This story, during its research, grew to enfold a number of separate but connected incidents and events. It was a gift which kept on giving - especially the portions from the "NZ Truth," that fearlessly alliterative exposer of the human follies of its time.
A SHOCKING STORY
NUDE REVELS ALLEGED,
AND DRUNKEN ORGIES AT NORTH-EAST HARBOR.
Two half-caste girls, stunningly costumed in the latest style, and both of attractive appearance, were charged in the City Police Court this morning with being idle and disorderly persons having insufficient lawful means of support. They are sisters — Mary Fowler (20 years old) and Olive Fowler (17 years old) — and the allegations made are that they came to the City very recently, and have been in the hands of a man named Ernest Ebzery, who was before the Court on the more serious charge of managing a house of ill-fame at North-east Harbor, contrary to the War Regulations. The arrests were made yesterday by Detectives Kemp, Hammerly, and Hall.
The girls were undefended, and pleaded guilty.
Chief-detective Bishop asked that the case stand over until the afternoon. The girls had been brought before the Court for their own protection. He would in the meantime communicate with the Rev. Mr King as to what was best to be done with them.
The case was ordered to stand over accordingly.
Ebzery was then placed on the stand, and pleaded not guilty to the serious charge preferred against him.
Mr W. G. Hay, his counsel, asked for a remand for one week. The remand was granted till this day week.
Mr Hay then asked for bail.
The Chief Detective: I oppose bail. The accused has been picking up young women night after night and taking them with men in a motor car to a house at Northeast Harbor. Drunken orgies have taken place in the house. Young girls have been stripped naked, and altogether a very shocking state of affairs has taken place in the house. Accused is a married man with a wife and family, and it is disgraceful that he should have been carrying on in this way.
Mr Hay said that the chief detective's statements were absolutely denied. The man was formerly a licensed taxi-cab driver.
The Chief Detective said that his license had been cancelled as the result of a charge heard recently in the Supreme Court against a young girl. Bail was allowed, accused in his own recognisance of £l50 and one surety of a like amount.
HAUL OF EMPTY BOTTLES. Detective-sergeant Kemp and Detective Hammerly motored down this morning to the house where these orgies are said to have been held, and found 50 empty beer and stout bottles, two full bottles of beer and one of stout, and on empty whisky bottle. The house is one of seven rooms, and fitted with telephone and modern conveniences.
THE GIRLS FURTHER REMANDED. When the girls were brought before the Court again this afternoon Chief-detective Bishop said that after consideration he found that the remand was not long enough, and he would ask — in the interests of the girls and of the public — that they be remanded for another week for medical examination.
Asked if they had any objection, the girls said "No!"
The Magistrate (Mr Young, S.M.): Very well, they will be remanded till today week, and in the meantime the prison surgeon will be instructed to examine and report. -Evening Star, 11/7/1917.
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| Ernest Ebzery - Police Gazette, 1/5/1918. |
ALLEGED WHITE SLAVERY
Ernest Ebzery Embroiled
"Shocking and Repulsive Conduct"
At the North-East Harbor.
Obscene Orgies and Drunken Doings.
(From "Truth's" Dunedin Rep.)
What promises to be among the most deplorable cases heard at any time in this Dominion is down for hearing at the City Police Court towards the end of the present week. The formal proceedings herein reported were gone through last week, and merely serve as an introduction to
THE EXTRAORDINARY DISCLOSURES that are to follow. The dragging of the culprits and the major culprits into the merciless light of day was due to the amazing energy and perseverance displayed by Detectives Kemp, Hammerley and Hall. It may be remarked that the alleged den was fitted up in typical Parisian fast style — women, drink, the telephone and the other incidental little "comforts" dependent on the main attraction — two welldressed young women, Mary and Olive Fowler, aged 20 and 17 years respectively.
These two young women were charged before Mr. H. A. Young, S.M., last week with being idle and disorderly persons in that they had no lawful, visible means of support.
They pleaded guilty to the charge.
Chief-Detective Bishop said that the girls, who were recent arrivals in the city, were arrested by Detectives Kemp, Hammerley and Hall. They had been under the influence of a man named Ebzery, who it was alleged had encouraged them to follow the scandalous life they lived at the house at North-East Harbor. Ebzery was arrested the same day and charged with being concerned in the managing of the said house. This man's conduct, as will be referred to later, was simply most depraved and loathsome.
The Chief-detective applied for an adjournment of the hearing to a period later in the day, which was granted.
On the resumption of the cases, he applied for a further adjournment until a day in this week. This was granted.
The charge against Ebzery was next taken.
Lawyer Hay represented the accused, who pleaded not guilty. Mr. Hay applied for an adjournment of a week and asked for bail. The Chief-detective intimated that he strenuously opposed the granting of bail, as defendant's conduct
WAS ABSOLUTELY DISGRACEFUL. He had, night after night, inveigled young women to the house at North-East Harbor, where nothing but immoral, drunken orgies were the rule of the evening. The conduct in the house by all concerned was of a most shocking nature and repulsive to a degree. Ebzery had a wife and family, which intensified the ugliness of his behavior.
Lawyer Hay said that the statements made by the Chief-detective were denied absolutely. Ebzery was at one time a licensed taxi-driver in the city.
The Chief-Detective: That is no recommendation. Ebzery's license was cancelled in consequence of a case heard against a young woman in a recent Supreme Court case. She had been in Ebzery's car, and Ebzery, himself, had been driving.
His Worship granted Lawyer Hay's applications, and fixed bail at £150 in defendant's own recognisance, and one surety of a similar amount. The money was forthcoming.
Later, Detectives Kemp, Hammerley and Hall paid a visit to a house at North-East Harbor and found numerous empty beer, stout and whisky bottles, and also several unopened bottles. There was also discovered glaring evidences of the obscene orgies carried on. The house was comfortably furnished.
On Saturday morning last, May Annie Tabernacle pleaded guilty to loitering for an immoral purpose. The Chief-Detective said that the accused
WAS A MARRIED WOMAN, about 22 years of age, and had one child. She was living upart from her husband. (Here the young woman suddenly collapsed, falling heavily from the dock in a faint.) The case (which was not wholly unconnected with the proceeding ones) was adjourned for a week. -NZ Truth, 21/7/1917.
Dunedin Police Court
Loitering for Immoral Purposes. — Mary Ann Tabernacle, who pleaded guilty at a previous sitting of the court, was brought up for sentence, and charged with loitering for an immoral purpose on various dates between 1st and 12th July. Accused was not represented by counsel. — Chief Detective Bishop said accused was between 22 and 23 years of age, and was the wife of a discharged soldier, but the couple were living apart. She was the mother of a child, whose age was 14 months, and the child was in the custody of the father, and was well cared for. For some time the police were aware that accused was frequenting the streets for no good purpose. She made a practice of waylaying and soliciting from returned soldiers and men on leave from camp. She was warned by Detectives Hammerley and Hall. Later she was found living in a house of ill-fame along with two other young women, one of whom had since been sent to her home in Invercargill. Accused pleaded for a chance, and as her husband was in camp at Trentham, this was given her. She was kept under observation, and it was found that she was exhibiting no inclination to reform. About this time her husband was discharged from camp medically unfit, and, returning to Dunedin, took up house and at once made a home for her, but he was compelled to complain to the police as to his inability to keep men away from the house. She then left her husband, and went to live with a soldier deserter named Roy Lambess, who was arrested by the police and handed over to he military authorities, and was now on Quarantine Island. When the accused woman was arrested there were found in her handbag letters which she had evidently intended to have smuggled across to the eoldicr referred to in which it was apparent that she was endeavouring to arrange his escape from custody. Accused took up her abode at the Occidental Private Hotel, kept by Ernest Ebzery, where she ran up an account amounting to 16s for telephone charges. The chief detective suggested that she be dealt with under the War Regulations, and sent away for the full period. He said there was no need for her to live the life she had adopted, as her husband had made her an adequate allowance from his military pay. He handed to the bench the gaol surgeon's report of a medical examination of the accused, from which it would he seen that she was suffering from a grave disorder.—The Magistrate said that though the accused was quite young, it was not a case of a mere lapse. She had had repeated warnings, and had been given chances to reform, but had evidently settled down to a life of immorality. In her present condition as revealed by the medical certificate she was a menace to the community. She would be sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment with hard labour, in Addington Gaol. -Otago Witness, 25/7/1917.
Norman Ernest Tabernacle, born in England, volunteered for the NZ Army at the end of 1914. A Medical Board ruled him as "unfit" on account of being "feebleminded" in November, 1917.
Roy Lambess is another colourful character. His military record is a list of infractions - AWOL on a number of occasions, and escaping from custody in Dunedin's Central Battery and also from Quarantine Island. He was a jockey before the War, and involved in a 1910 court case concerning breaches of the Gaming Act. His address on enlistment was "Police Station, Auckland" - indicating the possibility that he was not an absolute volunteer when volunteering for the Army. Records also show that, on being discharged as medically unfit, he was suffering from a veneral disease, which would have been the reason he was sent to Quarantine Island in 1917. His post-war activities included "theft from the person," horse theft and being cited as co-respondent in a divorce case.
