An Arrest at a Disreputable House
A theft on Washington Street leads to charges of larceny and solicitation.
Carl Johnson, an inmate of a disreputable house on Washington Street, was arrested yesterday afternoon by Constable Hoke on a warrant sworn out by Florence Johnson, a laborer, charging petit larceny. Carl Johnson claims that Florence La Salle invited him into her house last Thursday night and introduced him to Miss Johnson. He stated that during their short acquaintance, she abstracted $15 from his trousers pocket. Carl Johnson was released by Judge Glasgow on $100 bond to appear this morning. Florence La Salle was also arrested on the charge of soliciting.
“Carl Johnson claims that Florence La Salle invited him into her house last Thursday night and introduced him to Miss Johnson.”
The language used in these reports—'disreputable house' and 'soliciting'—was the standard way the press criminalized the lives of sex workers and those in the margins. It reflects the era's attempt to regulate and police the morality of the downtown district near the waterfront.
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