Red Light District (1898? From NYC or Texas?) (UNCLASSIFIED)

Thu Aug 30 02:42:15 UTC 2007

Really? 1797? Who'd a-thunk it?! Thanks, Jon!

-Wilson

On 8/29/07, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:
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> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Red Light District (1898? From NYC or Texas?) (UNCLASSIFIED)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> OED has it back to 1797.
>
>   JL
>
> Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
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> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Wilson Gray
> Subject: Re: Red Light District (1898? From NYC or Texas?) (UNCLASSIFIED)
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>
> "Chief Devery to-day _detailed_ several men ..."
>
> What's the date on this? 1898? 1899?
>
> I had no idea that it went back so far. Till now, I'd thought that
> this particular use of "detail" as a verb was peculiar to the
> relatively-recent military (abstracting away from the fact that police
> departments are quasi-military organizations). I probably first heard
> "detail" used this way in '40's war movies, but I remember it for
> certain only from the years of my own military service (late '50's to
> early '60's).
>
> -Wilson, once upon a time himself often one of several men detailed
>
>
> On 8/28/07, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC wrote:
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> > Poster: "Mullins, Bill AMRDEC"
> > Subject: Re: Red Light District (1898? From NYC or Texas?) (UNCLASSIFIED)
> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
> > Caveats: NONE
> >
> > "Stabbing Affray on Cripple Creek." The Knoxville Journal; Date:
> > 05-06-1895; Volume: XI; Issue: 69; Page: 4;
> > "A little stabbing affray occurred on Cripple Creek at the "Red Light
> > House," about two o'clock yesterday morning.
> > George Washington tried to force his way into a room where another negro
> > was by the name of Pleas Miller, charging him with having locked up his,
> > Washington's, wife. Pleas tried to put him out and got cut in the arm
> > for his trouble."
> >
> >
> > "A Red Light Tragedy" The Wheeling Register.; Date: 09-17-1896; Volume:
> > 35; Issue: 70; p. 4
> > "Louisville, Ky., September 16.-- At an early hour this morning Carrie
> > Jennings, colored, in a fit of jealousy, stabbed Monroe Bell, colored,
> > aged 32 years, to death and then fatally shot herself in the head. The
> > tragedy occurred in the Red Light district on Green street, between
> > Seventh and Eighth streets."
> >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: American Dialect Society
> > > [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Barry Popik
> > > Sent: Saturday, August 25, 2007 7:26 AM
> > > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > > Subject: Red Light District (1898? From NYC or Texas?)
> > >
> > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > > -----------------------
> > > Sender: American Dialect Society
> > > Poster: Barry Popik
> > > Subject: Red Light District (1898? From NYC or Texas?)
> > > --------------------------------------------------------------
> > > -----------------
> > >
> > > What does everyone (OED revision? HDAS?) have for a "red
> > > light district"
> > > entry? The term was popularized in 1900 when New York City
> > > police cracked down on the "red light district" in the lower
> > > east side. However, 1898 citations appear to come from Texas.
> > > ...
> > > ...
> > > ...
> > > http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/texas/entry/red_light_district/
> > > Entry from August 25, 2007
> > > Red Light District
> > >
> > > The origin of the term "red light district" is unknown. The
> > > term "red light district" is cited in New York City, Houston
> > > and San Antonio in the year 1898. In 1900, New York police
> > > made a major effort to clean out the "red light district" of
> > > the lower east side.
> > >
> > > A "red light district" is where shady transactions occur,
> > > such as prostitution, drug use, and gambling. Red lights
> > > sometimes were used at these establishments, but not always.
> > > One theory is that the red lights wer= e lanterns used by
> > > visiting railroad men.
> > >
> > >
> > > Wikipedia: Red Light
> > > District> > ct>
> > > A *red-light district* is a neighborhood where prostitution
> > > and other businesses in the sex industry flourish. The term
> > > "red-light district" was first recorded in the United States
> > > around 1890, and derives from the practice of placing a red
> > > light in the window to indicate to customers the nature of
> > > the business. The color red has been associated with
> > > prostitution for millennia: in the Biblical story of Rahab, a
> > > prostitute in Jericho aide= d the spies of Joshua and
> > > identified her house with a scarlet rope.
> > >
> > > Some say the origin of the red light comes from the red
> > > lanterns carried by railway workers, which were left outside
> > > brothels when the workers entered, so that they could be
> > > quickly located for any needed train movement. Others
