Two Women Jailed for an 'Unsavory' House That Drew Troopers After Dark
Mrs. Jack Smith and a woman named Griggs received three months in the county jail for vagrancy, with the specific charge tied to an unsavory establishment on the military reservation and complaints from neighbors.
Mrs. Jack Smith and a woman named Griggs were yesterday sentenced to three months in the county jail for vagrancy, the specific charge against them being that they were conducting an unsavory establishment on the military reservation. Troopers have been going there at night, and residents in that section of the city have made considerable complaint. The Smith woman has figured in the police court on several occasions and has at present a divorce suit against “Jack” Smith pending.
“The Smith woman has figured in the police court on several occasions and has at present a divorce suit against “Jack” Smith pending.”
Vice enforcement near military installations is an old Washington story, and this 1903 case shows how neighborhood complaints, soldiers and vagrancy law could combine to send women to jail. The same questions—who gets policed, whose complaints count, and what counts as disorder—still shape debates over sex work and public space today.
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