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Chapter Seven - "Nothing But Brick and Mortar ..."
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_. SEYEN _ "Nothing But Brick and Mortar •••" THE CHANGING TIMES HAD ALREADY CAUGHT UP WITH Hell's Half Acre. Newspapers now described it as "that dilapidated part of the city" where bums and tramps hung out. J When reporters journeyed to the south end of town to work on their stories, they took their cue from Shakespeare's Cassius, coming not to praise the Acre but to bury it. An increasing proportion of the city's population no longer looked benignly on chronic wrongdoing in the Third Ward. The voters indicated in the spring of 1887 that they were ready for a change, and in no mood to wait for the long-term effects of a good education and proper diet to bring about that change. They preferred direct political action. When the municipal elections of April 1887 were held, the killings of Timothy Courtright, Bob Hayward and Sally "X" were still fresh on everyone's mind. The annual voting ritual took on added significance in the climate of moral outrage that gripped the city. Not surprisingly, voters turned out the old administration and voted in another "reform mayor"; this time it was H. S. Broiles who would lead the city out of the wilderness of two decades of crime. The marshal's race that year attracted as much interest as the mayor's race. Former marshal S. M. Farmer challenged incumbent W. M. Rea in what developed into the hottest contest in a decade. Rea had been city marshal for the past four years and was blamed for the recent rash of violence and for the continued existence of Hell's Half Acre. The elections were a referendum on the city's crime prob- • 203 • 204 • Hell's Half Acre • lems. Ironically, even local gamblers got in on the action, taking bets on who would win the marshal's race. One well-heeled sport wagered $1500 on Farmer. 2 He won, and Fort Worth got a new marshal. Rea announced his retirement from public office right after the election, and the city he had served as a member of the police force since 1879 honored him for "his devotion to duty and fine tact as an officer." It was stated that in retiring he carried "the general goodwill and approbation of his fellow-citizens."3 The new marshal and the new mayor did not start off on the best of terms. Broiles had promised voters that he would clean up the Acre with or without the help of the city's police force. He may have overplayed his hand when he pointed the finger at the lawmen as one of the causes of criminal immorality in Fort Worth. He certainly won no allies among the boys on the force by launching a one-man campaign after he took office to "discipline and prune the police force of undesirables." Broiles favored a more professional force modeled on the lines of the big eastern cities. His reforms consisted of, among other things, taking away officers' pistols and replacing them with clubs or nightsticks. 4 Such a proposal did not sit well with men who considered carrying a gun a God-given birthright and furthermore wanted every advantage they could get when they had to go into the Acre. Another of Broiles' reforms sought to end the cozy relationship between policemen and certain disreputable elements in the Acre. Henceforward, policemen were forbidden to leave their beats and enter houses of prostitution "except in the line of duty."5 This practice , like guaranteed seats at the city's gaming tables, had long been considered one of the perks of the office for marshals and their deputies . The mayor's clean-up campaign targeted three classes of vice or crime in Fort Worth: wide-open gambling, carrying guns in the city, and abuse of Sunday closing laws. Each class represented an area that was persistently and shamelessly ignored by a substantial number of people, often with the tacit approval of the authorities. Broiles' quixotic war on crime soon ran into opposition, however, particularly the Sunday closing law, which could be debated on valid grounds without having to defend immoral or violent behavior. The loudest protest against enforced Sunday closing came not from the saloon owners but from the city's druggists, who protested that they could not fill prescriptions if they were closed. 6 Since most prescriptions contained a [18.223.172.184] Project MUSE (2024-04-17 22:06 GMT) • "Nothing But...