WHITE SLAVERY
SHOCKING DUNEDIN CASE
FASHION LEADS TO DOWNFALL
A case of white slave traffic came before the Dunedin Magistrate's Court on Wednesday, when Ernest Ebzery, aged 43, was charged with keeping a house of ill-fame at North East Harbor, situated at one of the pleasure resorts on the harbor side of Dunedin.
A little over two weeks ago the police raided Ebzery's house, and arrested two handsome half-caste Maori girls, named Fowler, who were dressed in the latest fashions, and also Ebzery. The facts, as detailed by Chief Detective Bishop, disclosed a shocking state of affairs. Ebzery, it appears, is a married man with two children. He was formerly the holder of a hotelkeeper's license in Middlemarch, but lost the license through breaches of the Act. He then removed to Dunedin and took over a boarding-house, and became the holder of a license from the City Council to drive a taxi-cab. In his motor-car a man was robbed of £40 by a girl, and in consequence of the remarks made by the Judge in regard to this case Ebzery's license was cancelled.
About six weeks ago, he leased a small farm and residence at North East Harbor, and almost immediately he became possessed of it he turned it into a brothel. The evidence revealed shocking facts, and proved that not only was the accused a brothel-keeper of the worst type, but that he was a procurer of girls, one of them a mere girl of 17, and another a soldier's wife, whose husband was now fighting in France. With the exception of the two Fowler girls, all the rest were girls in respectable situations. One of them, unfortunately for her, happened to be in his employ at his boardinghouse, and he obtained an evil influence over her, and she assisted him in procuring fresh girls from her working companions.
By these means the evil spread. The girls Fowler, aged 20 and 17 respectively, were of respectable parentage. They were reared with good care at considerable expense. Both attended a Maori College in Canterbury for a period of three years, to finish their education, and had they not succumbed to Ebzery's evil influence they probably would have been respectable members of society to-day. It would appear from the statements which these girls made that once they became entrammelled in Ebzery's meshes he kept them strictly under his control, for they said he ordered them to get certain things, and they had to do as he wished, under threats that if they failed he would make it hot for them.
When the police searched the place the detectives found 52 empty beer and stout bottles. The girls said they were always abundantly supplied with drink.
The Magistrate, in sentencing the accused to 11 months' imprisonment, said it appeared that there were a number of young women with an excessive fondness for dress and excitement, which caused them to become an easy prey for designing scoundrels. The accused, in cold blood, and in order to enrich himself, had assisted some of these young women in their downfall. It was quite clear that he was a danger to the community.
The Fowler girls were sent to an Anglican Home in the North Island for twelve months. -Marlborough Express, 30/7/1917.
Ernest Ebzery was not the only person caught in the sweeping up of Dunedin's moral grime. Mrs Parker, well known in police circles for her easy way with liquor sales, also featured in the news.
STOP PRESS ITEMS.
ALLEGED HOUSE OF ILL-FAME.
Margaret Parker, the proprietress of the Grand Pacific Boardinghouse (St. Kilda), was charged in the Police Court this afternoon, before Mr Bartholomew, S.M.. with keeping a house of ill-fame. Chief-detective Bishop prosecuted and Mr B. S. Irwin appeared for accused, who pleaded not guilty.
His Worship ordered the court to be cleared of the public.
May Anne Tabernacle said that she stayed at the accused's boardinghouse, the Grand Pacific Hotel, in May last, and was in the habit of taking men there for immoral purposes, and for that reason was allowed to stay without payment of board. The men each paid 12s 6d per night for the use of the room. She had seen the two Fowler girls at the place. Witness took, on an average, five men to the house each week. She saw a man named Chas. Greenaway with Olive Fowler. She knew a man named Andrew Townley, who had been there with her. She knew Clara Robertson and Violet Wackeldine, and had seen the latter there with fellows. Before she went to lodge at the place she had stopped at it for a night. The greatest earning she had made there were £l2 10s — in Show Week — by immoral proceedings She had not seen Townley there with Olive Fowler. He paid her (witness) £2. She knew a man named Peacock, who drove a taxi. He came out in his car with two soldiers, who went into the accused's. He asked for Olive Fowler, and when she said she did not know the girl he said, she would do. Mrs Parker was paid 7s 6d at the door, and she was paid 15s. She had seen persons come at night and go away early in the morning. Mrs Parker had never got men for her.
To Mr Irwin: All she had said to-day she told Detective Hammerley a fortnight ago. She was friendly with Mrs Parker all the time she stayed there.
Mr Irwin: Why did you tell this, then?
Witness: Because I had to say where I took the men.
Have you been anywhere else with men? — Only at Reilly's, but I did not take them there.
When did you meet this man Townley? — I was introduced to him by a friend named Buddicom. She remembered another man named Ross and another Miller, whom she thought were on the boats. She had seen Miller outside the court in the morning. She would swear Miller was out with her for an immoral purpose.
Mr Irwin: Don't you know that Mrs Parker refused the Fowlers admission, because they came for immoral purposes?
Witness: The only time they were refused was because they did not take a "boy."
Violet Wackeldine, single, of 20 years, said she knew Mrs Parker since girlhood. Before the Winter Show she stopped at Parker's five nights — three times with a man named Geo. Ross, and twice with two others. -Evening Star, 6/8/1917.
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| The Grand Pacific Hotel, by Burton Bros. Hocken Library photo. |
Items of Interest
Says Thursday's Dunedin Star: "Some American has remarked: 'Give a lie five minutes' start in a go-cart, and Truth in a 12-cylinder racing car will never overtake it.' Rumor has been so busy and so successful in identifying the bailor of the man Ebzery, and so malicious in imputing motives, that it is advisable to set down in black and white that the man who bailed him out was neither a prominent Princes Street tradesman nor a prominent George street tradesman; further, that the connection between bailor and bailee had never been more than a legitimate one." -Waimate Daily Advertiser, 6/8/1917.
THE EBZERY CASE.
TO THE EDITOR. Sir,— By your permission I would like to call the attention of the public to this matter. Last night I was astounded, on picking up the 'Evening Star,' to see where the Council of Churches had called for a public meeting for the purpose of submitting a resolution to the Government to further punishing the man Ebzery. Is not the Church the last place at which you expect to see judgment passed on any unfortunate being? I myself admit that no man is without blemish. I always understood that the Church was for the uplifting of mankind, and not for the kicking of anyone who is down. I may be wrong. The man Ebzery has been held wholly responsible through the papers for ruining girls' characters. I see by their own evidence, as well as others, that those very girls visited other places besides Ebzery's, and that they did so before making his acquaintance. Has not that man a soul to save, as well as his wife a living to earn? If that is the Council of Churches' idea of Christianity, I for one will not support them.— I am, etc.,
Presbyterian Communicant August 7. -Evening Star, 7/8/1917.
For God, the Home, and Humanity
For some time past representations have been made to the National Government to appoint women either as police assistants or as patrols in order to prevent crime, not to detect it. Last week the various women's organisations throughout the Dominion sent to Wellington a strong and representative delegation, who waited on the Prime Minister and the Minister of Defence, and again urged the immediate appointment of women patrols in the four centres. The fact that the Prime Minister said that eight additional police "matrons" had been appointed in May last shows that the authorities do not yet see the difference between looking after criminals and preventing criminals being made. During the last few days there has been forced upon this community the urgent necessity of something of a drastic nature to save the purity of our young girlhood, which is being insidiously assailed after the manner of the abominable white slavery traffic of older lands, the recent exposures of which in various cities of the United States have aroused intense indignation throughout that country.
The notorious Ebzery case comes first. The references thereto made on the floor of the House by the member for Dunedin Central, together with its bearing on the clamant demand for the institution of women patrols, deserve to be remembered gratefully by the community generally and by the women of Dunedin Central, because Mr Statham took the earliest possible opportunity of redeeming the promise he made last year to bring this matter pointedly under the notice of Cabinet, and to give it every possible support. It is quite apparent from the discussion last week that the member for Dunedin Central is more alive than are the National Government to the important work that women patrols can do in saving young girls from "procurers" and other devils in human form. The House seemed to recognise that the maximum sentence allowed to be passed under the War Regulations on a man (sic) of Ebzery's stamp was absolutely inadequate. But what will our readers, who view the sorry business in its true perspective, have to say concerning the sentence passed on the woman Parker yesterday for an offence quite as grievous, though it lacked some of the outstanding features of the other case?
