Albert Street is now at the heart of the Central Business District,
lined with cafes and book shops. In the
middle of the 19th Century it was home to a different trade as the
main red light enclave, frequented by prostitutes and street toughs, and
largely tolerated by the police force.
Now and then the local press would receive correspondence from an
outraged citizen.[1]
BRISBANE LETTER.
A movement is being set on foot to cleanse the city from
the moral cancers which are eating away the very foundations of decency and
respectability. The efforts of these good people will be utterly futile - or
almost so - if they have not the strong arm of the law to aid them. Vested
interests in some of the worst streets are so influential that even law can he
made subversive to their powers.
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| Albert Street |
The owners of property in - say Albert-street - are
wealthy men; they derive large rents from brothel-keepers and others of
ill-fame and it is a notorious fact that the tenants of these places are
allowed to carry on their disgusting occupations right under the noses of the
authorities, whereas in any other city in the colonies they would at least be
sent to a suburb or a back street.
Another correspondent, signing himself “Ratepayer”, found the street
scenes confronting for decent citizens and their families.[2]
A SCANDALOUS STATE OF THINGS.
Sir,-Let us invite the mayor and aldermen to the East
Ward, and for the fair fame of the city there should be no delay. Let no
personal motives stop them in rooting out this nursery of crime in Albert and
Charlotte streets; consult with the Commissioner of Police; indict all the
brothels, and scatter the whole mob. Look into these dens, and you may see fat,
strong, defiant creatures.
The females are of the lowest, often in a semi-nude
state, get drunk, and fight, using the most horrid language, and this, mind
you, when people are passing to and from the Gardens.
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| Dining Rooms on Albert Street |
The males are those rascals who hang about Queen-street,
from Albert-street to the Royal Hotel, watching people in and out of the banks.
These vagabonds say they follow a trade, and have a shop - so they have, but it
is a mere sham as regards honest trading.
The worst feature in the case is that there are a lot of
children about these creatures. Only
the other night two little girls not higher than my watch-chain tried to stop
me. What may we expect as they grow, and what is the temptation to the youth of
all classes?
An ugly confrontation took place a year before at the corner of Edward
and Charlotte streets, which soon developed into a full scale riot.[3]
BRISBANE LETTER.
 |
| Caricature of a Larrikin |
Brisbane, like some of the older cities of the south, is becoming notorious for larrikinism. It has its dens of infamy, and unless prompt and severe measures are taken, it will not be safe for respectable persons to walk its streets after dark.
A most disgraceful
affray took place on Thursday evening, at the comer of Edward and Charlotte
streets, which makes one feel ashamed of our boasted civilisation. A constable
had apprehended a fellow for creating a disturbance, and whilst leading him off
to the lockup was set upon by a number of rowdies determined upon setting all
law at defiance, and resolved at all costs upon rescuing the offender.
A large number of larrikins had assembled at the place above mentioned, it would seem by arrangement, and a row occurred such as has been seldom witnessed here. At first it seemed as if the rowdies were to have it all their own way, for the two or three policemen present were powerless, and received, some exceedingly rough treatment, one of them particularly, who laboured against fearful odds most pluckily, being treated in an unmerciful manner.
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| Queen Street from the corner of Edward Street looking south 1883 |
The telephone, however, was brought into requisition, and
speedily a strong force of police arrived from the station, and after some
desperate fighting succeeded in locking up about ten or a dozen of the ring
leaders of the mob.
The locality where the affray took place is the lowest in
the city, and is notorious for its brothels and its disreputable characters.
The affair has of course given rise to complaints about the inadequacy of our
police protection, and if reports be true that this consists of a solitary policeman
for our principal streets it is high time that the matter was stirred up and
pressure brought to bear upon the authorities.
Brothels were not the safest of places to frequent. They were often the scene of robberies, the
ladies taking advantage of drunken clients.
This often ended in violence.[4]
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| Police Courts on Elizabeth Street (note the telephone wires - one per subscriber) |
CENTRAL POLICE COURT.
Thomas Herd alias Simmons was charged with assaulting and
wounding John Sheen in a brothel. Both men, however, appeared in the dock - one
of the nymphs having given Sheen in charge for assault and battery.
Sheen deposed: Yesterday morning about 1 o'clock, a young
woman came up to me in George street and asked me to go home with her; I went;
defendant’s wife opened the door and we entered; besides Mrs. Herd, who lives
in the adjoining house, and the girl with me, I saw a man and woman who were in
bed; Mrs. Herd asked me for some money, but I declined, saying that I was going
home.
I made towards the door but the girl who accompanied me
pulled me back, she said, "Give the missus the money and it will be all
right," I replied, "No I am going home," with that Mrs. Herd
went out, I was following, when defendant entered at the front door, came
straight up to me, and without speaking, stabbed me in the eye with a bread
knife.
Defendant then made off, and I went towards the door to
look after him, when a girl who was in the house got up and shoved me back into
the room ; she then ran to the fireplace picked up either an iron bar or a
stick, and came towards me, when I knocked her down, one of the two other
women, I cannot tell which, got me by the scarf, but I made my escape, found a
policeman in Queen-street, and gave defendant into custody.
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| Corner of Charlotte and Edward Streets |
But then Sheen was also arrested - for assaulting the girl.
Sheen was given into custody by Mary Lee, whom found in
the street looking for a policeman, her eyes were nearly closed, and her face
was swollen and bloody, she was in her nightdress.
Mrs. Herd deposed: About one o'clock I heard Polly, who was in the next house
cry "murder." I jumped up, and,
with nothing but my dress on, ran into the next house, where the screaming came
from.
Polly was on the floor, and the man (Sheen) was kicking her with the heel of his boot on the face and head, I pulled her from under him, and put her into Mrs. Herd's bed, in the next house;
Polly was on the floor, and the man (Sheen) was kicking her with the heel of his boot on the face and head, I pulled her from under him, and put her into Mrs. Herd's bed, in the next house;
Mary Lee, who was next called, appeared with her head and
face partially bound up; an ugly gash, however, was visible near one of her
eyes, she said her face was nothing to her body, Sheen had been the assailant.
At this stage of the proceedings, Mr Inspector Lewis, who
had come into Court only a short time before, said that, from inquiries he had
made, he was satisfied that Herd did not strike the blow with the knife; he
would, therefore, withdraw the charge, he thought there had been blame on both
sides -Both cases were then dismissed.
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| Boarding House, Albert Street |
KEEPING A BROTHEL.
Robert Fitt, found guilty of this offence on the previous
day, was brought up for sentence.
His Honour, in passing sentence, said the prisoner had
been convicted upon the very clearest testimony of the offence with which he
was charged.
He (the prisoner) had a business, and could have earned
an honest livelihood; but he preferred to keep and harbor women leading the
most abandoned life women could live. He had descended to the lowest and
filthiest occupation a man could stoop to.
Out of the
miserable and abominable earnings of these wretched women he wrung large sums
of money. In his hands they were white slaves, and he was their master.
The punishment which he should inflict should be a severe
one, not so much to make the prisoner suffer - far from it. The object of the
law was to repress such crimes as these, and suppress such houses as the
prisoner had kept open.
The prisoner was then sentenced to twelve months'
imprisonment, with hard labour.
©
K. C. Sbeghen, 2011.
courier service
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