted by the police; the female pleasure-hunting brigade that nightly appears m George and Princes streets has assumed noticeable proportions. Police Court episodes constantly bring the existence of these joyous maidens 'before the authorities. Only recently a trick cyclist appearing on the Puller Circuit, .cot into trouble owing: to having: one too many acquaintances belqncring to this class. He had become intimate with A PRECOCIOUS YOUNG GIRL of under sixteen years, w.horn he had met on the street, and whom he took to a matinee one Saturday afternoon. She looked more than sixteen years of age, and she was considerably older m knowledge, and as she appeared to the cyclist to be eminently desirable, he took her up to his room at the Carlton Cafe after the performance and did what lie believed he had a perfect right to do. Evidently he hadn't, and when a few days subsequently certain facts leaked out he was arrested for. indecent assault, or rape, or something. The girl's story was that she had resisted the attempt, that he finally gaiiied -his end, and that a man ha^ never gone that length with her. before. Altogether things, looked very black for the cyclist, and sporting detectives made bets on the number of floggings to. be ordered. ißut a doctor's evidence completely altered the aspect of affairs^ He stated after an examination that the girl had been frequently unchaste, .that it was long since she originally lost her girlhood, and that she was suffering from a most " objectionable disease Of old standing. Under the circumstances the accused was at once discharged from- custody. \ That is only one of many instances and the last one has roused much interest m Dunedin, and terminated m a Supreme Court prosecution. " It seems that on the evening of Tuesday, the 17th December last, two girls named respectively Jessie Martin and Elsie Rhine, who live at 208 Castle-street, were proceeding horne v about 10.30 o'clock. They were going down Frederick-street when they were accosted by two men, William David Johnstone and John Mowat, who were m volunteer uniform, and who seemed very slightly under the influence of liquor. The girls did not know them personally, but they did not object to the men walking home with them. The girls' story is full of contradictions and inconsistencies, but it appears that Elsie had ho wish to accompany the men, and that Jessie insisted., that she should walk with Mowat, while she herself appropriated Johnstone. Near the girls' home they parted from their , escort, after a struggle and sundry attempts at kissing, and the girls, went inside. ■ It was also' stated that the men offered to see the girls to the door, and if they liked they would go inside with them. The girls discouraged the project, however. Soon, after there came a thunderous knocking at the back door, and the i . ■ """

voices of Mowat and Johnstone demanded admittance. They wore ordered to go away, but Johnstono only replied "that if they didn't opaa the b— — door he would put his bayonet through it." Then they went round to the front door and again demanded admittance. Mrs Martin told them again to go away, saying ? 'they had come to the wrong pfcicc. 1 ' and. as they refused, SHE SENT FOR A POLICEMAN. In the meantime the noble defenders of their country attacked the front door with bayonets, and riddled it with holes. When the policeman arrived Johnstone bolted, but Mowat stood his ground, and was. ,arrested. In subsequent Court proceedings both men were sent on to the Supreme Court. Johnstone pleaded guilty, and was admitted to probation, while Mowat elected to fight,: rout his case. With the aid of veteran Hanlon, and the cherubic Burnard, both of whom were retained m his defence, be succeeded m gaining an acquittal. It was while under cross-examina-tion m the Police Court that the two girls gave to the case its^-re-markable feature. For the defence it was sought to show that they were girls of loose habits and had character, who might easily have led the men to suppose that they f were accessible whilst at home at- nights. So counsel for the defence mercilessly questioned them as to their movements on the many nights they acknowledged, they were out late, and on the ni^ht of the 17th December iii particular. They said that on that night they were at South Dunedin — they did not know the name of the street— and that they had spent the early part of the evening at the house of a friend. The en se was adiournwi. for a week, and when it was called again the "friend" mentioned waft present and anigrily denied that the girls were at his house that night. The girls, completely bowled out, then, asserted that they were m South, Dunedin all right, but that they spent the hours irith friends m. another house m an , unnamed street. Counsel for tb» defence rigorously cross-examined, evidently suspicious of the innumerable "friends, 1 ? and so full of : contradictionswas the evidence of the two girls that the Court gravely considered the advisability of a pirhiry nroseoutkm. Perseveringly investi pairing, counsel succeeded m extracting-some-thing about Kaikorai from the girls, but so .difficult had the case become that the Police Court was full of joy when Johnstone pleaded cu'lty, and with an audible siirjh* of relief tho whole business was sent off .-to thw Supreme Court. Giving eVirtencJe there, tlie girls stated • that thov h.°d never been m South Dunedin at al), and' that they had, m sonw mysterious way, spent those hours m Kf>»icorai. This peculiar feature of tlifi case evidently satisfied the jury, who. after a very brief retirement, brought, m a verdict of acquittal. ; The catee should have never been brought.^and had Jessie Martin's 'father, who is a\ respectable citizen, and engine-driver, known a bit more about his daughter, the prosecution would never have been commenced. Jessie has a reputation of not being a bit better than she ought to be, and Elsie of the Rhine, being her constant companion, basks m her reflected glory. Hoodlums found the street corners chortle deeply* wjh«n Jessie is mentioned, and although hoodlums have a habit • of besmirching the name of every woman, they assert they have cause m the case of. Jessie .and Elsie. Jessie's appearance, they say, marks her out as A DISCIPLE OF NAUGHTINESS, and her suspicious habit of staying out till ungodly hours of the night does not tend to improve her reputation m the eyes of Mrs Grundy. Those are two instances of the way m which this ever-growing class of questionable young women affect society, both showing that the relatives are ignorant of the manner m . which their daughters are acquiring and indulging m evil habits. In; exceptional cases these relatives have found evidence of misconduct, and the result has been prompt prosecution, of the men implicated. It is idle to assert that the men are blamtiess, but so long as women offer tfiemselves for caresses, there will be found a man willing to come to the half-way post. In such circumstanc- . es a man should only bear! a minor share of blames Let th©i»rsons controlling these brats of girls be warned ; let them insist that the, .£irls properly account for their time and their company, and a great and growing evil will be removed from Dunedin streets. : \ ■ ■ a .