We shall doubtless be accused of having given too much prominence to this case; but its seriousness warranted us, we felt, in calling attention as pointedly as we possibly could to the nature of the great moral evil that is present among us and is sapping the very foundations of family life in our midst. Desperate diseases require desperate remedies; and if the Legislature is to be successfully moved to its duty in the presence of such a grave menace, which is spreading its malign and pestiferous influence over the length and breadth of the land, the public and our legislators should know actualities, and not be fed up by lying rumors and disgraceful innuendoes. Here is a woman of substance — the possessor of considerable real estate and the mother of a family — who wrongs her womanhood by taking unto herself the lion's share of the "wages of sin." It is quite clear that she was harboring "professionals" in lust, and that she knew the fact. Such a light sentence only encourages such harpies, and in no way deters them or others of a like criminal profession.
We are in the fourth year of the war; we are proud of the sacrifices of our sons; we are proud (or think we are) of our moral standing as a people amongst the nations of the world: yet we have lust more or less openly rampant in our midst, and sentences passed which in no way reflect the right judgment of honorable men and women. We are compelled to ask these questions: "Are our men dying for tho propagation of this immoral condition of things?" "Are our legislators indifferent to the moral welfare of the future mothers, whose children are required to replace heroes?" "Is there to be no favorable response to the urgent demands of philanthropic and experienced workers that lust shall be stopped at its fountain head, and that women patrols shall be brought into existence, who may save girls from vice and secure clean mothers for posterity?" To punish crime is not enough; to check, or rather to prevent, crime is the ideal of all workers for moral ends to-day. The demands of our social reformers are, briefly put, these: Adequate sentences for cases we have referred to above, and the provision at once of women patrols to save our womanhood, which, so far as the middle class are concerned, we have it on undoubted authority has gone wrong to the alarming extent of 80 per cent. Will not the men rise to a call of chivalry and aid in this matter by selfrestraint, purity, and support of a movement for saving the future wives of their sons, and helping to win this war by helping us to deserve to win it? -Evening Star, 7/8/1917.
EBZERY AND OTHERS
MASS MEETING OF MEN
CALLED BY COUNCIL OF CHURCHES.
At the invitation of' The Council of Churches a meeting of men was held in Burns Hall last night to consider the Ebzery and other cases. All the floor seats were occupied, and there were 100 or more in the gallery. The Rev. A. Cameron presided, supported by the Rev. G. Heighway, the Rev. R. S. Gray, Canon Nevill, Rev. Graham Baltour, Dr Riley, and Mr J. H. Wilkinson.
The Chairman said that the meeting was held under the auspices of the Council of Churches in the interests of justice and clean living. The motions to be presented would seek to emphasise these two points — clean living and even-handed justice. In many ways our sisters had not got evenhanded justice as compared with men. The sooner that was remedied the better. He wished to express on his own behalf appreciation of the action of Mr Statham — (applause) — in raising this question in the House. No doubt everyone present agreed with Mr Statham that the sentence upon Ebzery should have been of a very different kind. (Hear, hear.) If the law did not allow it at present, the sooner the law was changed the better. That afternoon the Women's Christian Temperance Union had passed a resolution of congratulation and appreciation of the prompt action taken in this matter by the Council of Churches, and the union intended to follow up that action in a public meeting of women.
The Rev. R. S. Gray said he had been asked to move this motion:— "That this meeting of citizens of Dunedin are of opinion that the ends of justice have not been fully met in the Ebzery case by the sentence imposed on him, and it requests the Minister of Justice to make inquiry into the case and take all possible steps to bring the other offenders before the Court." He urged that there was no need to say anything in justification of the action of the Council of Churches in calling attention to this case. In his judgment, if the council representing the churches of this City had refrained from taking this action they would have been unworthy of their position. In view of what the position of this country must be after the war the churches must be prepared to come out more into the open and be much more aggressive, and smite evil with unsparing hand wherever it appeared. This City had been full of talk about what has been called the shocking revelations of the Ebzery case, the Parker case, and the other case. He was intensely thankful for the shocking revelations. They were the outcrop of a growth that had been going on under the surface for longer than many know. All decent people would be thankful to the police for the action they had taken, and also intensely dissatisfied with the sentence in the Parker case. When Mrs Parker was convicted of sly grog selling for the third or fourth time she was sentenced to three months' imprisonment, but when convicted of making her living on the wrongdoing of persons whom the Magistrate himself called immature girls, he said that he would make the sentence as light as possible. Why "as light as possible"? The public sentiment must demand that such leniency should end for ever. The sentence was an insult to the intelligence and the moral sentiment of the community. The facts in the Ebzery case stood almost in the same category, but the Magistrate was not to blame. The charge was laid under the War Regulations Act, which gave the police more power but limited the sentence to one year. Not a word could be said against the sentence imposed on Ebzery, except this — that it was rather a slight on the men who are fighting for us that he should get a month off so that he could go and fight with them. What about the persons concerned in this case who were not before the Court? Did anyone believe that the men for whom these girls were procured were three men from the country, and one hotel porter? He didn't believe it. The time had come for men who loved their City to say they would not be content that the sentence in a case like this should be passed only on the tool. We should insist, as far as we could, on the principals being brought together. We should demand equal justice not only as between the men and the women, but as between the procurer and the men for whom girls are procured. If the Minister said that the law does not permit of these men being placed on trial, we must demand that the law be altered. The principals in such a case were not the man who kept the house, nor the girls. Girls were used to decoy other girls. One method was by joy rides in motor cars. For what purpose were motors to be seen standing by night without lights on the edge of the lupines and other places about the suburbs? In America they did not allow motors to stand about at night without lights, and there should be such a law here. Here was a significant fact about the Ebzery case. Ebzery was not charged with being a procurer, but with keeping a House of ill-fame; yet when the chief detective said in court that he did procure these girls his counsel did not say a single word in contradiction of that statement, and when the Magistrate went on to sentence Ebzery the counsel said he accented the position as the chief detective had stated it. There could be no doubt that Ebzery did procure these girls, and if that was the case there was the strongest reason for the citizens saying that the men at the back of this affair should be brought into the light. It was not certain that the Minister could take adequate action in this case. But he had the facts, and these facts were that the case was adjourned again and again, that in the end Ebzery pleaded guilty, and that his counsel did not say a word in defence of the statement that the girls had been procured. Ebzery pleaded guilty to the charge, and did not protest when a much more grievous charge was mentioned. He took his punishment without saying a word, whilst the men who must have been behind him went free. The motion asked that the Minister should do what he could to unearth these men and have them punished, and have their names made public. The aim of the meeting would be gained if these men could be found out. If there was no punishment for them, let the public put the fear of hell into them since they had no fear of God. (Applause.) This was not an isolated case. Ask the men who "knocked about," and they would say that you hardly ever saw a woman of the streets identifiable as such on the streets The danger was from those who were not seen in public - mere girls who passed as respectable. The "fallen women" were easily picked out. We should know also who are the "fallen men," so that the brand could be put on them too. (Applause.) Until we set ourselves to accomplish that aim we should never clean the City. He pleaded for justice as between the sexes. Women always had the heavy end to bear, and there was much of their burden that we could not relieve them of, but this was one disability that we could take from them. We must also adopt preventive measures. The world's testimony about prostitution was that the great bulk of the unfortunates began their sins before they had reached the age of 18 years, and a large number before they were 16. The lack of parental control and home influence was the chief cause. Girls with their hair down were allowed to ramble about, their fathers and mothers know not where, at night, and thus got into the way of meeting all sorts of men of whom they knew little or nothing. What we wanted was an educational league to lay cleanly but clearly before girls the leading facts about their sexual life. In thousands of cases girls went to their destruction in absolute ignorance. Thus the evil began, and it spread far and wide, with the result that thousands of physically tainted men were to be the fathers of the coming race. In view of the sacrifice which our soldiers were making to build up a new civilisation and clean the world we must be patriotic enough to say that at all costs we will as a community, grapple with this evil, and as individuals take care that in our own circles the atmosphere shall be such that no fallen man will be able to live in it. (Applause.)
Canon Nevill, in seconding the motion, said that Mr Gray had said nearly all that he (the canon) could say on the subject. He desired to merely add two points. One was in regard to white slavery. London was at one time cursed with this evil, but when flogging was made a part of the punishment for procuration half the German population of London cleared out. Half the men and women who acted as procurers and procuresses in the Old Country were almost or entirely of the German race. Here we were in a new country, comparatively clean, but if we did not stop procuration we should have the London horror on a smaller scale. He would ask each father: "What about your own daughters? How do you know what may happen to them? How can you know that by death or poverty misfortune may not come to them, and if this City is not safe for girls, what is your security concerning them? They may, for aught you can tell, be forced by circumstances into the very dangers you are now protesting against." He was thinking of his own daughters and of every other man's daughters. The other point he wished to make was equality of justice. We ought to demand that none of those wretched girls, who were now being punished, should be treated more rigorously than the men. The wrong persons were punished! We all knew that. We all felt it. And he would say it. (Applause.)
