A MOLL HUNT.

NZ Truth, Issue 181, 5 December 1908, Page 5

A MOLL HUNT.

THE DENUNCIATION OF

ELIZA DENMAN.

What She Earned by Prostitution.

Beak Bishop is Benevolent.

'The religious community of Christchur'oh still pursues, with relentless fuxy, the unfortunate woman who is no better than she ought to be.. Plain-clothes constables are stationed at every corner, and the moll who escapes apprehension must be a genius or a friend of the cops. P'or a period of five and a-half years Eli&a Denman Ankins, who went out on her own as a youthful girl m her teens, has escaped the vigilance of tbe persons m i biue," who were unable to procure sufficient evidence 'that she earned her living man immoral manner. Finally, they charged her willi being ' a rogue and " a ' vagabond, and Eliza . appeared m court' m costly raiment and with a half-guinea j 'at on her 'cad, and pleaded not guilty, i Considering the years that the woman has been appearing Before the public, she is extremely young, and "felt her position keenly," as the callow reporter says in_ the daily sausage wraps. T,be artificial flower garden m her hat was all of a tremble, and showed that Eliza - was suffering under the stress of great emotion. Solicitor Leathern defended the woman, and the entire police force, or sufficient of it to block the passage at tne police entrance to the court, rolled up to give testimony against Eliza.. Three, peelers, .including a man. from Sydenham, stated that they had seen the woman on the streets at^ night, ' : APPARENTLY WITH UNLAWFUL . INTENT, ' „ .. fot a period of two years. It wasn't merply occasionally, but every nijght of the week, and the Johns suspected that the woman was seducing' a' section of the mule portion of the population. The S}deh:m con table testified that; to his knowledge the police hadn't succeeded m catching her ? doing anything unlawful within the past two years. Magistrate Bishop : ' Probably they couldn't catch her soliciting. Copper Baird testified that lie also had known the woman for two ' years, during which period she. had the reputation'of being a prostitute. The bobby had no doubt m his'own mind as to" the mnnner m which' Eliza obtained a livelihood. .•■•■•.■• . .'_. • , Copper Scott gave evidence that he had inspected Eliza with severity at intervals within the past 'liwtlve niohlhs, and had. formed the worst' opinion of her morals. She was m the habit of consorting with an un virtuous female named Mary Lloyd, otherwise known as "Polly," and ho relation of Marie Lloyd, of vaudeville fame. ' . Constable . Pendex, who speaks with the mellow brogue of Hi'oernia, had only known Eliza for five or six months, but was shocked -at the company she kept.' He also had seen, her loitering m a susr picious manner with "Polly." Lawyer Leatnem explained that Eliza had been living with Mrs Kenton,~ who kepA a fish-shop m Colombo-read, Sydenham. Moreover, Eli'a Was in' service 'there and earned a respectable liveliliood, receiving the sum oii 12s 6d per week for housework. ' • , / His Worship :'- How much ?— l2s 6d, your Worship.' ! His Worship: Humph! Mr Leathern: She works ;in the _ day time. >■ : ' . Mr Bishop : And walks up the street at night. : ■ ■: :\- - ' Counsel acknowledged that . such was the case. ; "WHAT DOES SHE DO AT NTGHT ?" asked his Worship. "You deny that she is a prostitute .?" ,ihe added. • . ■'. Air 'Leathern reprtsunted that as the police had be. h acquainted with Eliza for a period of two years, and as it was" five and a half ' ) earssirite she h-ad been . convicted of ■'. a . mih>r ofience, the presumj,tion was that • bhe had been living a reputable life. She could get good work, according to counsel. She didn't drink, and had never been before the ! Court for soliciting. Kli/.a, giving evidence m her bwn behalf, stated that Mrs h, en ton kept a combined fish and fruit fchop, and . Eliza received 1.2s tid a week:as a general help, )did for Lnight'ly. There were no mtn sleeping jn the house, to her knowledge, and the establishment was a well-con-ducted one. . She started the day's toil at 6 a.m. and finished at 2 p.m., and she was m he habit of walking up the street m the evenings. ■ His Worship : How old are' you ?— Twenty-three. v And you were convicted of something five-and-a-half years ago ?— Yes. v Do you admit that you do' walk the streets ?— Yes. That you have prostituted yourself ?— Yes. .; ■ ■ .' ' ■ . .'■• '. ■ ' . ' Where did you take the men to ? Eliza stated that she used to take them to the room of a house occupied by a dark lady, but latterly she bad. been taking them to the residence of Mrs Reid lin an unspecified street. Eli/a assured his Worship, tearfully, that she hadn't been immoral with a man for fully a fortnight. y His Worship thought the period a short one. The girl had admitted that she was a prostitute, and tha;t was sufficient, on top of the previous conviction, \tp sustain the charge. His Wo.rship asked her what she. would do m the future, supposing the court was lenient to her, but Eliza was silent. Of course, added his Worship, if she were caught soliciting m the future, she would be liable t6 a term of imprison men t. "How much do you earn by prostitution ?" asked Mr Bishop. "What is the average-7-give me a rou^h , idea ?"— , TWO OR THREE POUNDS A WEEK. /What do you do' with the money ?— I spend it. How ? Have you dny claims outside yourself ?— I pay for my keep, and the rest I spend m clothes. Now, are you going to give up this prostitution ?— There is nothing else for it. ' Tell' me, is there anything m it ?— No. ■Magistrate Bishop looked up the woman's record and discovered that the conviction of five years ago was for being 'idle and disorderly i .when Eliza/was sent to a Home. 1 , His Worshop spoke to Eliza m a fatherly way, and strongly advised her to break off >her' immoral practices. Of course, he^ especially recognised that women of this class found it a great temptation when men had the inclination , to sin with them, hut he advised Eliza to give it best. Mr Leathern understood that the girl had a mother m Sydenham. His Worship advised the accused to get put of the .district altogether and commence a reputable life. He would convict her oh the charge of .being a rogue and a vagabond, and warned her that the next time she appeared before him it would be as an incorrigible rogue. His Worship recognised that it' was very hard for a woman on the loose to pull 'herself together, but he reminded her that were it not for her record that she had not been convicted for five and a-half years (which showed that "she was not entirely a toad woman), he would sentence her to a term of imprisonment. Eliza was convicted and discharged, and went on her way rejoicing. It was funny how tJhe No-license gang won votes m New Zealand, says a Sydney paper. They tried s to prove that Nolicense meant a decrease m drunkenness* and Rioted figures for Ashburton's first year. The Hung party then quoted Ashburton's fifth year, and proved conclusively that drunkenness had increased considerably since the No-license racket. The argument was so convincing that all the l old topers joined forces with the cranks and vote* 1 -MiCA" I***.1 ***. ;