> > > speculate that the origin comes from the red paper lanterns
> > > that were hung outside brothels in ancient China to identify
> > > them as such. It was said tha= t the lights were thought to
> > > be sensual.
> > >
> > > In more recent years the red-light district term has its name
> > > from the red lights that hang from the district's brothels.
> > >
> > > *A Treasury of Texas Trivia*
> > > by Bill Cannon
> > > Plano, TX: Republic of Texas Press
> > > 1997
> > > Pg. 10:
> > > Reference books and lore alike attribute the origin of the
> > > term "red light district" to Texas. It's said to have been
> > > coined by railroad men after their practice of hanging signal
> > > lanterns by the front doors of local brothels while visiting.
> > >
> > > (Oxford English Dictionary)
> > > *red light*
> > > The sign of a brothel. Freq. attrib., as *red light district*, etc.
> > > 1900 *N.Y. Jrnl.* Nov. 19 (caption) Children of the 'red
> > > light district'.
> > > 1900 *Boston Transcript* 4 Dec. 14/3 The disorderly houses in
> > > the 'red-light' district were all closed last night.
> > >
> > > a1898 W. C. Brann *Brann the Iconoclast* (1911) II. 99 The
> > > *Post* next proceeded to publish a directory of Houston's
> > > redlight district, giving names and addresses of the
> > > "madames," the number of their "boarders" and th= e condition
> > > of the merchandise thrown upon the market.
> > >
> > > 2 June 1898, San Antonio *Daily Light*, pg. 5, col. 4:
> > > Another attempt was made by a hack load of Rough Riders last
> > > night to take in the red light district and shoot out the
> > > lights after the fashion of the wild and woolly Occident, but
> > > a few shots brought out the mounted police an= d the Rough
> > > Riders succeeded in making their escape across lots in the darkness.
> > >
> > > 27 November 1898, Philadelphia *Inquirer*, pg. 7:
> > > *CHAPMAN'S GOOD WORK*
> > > *He Is Going Through the "Red*
> > > *Light" District With a Fine-*
> > > *Tooth Comb*
> > >
> > > NEW YORK, Nov. 26.=97Chief Devery to-day detailed several men
> > > from other precincts to help Captain Chapman in getting
> > > evidence against keepers of disorderly houses in the Twelfth
> > > precinct, as policemen of the Eldridge Street Station are all
> > > well-known in the neighborhood.
> > >
> > > Even the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children
> > > has failed to ge= t legal evidence to convict proprietors of
> > > "cafes" which harbor young girls, as was shown to-day, in
> > > Essex Market Police Court.
> > >
> > > 17 February 1899, Naugatuck (CT) *Daily News*, pg. 3, col. 3:
> > > Watson Schermerhorn, a New York police detective, has devised
> > > a machine for melting the frost on a window pane over a space
> > > as big as a silver dollar s= o as to permit the industrious
> > > searcher for vice to see from the outside of any cafe or
> > > other place of entertainment what is oing on inside. The
> > > machin= e has already been tried in the "red light district"
> > > in New York, which is no= w receiving so much attention from
> > > the police.
> > >
> > > 14 March 1899, San Antonio *Daily Light*, pg. 12, col. 1:
> > > A jury in Justice Sweeney's court heard the testimony in a
> > > fighting and abusive language case this morning in which a
> > > number of women of the red light district were involved, and
> > > gave a verdict of not guilty.
> > >
> > > 13 March 1900, Philadelphia *Inquirer*, pg. 1:
> > > *
> > > STARTED IN NEW YORK
> > > The Haymarket Closed, Its Proprietor Arrested "Red Light"
> > > Characters Driven Into the Street and Gamblers Indicted
> > > (...)
> > > Police Captain Diamond and a squad of his men from the East
> > > Fifth street police station visited every resort in the
> > > famous "red light" district to-night, driving the people into
> > > the street. Considerable excitement occurred at McGurk's,
> > > where over one hundred men and women were ordered out= .
> > >
> > >
> > > 28 April 1900, Marion (OH) Daily Star, pg. 1, col. 2:
> > > New York, April 28.=97Considerable comment is heard among the
> > > delegates to = the ecumenical conference over the character
> > > of the "Guide to New York" prepare= d for their benefit by
> > > the hospitality committee. Some of the more straight-laced
> > > are shocked by it, particularly by the chapter headed "A
> > > ramble at night." They say it was probably taken bodily from
> > > a guide book prepared for a drummers' convention or some
> > > other secular and unregenerate gathering.
> > >
> > > The "Ramble at night" takes the trusting missionary first to
> > > the Red Light district on the lower East Side, up the Bowery
> > > and through Chinatown. He is informed that opium smoking
> > > rooms are called joints, where it costs $1 to hit the pipe.
> > >
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>
>
> --
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> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> -----
> -Sam'l Clemens
>
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--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
                                              -Sam'l Clemens

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