Mr G. M. Thomson then moved: "That this meeting strongly protest against the inadequacy of the punishment provided by the Act for the offence committed by Ebzery, and urge the Minister of Justice to introduce immediately such an amendment as will make the punishment more commensurate with the gravity of the offence." There was one point in connection with the matter, he said, which Mr Gray had not mentioned — if Ebzery and men of his type were to be handed over to the military authorities when they had completed their term of imprisonment, what of the young fellows who were in camp at that time and who would be compelled to associate with such social pests? (Hear, hear.) It was difficult to say how the Minister could deal with the matter. There was a clause in the Justices of the Peace Act which provided for a fine of £20 or up to three months' imprisonment (with double the penalty for a second offence) on conviction of any person conducting or assisting to conduct a house of ill-fame. But that was not the Act they wanted amended. It was section 161 of the Crimes Act, under which a person was liable to two years' imprisonment for keeping a gaming-house or a bawdy-house. The grouping in this section struck him as a strange one. If a person who conducted a betting-house could get two years, then he who conducted the other kind should get 20 years. (Applause.) It was impossible to make people moral by Act of Parliament, but the way of those transgressors who lived by encouraging immorality should be made hard indeed. The speaker alluded to the hundreds of young women who walked the streets at night, and expressed the hope that women police would be appointed who would look after these girls and warn them. Magistrates and police should take a more serious view of offences of the kind under review, and put down those who fostered such practices.
The Rev. R. E. Davies, in seconding the motion, said that many people asked: "What have parsons got to do with questions of this kind?" The answer was that parsons had nothing to do with the social evil they had a great deal to do with its consequences. He could assure men that they (the parsons) were constantly up against troubles which arose from this source. He could tell of things which would simply astound his hearers. The evil was far more widespread than they imagined. The parsons had this much to do with it: they had to look after the child after the mothers' death — to house them in the orphanages — and often to look after the poor miserable women in their bodily illness. The best way to lift fallen women was to reform men. (Applause.) He had a great deal of sympathy with fallen women, many of whom had been brought to their present condition by the doings of men. He would like to see women magistrates in some cases; they would be better able to understand. They certainly needed women police. He hoped the Government would see their way to amend the law to allow of the reintroduction of the lash in such cases as Ebzery's. (Applause.)
The motion was carried unanimously.
Mr J. H. Wilkinson moved — "That as the president of the Council of Churches will be in Wellington this week he be requested to personally present the resolutions already passed at this meeting." The mover spoke of the shock experienced by those who had the welfare of the City at heart when the details of the revolting case were made known. His own conviction was that, painful as the revelation was, it was better that the citizens should know, and know speedily, what was going on, so that they might grapple with the evil as with a plague that threatened our fair City. They had reason to be proud of the manner in which their two daily papers were dealing with moral questions. I and they should congratulate the Council of Churches for bringing the matter before the public.
Dr Riley, in seconding the motion, said he was there because he believed in the sacredness of woman. He recognised that no appeal to the Legislature would prevent immorality, though it might do something to safeguard the innocent and unwary. The only way to overcome the social evil in the community was to implant a spirit of self-repression and justice in the hearts of men. His experiences as a medical man in Dunedin taught him that seduction was often practised not necessarily by procurers, but by the vile selfishness of young men in the community. Many sad cases came under his notice. Sometimes the women were equally to blame, but many times they had been dragged from the path of virtue. In all cases the woman suffered, while the man went scot-free. It behoved us to create a healthy public opinion, which would not tolerate vice unashamed. They should demand that legislation be carried to its limits in order to exercise a deterrent effect on a grave danger to the community. (Applause.)
Mr Steve Boreham, speaking from the body of the hall, said that, as a father of girls, he wished to express his disapproval of the paragraph in Monday night's 'Star,' in connection with the Parker case, and in which was published the sums obtained by the girls. He had never read anything like it in any paper in New Zealand. It "took the cake," and was an encouragement to other girls to indulge in evil practices.
The Rev. Mr Gray said that at the conclusion of his address earlier in the evening he had heard an interjection concerning the 'Star.' He wanted to say, in justice to that journal, that representations in the matter of the report in the previous night's issue had been made that day to the editor, who had explained his position thus: He had been extremely loth to publish the full details, but had had to decide between doing this and publishing nothing at all, and he had chosen the former course in order to keep the path in moral questions which he had set out to pursue. In publishing the revolting details once and for all, he had reckoned upon the shock thus occasioned helping tremendously the steps now being taken to bring about moral reform. Mr Gray added that the editor had suggested the setting-up of a women's board, such as was in existence in 'Frisco and other big American cities, where they had been highly successful and an immense help to the police in certain directions. The speaker concluded by saying that he was proud of the stand on moral questions which both the local daily papers were taking. (Applause.)
On the motion of Mr Davidson, it was resolved that Mr C. E. Statham, M.P., be congratulated on the stand he had taken in Parliament in connection with the Ebzery case.
The meeting terminated with the singing of a verse of the National Anthem. -Evening Star, 8/8/1917.
As might be expected, the Dunedin public expressed their outrage through the medium of strongly-worded letters to their local newspaper.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
THE UNSAVOURY INCIDENT.
Sir, — I desire to congratulate the Council of Christian Churches on its action in what is known as the Ebzery case, and to include in these congratulations the various speakers for the lucidity and the force with which they supported the resolutions. I looked, however, for some references to the causation of these and similar incidents which exist — nay, flourish — in our midst, detected, or undetected, and I looked in vain! Surely it would be better, wiser, to get right at the root of the matter than to grub in the mire in search of other misdemeanants. I venture to assort that the real culprits are not Ebzery and Co., but — (l) The home, (2) the church, (3) our social system.
(1) The home, because of lack of parental control. The permission accorded to young people of both sexes to roam the streets night after night, unaccompanied by responsible elders.
(2) The Church, because it has neglected to insist in its teachings upon parental responsibility and parental control, and has consistently neglected the duty of pointing out to fathers and mothers the necessity of instructing their young folk in matters which they ought to know, and of thus arming them for the battle of life.
(3) Our social system must take, perhaps, the largest share of the blame, because it not only encourages the neglect of home control, the neglect of their duty by the Church, but also, and perhaps worse, because it points the damning finger at one who has loved not wisely, but alas! too well.
I trust that what I have written will give some parents at least reason for thought.
— I am, etc., Bertrand E. de Latour. George street, August 9.
Sir,— In his speech last night, the Rev. R. S. Gray is reported to have said, inter alia, that "For himself he was intensely thankful for these shocking revelations. They were simply the outcrop of a growth that had been steadily going on underneath the surface for longer than many of them knew." The question naturally arises, Why was it left to the Ebzery case to educate the public, instead of the evil being thrown on the screen and denounced from every pulpit in the city? I have read of certain people straining at a gnat, and swallowing a camel, and I once heard a Chinaman asking for a bucket of water to put out a fire when houses were burning in seven different streets. Is it possible that history is again repeating itself? That which is really responsible for the irregular prostitution amongst semi-respectable girls has its direct origin in the limitation of families — in other words, those married women who demand and use "preventives" have taught the unmarried how to prostitute their bodies without running any great risk of being found out. When either the average man or woman is able to find an easy way of escape from the consequences of his or her wrong doing, such wrong doing is bound to continue so long as human nature remains as it is to-day. To destroy, if it be possible, the prevailing immorality, I suggest that the Rev. R. S. Gray and the Council of Churches (taking for their text "Let marriage be had in honour among all and let the bed be undefiled.") immediately start a crusade among the young married women, whose reformation would inevitably lead to the reformation of their single sisters. No legislation that can be devised by finite minds will ever prevent immorality. As a rule, people trust their leaders, assuming that their leaders speak with knowledge as well as with authority, and therefore dismissing the marriage state as being outside the bounds of immorality, they go to swell that great body of opinion, whose existence is invoked as a final proof of a conclusion founded on ignorance and buttressed by prejudice.
— I am. etc., D Wishart. Dunedin, August 8.
Sir, — Readers of your report of the meeting of the Council of Churches will not all rejoice to see that a minister of a Christian church pleads for more lash to correct the evil of lust. I wonder whether this same minister would advocate the lash for drunkenness, or would he confine such treatment to the one who has lost control of another appetite. There never was a better opportunity for a number of ministers to acknowledge their neglect. In all humility they might have easily proclaimed the fact that the wideness of impurity, and with it disease, are a direct sign that the great matter of sex has not received the attention it should. What a different condition would exist if the ministers had been true to the Bible, and given the whole teaching to the people. Then the people would have had instruction on sex matters. Girls and boys, as well as young men and young women, should have been instructed by good men and women. But the very men who have no hesitation in recommending the lash for the offender will, as a rule, be loudest in their condemnation of any instruction on sex. If we will not teach the young that which we know by experience they will require to know, surely we should not be harsh in judgment, when, as a result of neglect, they become victims of a distorted appetite. I wonder whether the speaker, so loud in his denunciation, has ever come in close contact with the sexual pervert. This is an experience one should have before raising one's voice at all. We have the old picture of Christ and the fallen woman. Woe remember that the men who condemned and called loudly for a cruel punishment went away ashamed, as He remained with the sinner.
