261 F. 746 | 6th Cir. | 1919
Plaintiff in error was indicted under section 13 of the Selective Service Act of May 18, 1917 (40 Stat. 76, c. 15) — the section was amended by subchapter 14 of chapter 143 (Act July 9, 1918, 40 Stat. 885 LComp. St 1918, § 2019b]) — for the suppression and punishment of prostitution, etc., near cantonments, as affected by the order of the Secretary of War (evidenced by bulletin of the War Department of January 17, 1918), which, so far as here-important, designated five miles as the reasonable distance from military places within which the condemnation should apply. The indictment charged that defendant, within five miles of the military camp known as Ft. Thomas (situated at Ft. Thomas, Ky.), did—
“direct, take, and transport certain persons, to wit [two men and two women named] tor immoral purposes, to wit, tor the purposes ot lewdness, assignation and prostitution, and to assist said persons for such purpose to find a house of ill&une, brothel and bawdyhouse, to wit, the rooms and house-known as [giving the name and location ol a hotel in Cincinnati], and the said Meyer Thaler then and there well knowing and having reasonable cause to know the character of said bouse to be that of a house of ill fame, brothel and bawdyhouse.”
Neither the sufficiency of the indictment nor the effectiveness of the statute and regulation upon which it is based is challenged.
1. Plaintiff in error contends that there was no testimony tending to show that he took the parties named to the hotel for the purposes charged in the indictment, or that he had reasonable cause to know that the character of the house was as charged, or that it was in: fact used for such immoral purposes. These questions are raised under a denial of a motion, at the close of the testimony, for directed verdict.
There was substantial testimony to the effect that the two men (who were soldiers in uniform) met the two women (who were before that unknown to them] on a railroad train going to Cincinnati; that on arriving at the depot in that place one of the men asked the defendant (wdio was a taxicab driver) if he knew of some hotel in the outskirts of the city where it was quiet, and where they would not be bothered or interrupted, and that defendant replied that he did; that the four parties then entered the taxicab, and that during the ride to the hotel the soldier- referred to told defendant that he and the other soldier had “picked these two women up on the train in West Virginia and were out for a good time'’; that on arriving at the hotel defendant said he would go in and see if it was all right; that after three or
There was also testimony that, after the arrest, defendant, in answer to a question by a government officer whether he knew that these people were unmarried, replied that he “knew they wasn’t married, but it wasn’t up to me to question them.” Defendant also admitted that he was in the habit of receiving 25 cents for each passenger taken to the hotel in question (having the same arrangement with another hotel), and that he received the agreed payment in connection with the delivery at the hotel of the four persons named.
A detective in the employ of the city of Cincinnati testified that on going to the hotel on the night in question with the juvenile officer he found one of the two couples in question “in bed and the other in their room”; that he “could not say that the hotel had a reputation for renting rooms for immoral purposes,” but that he had “instructions to go through the cabaret of that hotel for the purpose of picking out prostitutes and other undesirables; that there also congregated there pimps, who are men that live with women, or off of the shame of women; and that these people would visit the cabaret or lobby whenever we went in there, and we tried to get them out of the lobby.” This practice applied, not only to the hotel in question, but to all other hotels having cabarets.
Another detective, who was a member of the Cincinnati police vice squad at the time in question, testified that at that time the reputation of the hotel for renting rooms to people-for immoral purposes was bad, and that “there were prostitutes and pimps hanging around the place,” stating, however, on cross-examination, -that he did not know that it had “a reputation for women to go for immoral purposes,” and that on the date in question the hotel “was not known as a house of ill fame or bawdyhouse,” and that he knew of no other arrest being made therein for renting rooms for immoral purposes.
Another policeman testified, in substance, that it “was generally conceded, among the boys of the police department, that things were a little loose around” the hotel; that if “anything immoral went on in the house that it did not have that appearance among the public, and that the boys in 'the department were under the impression that it was not hard to put over, and that it needed a little attention.” There was
The statute makes it an offense “to aid or abet prostitution,” even though there,is no resort to a bawdyhouse, brothel, or house of ill fame. The gist of the offense charged is the assisting of the four persons in question to find (and be received in) a house of such character that their lustful purposes could therein be carried out. The three characterizations used in the indictment were merely descriptive of one and the same offense, and defendant could not have been prejudiced by the inclusion of the words “house of ill fame,” even were the proof thought to be lacking as to such character, if to be distinguished from the other character assigned. Bennett v. United States (C. C. A. 6) 194 Fed. 630, 633, 114 C. C. A. 402; Daniels v. United States (C. C. A. 6) 196 Fed. 459, 464, 116 C. C. A. 233.
3. Defendant complains of the admission of the testimony before referred to respecting the bad reputation of the house detective as related to prostitution. The testimony came about in this way: To sústain the character of the hotel, defendant’s counsel had shown, on cross-examination of one of the vice squad officers, that several months after the transaction in question the hotel manager, on complaint being made that the house detective was not doing his duty in keeping out undesirable characters, had discharged the detective. The criticized testimony was thereupon introduced against a general objection whose ground was not stated, and which thus disentitles defendant to a review of the ruling as matter of right. Robinson v. Van Hooser (C. C. A. 6) 196 Fed. 620, 625, 116 C. C. A. 294. And we do not think the error, if any, in admitting the criticized testimony was so plain, or the case such as to justify a reversal on that account.
There seems much force in the consideration that in view of the cross-examination referred to it became competent to show that at the very time in question the detective had the reputation of, and was living a life such as to indicate that he was pandering. It is difficult to conceive of a hotel officer or employe, whose character in the respect mentioned would presumably be more significant than that of the house detective, in giving to the hotel a character in the respect involved here. It is true that the evidence does not in terms state that the house detective’s reputation was general, or that it existed at the
The judgment of the District Court must be affirmed.
gee Coopersville Co. v. Lemon (C. C. A. 6) 163 Fed. 145, 89 C. C. A. 595, and cases cited.