People ex rel. Dyer v. Clark
| Decision Date | 10 June 1915 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 9707,9708.,s. 9707 |
| Citation | 108 N.E. 994,268 Ill. 156 |
| Parties | PEOPLE ex rel. DYER, State's Atty., v. CLARK. |
| Court | Illinois Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Error to Appellate Court, Second District, on Appeal from Circuit Court, Kankakee County; Charles B. Campbell, Judge.
Suit by the People of the State of Illinois, on the relation of Wayne H. Dyer, State's Attorney, for injunction against Nellie Clark. A judgment of the circuit court sentencing the defendant for contempt of court for disobedience to the injunction was affirmed by the Appellate Court (187 Ill. App. 613), and the defendant brings error. Affirmed.
T. W. Shields, of Kankakee, for plaintiff in error.
Wayne H. Dyer, State's Atty., and John H. Beckers, both of Kankakee, for defendant in error.
A bill for injunction was filed in the circuit court of Kankakee county on the 23d day of December, 1912, at the October term, 1912, of the circuit court of said county, by the people of the state of Illinois, on the relation of Wayne H. Dyer, state's attorney, against Nellie Clark. The bill, in substance, charged that Nellie Clark was the owner of and occupied lot 12 in block 34 of the original town of Kankakee City, now the city of Kankakee; that she had conducted in the building on said premises a pretended ladies' boarding house, which was, in fact, a house of ill fame and place for the practice of prostitution and lewdness;that she kept therein a large number of lewd, immoral, and depraved women for the purpose of prostitution, and that the said women practiced fornication, and prostituted themselves with men, in large numbers, who frequented said premises for such purposes; that these actions were carried on during each day and night of the week, including Sunday, and that loud and disturbing noises and lewd, obscene, and blasphemous language were used by the habitués of said place within the hearing of those living upon the adjoining premises; that this was carried on and done with the knowledge, consent, and protection of Nellie Clark; that Nellie Clark herself was a woman of low and vicious instincts and habits, and had been a common prostitute for a period of six months past, and had practiced and carried on the business of prostitution in said building and lived with a man in an open state of adultery; that the building on said premises was constructed of brick, two stories in height, and contained a large number of rooms; that the windows were equipped with heavy shutters, calculated to resist the raids of the public officials of the county of Kankakee; that said Nellie Clark, within the last two years, had been arrested on several occasions by the police of the city of Kankakee, charged with keeping and maintaining a house of prostitution, and that on such occasions she had pleaded guilty, but still continued to conduct said house of prostitution; that on account of the maintaining and keeping of said house of prostitution irreparable injury would result to the complainant, in that the moral standard of the citizens of the community had been lowered, and contempt for the law and courts engendered, and that said premises had become a place for the congregation of disorderly and undesirable persons, thereby increasing the necessity of police protection and endangering the public health of the community, and that the property of the citizens residing in the vicinity of said building had depreciated in value for residence and business purposes, and that the said building, and the business as carried on there, amount to a common nuisance. The bill prayed that Nellie Clark be required to answer the same, but not under oath; that said house of ill fame be declared to be illegal and its keeping and maintenance a public nuisance to the complainant. There was a prayer for temporary injunction. The bill was not sworn to.
In support of the bill two affidavits were filed, being affidavits of Dave Rosenberg and Fred Chapman, which affidavits disclose the place described in the bill was a public place for the practice of prostitution and lewdness.
Upon hearing on bill and affidavits, and upon due notice to said Nellie Clark, a temporary injunction was granted restraining Nellie Clark, and all other persons claiming under any contract, agreement, assignment, lease, bill of sale, or other conveyance made by her, and all persons in privity with her, and all persons at any time upon the premises, from using or occupying the same for the keeping or maintaining of a house of ill fame and place for the practice of prostitution and lewdness.
On the 20th day of January, 1913, the same being of the January term, 1913, of the circuit court of Kankakee county, Nellie Clark was defaulted, and the bill taken against her as confessed, and the court, on the reading of the bill and the two affidavits heretofore referred to, and without hearing any other evidence, entered a decree making the temporary injunction final, and holding the method of conducting the place constituted the same a common nuisance. At the May term, 1913, an information was filed by the state's attorney for attachment for contempt for violating this injunction, setting up, among other things, the filing of the original bill, the issuance of the temporary writ of injunction on the 24th day of December, 1912, and the fact the temporary injunction was made permanent, and a decree entered enjoining said Nellie Clark from conducting a house of ill fame on said premises, on the 20th day of January, [268 Ill. 160]1913, and setting up facts showing a continuation of the same practices and business at the same place by Nellie Clark after the entry of the decree. There was also a prayer for attachment for contempt, and several interrogatories were filed for Nellie Clark to answer. The information was not sworn to, but two affidavits were filed therewith, executed by two other men, supporting substantially the facts set forth in the information. A writ of attachment for contempt was issued. The defendant appeared and demurred to the information, which demurrer was overruled, and the defendant filed an answer, which, not being under oath, was stricken. Defendant was then adjudged to be in contempt, and the court imposed a fine of $200 and a sentence of 45 days in jail. A motion was then filed to vacate the decree and to set aside the sentence imposed for contempt. The motion was overruled, and two appeals were taken, one from the order refusing to vacate the decree, the other from the order refusing to set aside the sentence. The cases were consolidated and heard as one in the Appellate Court, and, having been brought separately...
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