— I am, etc., Christian. August 8. -Otago Daily Times, 10/8/1917.
WHITE SLAVERY
THE EBZERY CASE IN PARLIAMENT
STATHAM, M.P., EXPRESSES AN OPINION
Another Dirty, Dubious, and Drunken Den
A "Joy Joint" at St. Kilda — Vicious Virago Margaret Parker "Potted" — Reilly and His McLaggan Street "Rialto"
It has been said (though, of course, it is not true) that there is no such thing as "white slavery" in New Zealand. Those who are loudest in proclaiming that "white slavery" does not exist in this country are those who close their eyes to what goes on every day in any city of this Dominion. At any rate, the disclosures, such as they were, in the notorious Ebzery case at Dunedin were a sufficient answer to the keep-it-dark cry of the wowsers, who will not admit the
EXISTENCE OF GREAT EVILS in this young country.
It is stated, and, no doubt, it is true, that if the man Ebzery had pleaded not guilty to the charge of conducting a house of ill-fame at Dunedin, the police, in order to prove the charges to the hilt, would have been obliged to unmask many white-livered and unholy hypocrites in the dour city, and the revelations which would have been made would have astounded the whole community, and held up to public scorn many so-called respectable citizens, who are now known to the police to live and lead double lives. By pleading guilty, Ebzery, while not seeking to shield himself, drew the veil of official secrecy over many in Dunedin, and while it is perfectly true that the Magistrate was justified in denouncing "the white slaver" on the carefully stated facts set forth by Chief-Detective Bishop, the Magistrate could not very well denounce others, equally as guilty as Ebzery, in causing the downfall of women, simply because the facts concerning the others not implicated had not been placed before him. It is said that if there were no "receivers" there would be no thieves. Can it not be said that if there were not a lot of hypocrites in our community, there would be no "tony" brothels, because, in the absence of "clients" of a class, viz., those who pay heavily for their
CARNAL AND SEXUAL PLEASURES, there would be no fallen females and the white slaver and the keeper of the brothel would be unable to make the unholy licentious traffic pay.
Ebzery's case is by no means an isolated one in this country to-day, but it is doubtful whether in New Zealand's history that a case of Ebzery's description should need mention in Parliament. Ebzery's case has been mentioned in Parliament and reference to the unsavory case was made by Mr. C. E. Statham, M.P. for Dunedin Central, in Parliament on Wednesday afternoon of last week, he having previously asked a question concerning the allegations made. "This is really the beginning of the white slave traffic in New Zealand, and is causing great concern to many people," he said. Mr. Statham had asked whether, as the evidence revealed
A SHOCKING STATE OF AFFAIRS, and appeared to show that Ebzery was a procurer of the worst type, and the magistrate is reported to have pronounced him a danger to the community, would the Minister take the necessary steps to prevent Ebzery and others who have been convicted of a similar offence from being free to continue their nefarious practices after serving a short — and quite inadequate — term of imprisonment.
In a reply made in the House, Mr. Herdman said that since the passing of the War Regulations, which gave the police additional powers to deal with persons who conduct houses of ill-fame, the Police Department had succeeded in detecting many breaches of the regulations, and a number of persons in the different centres have been brought before the courts and sentenced to terms of imprisonment. The case referred to by the honorable gentleman was probably one that would not have been discovered had the regulations not been passed. The police have been instructed to exercise all possible vigilance in detecting these houses, and to institute proceedings against persons who keep them. Mr. Statham said it was satisfactory so far as it went, but that the present sentences were totally inadequate. It was for such crimes that
MEN SHOULD BE HANGED. The case under notice was so revolting that he would not mention the more sordid details in the House. Ebzery was a man of the worst type. He had his decoys and his motor-cars so that he could take schoolgirls to his den. It was a very sorry state of things if such crimes occurred in New Zealand. He would beg the Government to make it possible to give such people indeterminate sentences. It had been said that as soon as Ebzery came out of gaol he would be sent to the front. He was not worthy to fight for his country, but should spend the rest of his days in gaol.
Apparently the police of Dunedin are bent on exposing and "rooting out" the disgraceful dens of that city, though it is fair to Dunedin that it should be stated that it, as a city, is not alone in being disgraced. Since the Ebzery case, the Dunedin police have embarked on a crusade against vice. The first and biggest "bag" was Ebzery and the latest case to attract attention, to cause consternation and to bring the blush of shame to the faces of the cleanminded, clean-living denizens of the Otago capital is that
OF A VICIOUS VIRAGO. Margaret Parker, whose disgraceful drinking (and worse) den was successfully raided last week-end. The den was broken up, and the vicious creature, a notorious sly-grog seller, was sentenced to a term of imprisonment. Margaret Parker was brought before Mr. J. R. Bartholomew at the Dunedin City Police Court on Monday, the charge against her being that of keeping a house of ill-fame at St. Kilda during the months of May, June and July. Accused, who pleaded not guilty, was represented by Mr. Irwin. From the evidence elicited it was proved that "Old Mag's" infamous den at St. Kilda was known as the
GRAND PACIFIC BOARDINGHOUSE. It was shown that women took men to the "Grand Pacific" for immoral purposes and evidence in support of the charge was given by May Annie Tabernacle, Violet Wackeldine (a single woman of 20 years), the two girls Mary Fowler and Olive Fowler (17 years of age), who were prominent in the Ebzery case. Clara Robinson was another woman whose name was mentioned. All the females who gave evidence concerning the immorality at the Grand Pacific mentioned the names of such men as "Charlie" Greenaway, Andrew Townley, "Georgie" Ross, a steward whose name was said to be Miller, George Ross, and Albert Dawson. There were other men, but the women either could not, or would not, disclose their names or identity, though one was alleged to be an officer on an ocean-going steamer.
A sample of the evidence given by the women Tabernacle was as follows: She stayed at the "Grand Pacific" during May, June and July, and paid no board, because she brought plenty of men to the awful den and these men paid for the accommodation received. She said that on one occasion "Old Mag" refused admission to the Fowler girls because they had no "boys," though Mary Fowler's version was that admission was denied her because her "boy," apparently a ''hard-headed" Scot, refused to "come to light" with fifteen shillings, which was demanded of him for accommodation purposes. As a result Mary Fowler spent the night in the lupins, presumably with her male companion. Olive Fowler, however, was admitted, and stopped the night, her male "friend" having gone home.
Generally, the evidence of the women was that they picked up men off the streets and took them to the Grand Pacific; the men "paid through the nose" for "accommodation," which was Margaret Parker's "profit," and presumably she got a "commission" from the women. It was an up-to-date brothel or "accommodation house," and when Detective Hammersley effected the arrest of the accused, she was alone in the house which was particularly clean and well-furnished.
After the evidence for the prosecution had been given, Mr. Irwin contended that the case should be dismissed, basing his contention on the conflicting nature of the evidence given by the witnesses. However, the magistrate decided that it was a case calling for a defence and "Old Mag" accordingly
BRAVED THE PERILS of the witness box, and subsequently was well raked fore and aft by Chief-Detective Bishop. In her evidence Margaret said that the Fowler girls had been to her house on two occasions — once by themselves and the other with two men, and on this occasion she refused them admittance. She did not know the woman Wackeldine. The woman Tabernacle stayed with her between three weeks and a fortnight. So far as she knew Tabernacle did not have men stopping with her. There were eight men connected with horses for the races staying at the house. One night there were some men with the Fowler girls outside the house kicking up a row, and she cleared them away. She let one of the Fowler girls in and told her to go to bed and to go away in the morning. The other one went to the lupins.
Under cross-examination Margaret denied that her house was reputed to be one of ill-fame, and generally she characterised the evidence given by the women as "all lies."
The Magistrate said that Mr. Irwin had very properly criticised the evidence given by one woman in particular, and it merited that criticism. But the case did not depend merely upon her evidence, nor upon the fact that she was contradicted by the other women. The two Fowler girls were not contradicted in the evidence they had given, and the Wackeldine woman told a straight-out story. It was admitted that the woman Tabernacle stayed on the premises for some time and inference must be drawn from her admitted reputation. The strongest thing in the accused's favor was that it was not suggested that
SHE WAS A PROCURESS, or that she actively induced these young women on to her premises. Even so, when he regarded the youth of some of those who were suffered to prostitute themselves on her premises, he could only deal with the offence in one way. He would make the sentance as light as possible. Accused would be sentenced to one month's imprisonment with hard labor.
REILLY'S "RIALTO." That the Fowler girls are "out and outers" was evidenced when the next case of keeping a house of ill-fame was called.
The defendant in this case was one Peter Reilly, and the charge against this gent, was that of keeping a "Joint" in Mclaggan-street during the months of May, June and July.
When the case was called, Mr. Scurr, for accused, asked for a remand for a week, and pointed out that Reilly had been arrested on the previous Saturday, and therefore had had no time in which to prepare a defence.
While not objecting to the proposed remand, Chief-Detective Bishop sought and obtained permission to call a witness, and the particular witness was Mary Fowler.
