FALLEN FEMALES.

NZ Truth, Issue 150, 2 May 1908, Page 6

FALLEN FEMALES.

The Flotsam and Jetsam of a Sinful City.

Beery Battlers and their Beats.

The dreadful crime of immorality is so I prevalent m Christchurch that special) constables have been told off to apprehend the fallen angels who do that sort of thing by night for a crust. The prim, respectable English trees m theitqwn belt have too long harbored the sinner, and the whispering willows and scandalised oaks on the banks of the Avon 'must shield the transgressor no longer. The Police Court has been busy of late dealing with sirens of varying degrees of disrespectability. and ' the noteworthy feature of the prosecutions is the apDearanco m the dock of the shame-faced man who assisted the complacent female on tho road to perdition. It takes two persons to commit a sin of this sort. Ox-ford-terrace is a popular resort for the lydies who are no better than they ought to be. and it was here that John Merry and Minnie Brown fractured the moral code at 7.45 on a recent evenins;. Station scrgea^i Johnston explained subsequently in' l^jrt -that two constables were shocked at the obscenity and hurried the offenders to the lock-up. Magistrate Bishop remarked that if there was much more of this sort of business he would uunish the offenders severely. The Sergeant; remarked that nothing reprehensible was known about the man, apart from his recent fall, but the woman was a nuisance to respectable wayfarers. His Worship said that all the same the man were to blame for the existence of this kind of woman, and both accused were kind of woman, and both accused were placed under the care of Government officials for the space of 48 hours, to expiate their offence. A common prostitute not inappropriateIv known as Mary Blue, whose conduct is cerulean m tint, also made Oxfordterrace the scene of her reproachful labors, and fell into the arms of the. law.; Mary Is quite an elderly uerson. and should have known better. "I plead guilty to speaking to- the two constables." she said, "but they spoke to me first." Apparently detection of this class of crime Is

A MATTER OF SERIOUS DELICACY, and the duty of making amatory proposals to the woman to learn her character is part of the business. It is assumed that it is not necessary •to test the badness of the woman by actual sin with her ; m the way that the probationer hobby drinks the sly grog to prove that it is grog, and is a sly liquid and was sold to him. Such an ordeal on the part of the virtuous, constable would be too great ; but still the constables had to speak to her first, or listen attentiyeiy if she spoke iirst, and even pretend that they might sin with tfier. . It must be a very interesting sort of a job, and alive with possibilities. "I've got a situation lo go to;" said Mary, plaintively to the Magistrate. "One month, with hard labor." responded his Worship, briefly. ' The beat of Jane Newman was m Hereford-street, and m this thoroughfare two horrified r>olicemen saw the woman accost and make improper nroposals to no fewer than four men within a short space of time. The morals, of the community were m grave danger, so the frail victim of circumstances was removed to ftie booby hatch prior to her transference to Cleary's castle for a virtuous ueriod of four weeks. There must be a lot of female labor m the Inferno at Dresent. It is the irony of fate that a lady charged with beincr an idle and disorderly person and with having a blameful occupation when busy should be burdened with the pious moniker of Nellie Goodchild. Nellie pleaded guilty m Christchurch S.M. Court, with a pleased expression on her haunting dial, conscious, perhaps, that a person with her name wouldn't be regarded as an extremely bad child. Missioner Smaill out m a seasonable word for her, and said the Sama ritan Home was willing . to accept her as a hazardous Magistrate Bishop said he would like to give the woman a chance. "I'll go- there and sec what it's like," said Mary, beaming ap proval on the Bench, with a face like tbc rising sun m a southerly (rale. . "Yes. and we will see what you are like." rejoined his Worship, severely.

Margaret lies igo't into a beastly stato through dringing elderberry wine m Tuam-street recently, and when peeler Roberts (which is an excellent name for a bobbyl nlaced his gloved dook on her shoulder, the lady sat down on the footpath and refused to budge. Moreover, she remarked, to Roberts, "You blanky. blanking blanker's blank ; let so mv arm you blanlriog blank." Tuam-street will Vive any other thoroughfare m the Dominion forty curses and a beatin? <n the blankv championship of the! world. Mag know she'd been squiffy wb^n phe was asked to plead next mornin«\ but the brutal hunk of blanky attributed to her entirely escaped her recollection. Missioner Smaill applied for custody of the sinner, who had been m the Home before, and bad always been a pood conduct person. Bishop, S.M. : "feFIE'S GOT A TERRIBLY BAD RECORD. She may I>c a eriod woman m the Home, but she is a bad woman outside." Margaret assumed the expression of a Christian martyr at the stake. "She always puts on an air of iri.jured innocence when she comes here," added his Worship, whose recollection of the accused's past was vivid and unprejudiced. "She is a perfect nuisance. Are you willing to "O into the Home?" "Yes, sir:" Six months 1 imnrisonment, to' he suspended during the residence of Margaret m the Samaritan Home for that period.