In short, Mary's evidence was that Reilly kept a boarding home in Maclaggen street, and she had been a "boarder" for three weeks. She alleged that, on one occasion, she had a consort named Crossley, allegedly from a certain steamer. She and her friend went under the name of Crossley. The room was hired from Reilly, who she said, know she was not married, nor did she lead him to believe that Crossley and she were man and wife.
An adjournment til next Monday was granted, the accused being allowed bail in one surety of £50. -NZ Truth, 11/8/1917.
MEETINGS.
A GREAT PUBLIC MEETING FOR WOMEN
Will be held in BURNS HALL, SATURDAY NEXT, At 8 p.m.,
With reference to the Ebzery and Mrs Parker and other aspects of Social Morality
Mrs Hiett (President of the W.C.T.U.) in the Chair
Speakers: Dr DORIS GORDON. Mrs LINDO FERGUSON, Mrs PERYMAN, and Mrs DRIVER.
All Women Invited.
Collection for Expenses. -Otago Daily Times, 16/8/1917.
DOUR DUNEDIN STILL DISTURBED AND DISMAYED
PARSONS PREACH, SCREECH, AND GROW HYSTERICAL
The Latest Echoes of the Ebzery Case - Peter Reilly and his Maclaggan Street Rialto —Magistrate Bartholomew Hears the Evidence and Dismisses the Case — His Opinion of the Witnesses Called by the Police — An Invercargill Case — What a Police Sergeant Said (From '"Truth's" Dunedin. Rep.)
The dear, decorous Dominion of New Zealand has not heard the last of the infamous Ebzery case — quite the worst of its kind, if all the facts were really known that has occurred at any time in the colonies. It will be remembered that Ebzery pleaded guilty to managing a house of ill-fame at North East Harbor (Ravensbourne). His plea of guilty was made after several adjournments which the police facilitated. Indeed some people suggested that pressure from very high quarters in Dunedin and its immediate vicinity was brought to bear, both on Ebzery and the police, with the result that several adjournments were arranged and the "plea of guilty" finally settled on.
EBZERY WAS SENT TO GAOL for eleven months; he would have received twelve months, the full penalty, only the considerate magistrate was of the opinion that he was good enough to associate with young and old conscripts when his country needed him. After the Ebzery case, old Mother Parker was brought up on a similar charge, and she pleaded not guilty; the evidence fully disclosed showed that men and women visited the place for immoral purposes, the Parker woman doing well in the money line thereby. This case, however, was of the ordinary type of brothel-keeping incidental to all cities in all parts of the world, and could not be placed on the same level with the Ebzery Infamy. In the latter orgies the most indecent and drunken were, so to say, scientifically carried out. Naked dances were a common item of nightly occurrence, and many men — some of them very high and mighty and singularly religious, too — are mentioned in connection with the place. The last has not been heard of the affair; but it is safe to say that some of the prime principles are too important, wealthy and influential to be dragged into the light of the day.
Meantime the parsons and certain pious folk are busy using words of learned length and thundering sound, and there is much resolving and rumors. A mass meeting of men took place late last week in the Burns Hall and among the indignant audience were actually many of the "tony push," religious and non-religious whose names are connected, and not without reason, with the Ravensbourne roues and rakes, all of whom journeyed per motor to that quarter from Dunedin.
The Rev. A. Cameron presided at the meeting in the Burns Hall, and among those associated with him on the platform were Dr. Riley, Mr. J. H. Wilkinson, Rev. R. S. Gray, Rev. G. Heighway, Cannon Neville and Mr. Graham Balfour. Rev. R. S. Gray moved the motion: That this meeting of the citizens of Dunedin are of the opinion that the ends of justice have not been fully met in the Ebzery case by the sentence on Ebzery, and it requests the Minister of Justice to make inquiry into the case and take all possible steps to bring the other offenders before the court.
The Rev, gent's remarks in general ware very forcible, and
MUCH TO THE POINT. In the course of a lengthy harangue he said: This city has been full of talk about what has been called the shocking revelations of the Ebzery case, the Parker case, and still another case. I am intensely thankful for the shocking revelations. They are the outcrop of a growth that has been going on under the surface for longer than many of us know. Not a word could be said against the sentence in the Ebzery case except this, that it was a slight on the men who are fighting for us thrat he should get a month off so that he could go and fight with them. But what about the persons connected with this case who were not brought before the court? Does anyone believe that the men for whom these girls were procured were three men from the ountry and an hotel porter. I don't believe it. We should insist, as far as we could, in the principals being brought together. We should demand equal justice, not only as between the women, but as between the procurer and the men for whom the girls were procured. If this Minister says that the law does not permit of these men being placed on trial, we must demand that the law be altered. The principals in such a case were not the men who kept the house, nor the girls. Girls were used to decoy other girls. One method was by joy-rides in motor cars. For what purpose were motors to be seen standing by night without lights on the edge of "the lupins" and other places in the suburbs? There could be no doubt but Ebzery procured the girls, and if that was the case, there was the strongest reason for the citizens demanding that the men at the back of the affair
BE BROUGHT INTO THE LIGHT.
("Truth's" further reportage basically repeated earlier reports of the meeting - until the final paragraphs)
Mr. Steve Boreham
CREATED SOMETHING OF A STIR. He said that as a father of girls he wished to express his disapproval of the paragraph in the ''Star" in connection with the Parker case, and in which it was published the sums obtained by the girls. He had never read anything like it in any paper in New Zealand; it took the cake, and was an encouragement to other girls to indulge in evil practices. (Applause). The Rev. Gray apologised for Mr. Mark Cohen, the editor of the "Star." The editor in question had reckoned that the shock thus occasioned would help tremendously the steps now being taken to bring about moral reform. (A section of the audience laughed loud and long).
After many more words were used up, the meeting closed with the singing of God Save the King, and much gossip and laughter outside the building. -NZ Truth, 18/8/1917.
"much gossip and laughter outside the building" - "a section of the audience laughed loud and long): do those words indicate that a number of those attending the churches' meeting were not there to save the soul of their beloved Dunedin City?
There is also the interesting detail of Ebzery's sentence being 11 months and not 12 - in order that he remain legally permitted to join the army. Many upright people were indignant over the potential for moral pollution of a proven procuror wearing the King's uniform and mixing with their unsullied young sons in Army camps.
And, of course, the damning but unsubstantiated assertion that many of the men attending the meeting had also been attendees at a certain North-East Harbour house. Of course, they would have been - they would not have wanted to be conspicuous by their absence . Dunedin's elite would have been there in force, especially if they had taken a ride in Ebzery's car to the house for an evening of "obscene orgies and drunken doings".
Meanwhile, in the centre of the city, another house was under the scrutiny of the law.
Reilly's Royal Dining Rooms
A Clean, Respectable Boardinghouse
The Case Dismissed.
On Monday last at the Dunedin Ctiy Court, before Mr. J. R. Bartholemew, S.M., Peter Reilly was charged with keeping a house of ill-fame in Maclaggen street during the months of May, June and July, 1917, contrary to the War Regulations.
Lawyer Scurr represented defendent, who pleaded not guilty.
The court was cleared.
Mary Fowler's evidence appeared in the last issue of this paper.
Detective Hammersly said that he arrested defendant in his boardinghouse on August 4. The house contained several bedrooms, single and double, and presented an air of general neatness and was clean. Defendant had been a cab-driver at one time, but his conduct at that time becoming unsatisfactory,
HIS LICENSE WAS CANCELLED by the City Council as the result of cases heard in court.
Mr. Scurr: I object to that evidence. Surely when the onus is on the defendant it is serious enough without statements being made which may exist solely in the idea of the detectives.
His Worship: Such evidence is not admissible, unless it goes to show certain facts having a bearing on the charge.
The Chief-Detective: That is what we are going to show.
Witness, continuing, said that during the time Reilly was a cab-driver he was a reputed driver to brothels and his knowledge of women of the unfortunate class was very wide indeed. May Tabernacle, Clara Robinson, Violet Wackeldine, Mary Fowler and Maggie Evans were well-known women of the unfortunate class.
Mr. Scurr: You say that Maggie Evans is a prostitute? You know she is a married woman? — Yes, she is married to a thief.
A thief? Are you aware that this thief was
CONVICTED OF A TRIFLING OFFENCE as a youth? — I believe he was an adult at the time.
You are wrong, and you should know it. Perhaps you know that he is now in respectable employment driving a bread cart? — There are many thieves on bread carts.
What a reckless statement. I suppose you know all the thieves in town, Detective Hammersly? — I do, and all the prostitutes, too, that is part of my business.
You are quite a walking encyclopaedia on these matters? — I know them all, Mr. Scurr.
Witness proceeded to give further evidence as to Reilly's antecedents, but the Magistrate said he would not admit any more of the evidence.
Mr. Scurr: Did you not say to the accused, on the way to the station, "Reilly, you have been threatening that you would break my neck"? — No, I did not.
May Annie Tabernacle said she was a married woman living apart from her husband. She left her husband three months ago, and went to board at Reilly's in Maclaggan-street. She went there with Violet Wackeldine and got a job in the place as a waitress. During the first week she was in the place Reilly brought five strange men to her. Reilly knew she was a prostitute. The witness went on to allege that Reilly procured "clients" for them.
Mr. Scurr: What name did you use in going to Reilly's? — Bailey, my maiden name. Are you sure? — Yes. Did you not say you were Mrs. Maxwell and
YOUR HUSBAND WAS AT THE FRONT? — I believe I did.
You never told Reilly you were Bailey? — No.
Then why have you told me a lie here? — (Smiling) I forgot.
Did not Reilly order you out of his place when he found you had stayed at Mrs. Parker's and turned up at his place at 11 a.m. on Sunday? — No. He told me the police had been to see him and had found out I was no good; but he said I could stay there if I kept matters quiet.
You left the place hurriedly that Sunday? — Yes,
MRS. REILLY NAGGED AT ME. What other boarding houses have you stayed at in Dunedin? — Mrs. Parker's.
Did you go there for improper purposes? — Yes.
Did you deliberately go to Reilly's for improper purposes? — No.
Did you know Reilly before? — Yes. Four years ago.
What age are you? — (The witness smiled boldly.)
None of this smiling. You have no reason to be modest about your age. What is your age? — Twenty.
Have you not set on this man because he ordered you to leave his house on account of your conduct and character? — No.
Why did you leave your husband? (The witness commenced to weep.)
You were smiling before and now you are crying. You will have to answer the question. Why did you leave your husband? — To go with another "boy."
At what boarding houses did you stay in town? — (She mentioned several boarding houses that are apparently respectable places from appearances.)
Several times during her evidence the witness said that her "boys" (one with whiskers) were from the country.
Mr. Seurr: Ah! Your country men again. Country men are your "long suit," are they not, Mrs. Tabernacle? - Not always.
You are clever at "hedging."
Chief-Detective Bishop: You have no right to say that to the witness.
The S.M.: I will not have counsel interrupted in his cross-examination in this way. Your
REMARK IS UNCALLED FOR, Chief-Detective. The witness needs no police protection while giving her evidence.
Mr. Scurr: Did permanent boarders in Reilly's house always treat you with respect? - Yes.
They are all decent working: men? — Yes.
Violet Wackeldine, a single woman, aged twenty years, gave evidence, more or less purporting to corroborate that given by the previous witness. She said that when she lived at Reilly's she worked at the Phoenix Confectionery Factory. May Tabernacle was compelled to leave Reilly's because Mrs. Reilly objected to her conduct.
Mr. Scurr: And all Reilly's boarders treated you with respect? — Yes.
You know your great pal, May, is
A PRETTY GOOD LIAR? — I know she tells them at times.
You would not believe everything she told you? — I would not believe everything.
Clara Catherine Robinson, living apart from her husband, said she had been at Reilly's house with men. The man engaged the room. She stopped there with men of the name of Watson, Drew, Robertson, and MacPherson. She knew Wackeldine and Tabernacle. She heard their voices in Reilly's, but did not see them there.
Mr. Scurr: When were you last there? — About six weeks ago.
With whom? — A man named Watson, from Gore.
Didn't Reilly tell you not to come back to his place when he found you out? - He said, "Don't come round my way any more. There is Ebzery's case. I don't want any bother."
When did he tell you that about Ebzery? — About six or seven weeks ago.
Mr. Scurr reviewed the evidence given and stressed the points made by the girl Wackeldine that Tabernacle was a liar and the admissions made by Tabernacle herself. The evidence of these two had young women was wholly at variance. The fact that the girls went under false names to the place proved that they could likewise insinuate themselves into the most respectable boarding-houses in town. Indeed, the girl Tabernacle has succeeded in doing so. The woman Robertson gave a fair statement. The evidence was general and proved nothing. These women were prostitutes and obvious liars and on the evidence of such women it would be monstrous to convict any man. His Worship said
THERE WAS A CASE TO ANSWER. Peter Reilly, the defendant, stated that he and his wife ran what was known as the Royal Diningrooms and Boardinghouse in Maclaggan-street. He knew the girl Tabernacle, but did not know her under that name. She came to his place with her child under the name of Mrs. Maxwell. Constable Pearce saw her and told him to be careful and that from what he knew they were "no good." He went and told the girls Tabernacle and Wackeldine of what he had heard, but he said, as it was hard to believe all one heard, if they kept straight and were in early at night he would give them a chance. On one Saturday Tabernacle made an excuse about going to see her sister, but one of his boarders found that she had gone to Mrs. Parker's instead. She turned up at 11 a.m. on Sunday and he gave her notice to go. The Wackeldine girl worked at the factory and left with the other one. He did not know the Fowler girl as Fowler. She had stayed with a man at his place as Mr. and Mrs. Crossley. He believed they were a married couple. Robertson had also stayed there. A man came and arranged for the room himself, and his wife. He found out who she was in the morning and
GAVE HER NOTICE TO GO.
The cross-examination was brief and general. John McFarlane, member of the firm of A. and J. McFarlane, said he had a very high opinion of Reilly and his wife as boardinghouse-keepers. The house was very clean and very well conducted. He neither saw nor heard anything to lead anyone to believe that wrongdoing was going on. He considered Reilly to be of good character, and had much pleasure in saying so.
Mrs. Mary Caroline Reilly corroborated the evidence of her husband. It was a lie to say that her husband brought men to any girls' rooms. Maggie Evans had been her servant girl and was a good girl and a good worker. She was now married.
Other witnesses gave corroborative evidence as to the respectability of the house, each of them saying that it was a good house, well conducted, and that meals were well and cleanly served. At no time had they observed any wrongdoing in the house. One of the boarders remarked that if there was any going on in the place it would surely have leaked out in the gossip to the smoke room.
His Worship carefully reviewed the evidence, and said that
NO JURY WOULD CONVICT on the testimony given by the witnesses for the prosecution. He was there as a jury on the case, and he had no hesitation in dismissing the charge. He commented on the obvious discrepancies in the evidence given by the girls Tabernacle and Wackeldine, and remarked that the evidence given by Reilly and his wife had been given in a fair, unhesitating manner. He was particularly impressed by the evidence of Mr. McFarlane and the boarders, all of whom appeared to be respectable working men. His Worship added: "There is one other matter I wish to refer to, and I wish the press to take note of it. There appears to be a general misunderstanding with regard to the position of the young women who have been involved in these cases. I am not refering to the extra women who gave evidence here to-day, but to Wackeldine, Tabernacle, and the Fowlers. There seems to be a misunderstanding as to their position. These women, though young in years,
ARE OLD IN VICE. The youngest of them fell from innocence two years ago, and, at the time of the occurrences, for which the two offenders have been sent to gaol, each was, and had been for a long time, a common prostitute. All this is very shocking, but it is necessary that I should state the facts." -NZ Truth, 18/8/1917.
SOCIAL PURITY.
TO THE EDITOR, reading your report of the meeting for women held in Burns Hall on Saturday last I was amazed and shocked to find that one of the speakers (Mrs Ferguson) had actually recommended as a means of scourging the city of its worst vice that this vice should be actually condoned by the Government and the police, by tolerating houses of ill-fame and registering them, while police and medical men should supervise them!
But I did not see any report of a single woman rising up to combat such recommendations. Can it be that this meeting of Dnnedin women listened to such words, and by their silence gave consent? Or was their choice of a woman to speak for them made in ignorance of her views, and, having chosen her, they meekly allowed her words to pass unchallenged? Does she consider that everything would have been right and proper had Ebzery's harbor home been duly registered, or had the various unfortunate girls been listed under an ugly name in police records? She practically says to young men: "Go and do as you like, so long as the police know the house and have supervised the woman. You must not touch women who have not sent in their names to the police, but all other unfortunates are fair prey for you."
Such teaching makes the blood of a true woman boil, and anyone who holds such views is no supporter of her sex. I should like to hear the president of the W.C.T.U. refute these views publicly before I can give the union credit for attempting to raise and purify the manhood and the womanhood of our nation.
— I am, etc., A Woman Who Feels. August 22. -Evening Star, 22/8/1917.
ANOTHER SIDE.
Sir, — I think many of the even-minded, discerning in Dunedin must have smiled cynically at the commotion which has been raised over the Ebzery case by the "unco guid," both male and female. The poor man evidently had no friends, and the magistrate, police, and the Justice Department were not spared either. The rumours and exaggerations talked in the streets were false, absurd, and cruel, and the lying inventions made against some of our respectable citizens would have been amusing if they had not been so malicious. The bombast that was talked at both the men's meeting and the women's meeting was marked by unconscious humour and inconsistency. One lady was full of flippant severity. She complained because the offender was a naturalised Austrian and could not be interned and he should get a longer sentence. But the climax was reached when she wound up by stating that the solution of the position was that houses of ill-fame should be registered and there should be supervision of the women of the unfortunate class by both medical men and the police. I do not say that she is wrong, but is she not very inconsistent? Now I know the offender well, and his wife and family. His wife keeps an excellent boarding-house and manages it well, and is greatly respected by her customers. He is not a naturalised Austrian, but a British subject. He was born in New South Wales, and lived a respectable life there. I think it shows a poor spirit to go on kicking a man when he is down. Charity is scarce amongst the "unco guid." "Oh, wad some power the giftie gie us To see oorsels as ithers see us. It wad from many a blunder free us, and foolish notion." So said Robert Burns and he was a gifted man.
— I am, etc., WATCHER Dunedin, August 24. -Otago Daily Times, 27/8/1917.
THE EBZERY CASE.
Sir —My feelings were roused this morning on reading the letter signed "Watcher." How any man could take the part of Ebzery passes my comprehension. I do not doubt for a moment that his wife is all she should be, and well respected, as "Watcher" says, but a man of Ebzery's type, who would be the leader of foolish girls to their ruin and degradation, deserves as much punishment, to my mind, as the law could give him. All through my life I have endeavoured to be fair and square, and not to condemn where I think condemnation is unjustifiable, but this cass is an exception. I shall be considerably surprised if some of the fathers of innocent girls do not protest against "Watcher's" letter.
— I am, etc., Protect our Girls. -Otago Daily Times, 27/8/1917.
WHITE SLAVERY
DOUR DUNEDIN DISMAYED
THE LADIES "LOOKING FOR LASH"
More Echoes of the Ebzery Case - (From "Truth's" Dunedin Rep.) .
That bold, bad man, Ebzery and poor old mother Parker are still getting a rough time of it, though they were scarcely the major sinners when all is said and done. The law has had its say, and a mixed utterance it was; the man in the street has had his say, the press followed suit, and then the parsons had a big pow-wow. They flailed the very air with words hot and ponderous. Lastly came the women, and
A MIGHTY SCREECH they ejected quite recently at the Burns Hall. The latter institution was filled to overflowing with ladies young and old. The young ladies in the audience predominated, and mighty enjoyable they found the proceedings at times — if laughs, winks, grins and arch looks indicated anything at all! The old dames groaned and growled. All applauded, for the "screeching" from the stage was above the ordinary. The only men in the hall were a few reporters who looked like plucked pigeons in a nest of she-eagles. When the reps, of the "powerful press" entered, some ladies were inclined to hiss and groan, indeed there was an undercurrent of audible agitation at the presence of "beastly men." However, it passed quietly off to somewhere when the "beastly men" took out their pencils and paper and settled themselves around a little table.
Mrs. Hiett (president of W.C.T.U.) occupied the chair. A verse or two of the "Old Hundredth" was sung, and then someone began to pray.
The chairwoman said: We must make our city safe for our young men, young women and our children. Recently it has been forced upon us to save our young women from the destroyer, lust. Women have repeatedly
ASKED FOR WOMEN POLICE as a protection against the evils, which unfortunately exist in our midst. Recent revelations lead them to emphasise their protest against the light sentences passed against those responsible for the downfall of women.
Dr. Dorris Gordon moved as follows: That this meeting of women citizens of Dunedin strongly protests against the inadequacy of the punishment provided by the Act for the offence committed by Ebzery, and urges the Minister of Justice to introduce immediately such an amendment as will make the punishment more commensurate with the gravity of the offence, and also protests against the inadequate sentence passed on Mrs. Parker for a similar offence. Dr. Gordon said that some of the women had been inveigled in the first place. Some had been tempted to begin such a life before they were old enough to value the womanhood they were selling. Some had deliberately chosen a life of regular immorality. But even for these last, if the silent years behind them were known, all might understand. They had no conception of the forces of inheritance, environment, example, or instinct that swayed such lives and swept them on to their present position — a position incomprehensible to most — voluntary prostitution. The meeting was not called to judge harshly the men of equal intelligence and of equal social standing, who had associated with them. They had come to
ADD THEIR PROTEST to that carried at the men's meeting, twelve days ago. In this they asked for sterner judgment and stricter justice.
Mrs. Lindo Ferguson, in seconding the motion, said that the two cases in question opened up a very important social problem, namely, prostitution. Prostitution was coeval with society. It is constantly referred to in the Bible; it stains all mythological records. Moses punished adultery and rape by death. The whip, confiscation, banishment were tried to suppress prostitution. Penal laws in England failed, and it was not at all likely that the law could accomplish prohibition in a country where personal liberty in speech and action was the foundation of their nation. Religious principles would restrain some men and some women, human laws some, also the fear of the consequences, but nothing had ever stopped prostitution. The desire for reproduction was the strongest instinct in the human race. Were it not so the trace could not go on. They might look on early marriage as a remedy, and they might have hope from moral reform societies. The speaker suggested the appointing of women patrols, who would have power to clear the streets of boys and girls of tender years after certain hours, and who would be empowered to prevent soliciting whether by woman or man. Secondly, the registration of houses of ill-fame and proper supervision of the women of the unfortunate class by both medical men and the police. Mothers would have to exercise more control over their children. Sex hygiene should be taught at school, and they must do all in their power to make their city a clean one, morally. The resolution was carried.
Mrs. Peryman said they were deeply indignant that because
EBZERY HAD PLEADED GUILTY the men — the greater sinners - escaped "scot free." Not even were their names made known. They asked that girls be protected from these men. Ministers in Parliament were asking for the power to deal with these women. It was always the women from the days of Adam! (Much laughter and voices, "Good old Peryman.") Was it a greater sin to pass on disease to a soldier than to debauch a girl?
WHO WAS THE GREATER SINNER? The woman who infected a man, or the man who went home to an innocent wife and carried home this deadly evil. "We don't care 'tuppence' what happens to your girls as long as they don't infect our soldiers," was the attitude taken up by the ministers.
Mrs. Driver severely criticised the magistracy. She said that the picture shows needed better supervision. Many of the pictures were very suggestive. "How could a pure girl sit beside a young man and see suggestive pictures without losing her modesty?" (Applause and laughter). -NZ Truth, 1/9/1917.
Applause and laughter, again, from the "cheap seats." Another example of the "indignation meeting" as free entertainment for the less serious portion of Dunedin's citizenry - all of them, this time, female.
VIOLET'S VAGARIES
Wackeldine's Wrong-doing
12 Months' Imprisonment.
(From "Truth's" Dunedin Rep.) During the hearing of the so-called white slavery cases at Dunedin, the police produced, among other witnesses, a young lady of the streets, one Violet Wackeldine. She tendered important "evidence" in one case, but in the other her "evidence" upset officialdom's calculations with the result that Magistrate Bartholomew had his eyes opened. Very properly he threw the case out of court and severely commented on the characters who had given evidence in the cases generally —
"THE RUINED SCHOOL GIRLS," as a gushing parliamentarian called them.
The other day Miss Wackeldine was picked up by the police again, the same branch of the force for whom her previous evidence had failed — the "D." branch. She figured in the dock this time, being charged with being a rogue and a vagabond and having insufficient lawful means of support.
Chief-Detective Bishop: The young woman is only 18 years of age, and has been previously convicted aa an idle and disorderly person and for theft. She had two illegitimate children. Your Worship will remember her as being mixed up in the recent brothel cases.
The S.M.: Yes, I recollect.
The Chief-Detective: After which she ran away from her home with a step-sister named Ruby Mitchell. The father complained, and Detective Hammerly picked her up in the streets late one night and took her home. But she
RAN AWAY AGAIN, sleeping wherever she could get in. She was in a bad condition of health at present. She had been in the Salvation Army Home and had run away from there, too. Her father states that she is quite beyond his control, and he cannot do anything with her.
The S.M.: This young woman is quite incorrigible. The only way to deal with her is to send her to prison for a lengthy period. She is sentenced to twelve months' imprisonment, with hard labor, at Addington gaol. -NZ Truth, 29/9/1917.
Violet, it seems, made a career of her"incorrigibility."
Police Court
MIXED COMPANY. Alexander James Harrhy was charged with being a rogue and vagabond, in that he had insufficient lawful means of support and had been previously convicted as an idle and disorderly person. Albert Robert Wilcoxson alias Albert Bailey was charged with being idle and disorderly, in that he habitually consorted with persons having no lawful means of support. Violet Maude Jamieson alias Wackeldine faced a charge of being an incorrigible rogue, in that she was the occupier of a house frequented by persons who had no visible lawful means of support, and had been previously convicted as a rogue and vagabond. Doris Victoria Mills and Ella May Scott were each charged with being idle and disorderly, in that they had insufficient lawful visible means of support. All pleaded guilty. Sub-inspector Cameron asked for a remand till to-morrow, stating that Mr C. J. L. White, who appeared for the women Jamieson and Scott, was engaged in the Supreme Court. He also expected a report from Invercargill regarding the young woman Mills. The remand was granted. -Evening Star, 26/10/1932.
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