Daily Alaska Dispatch

July 9, 1912

BROTHEL KEEPER CHARGED WITH WHITE SLAVERY

Indicted on one of the most serious charges provided for in the federal statutes-white slavery-Leah Richards, keeper of a disorderly house known in this city as the "Castle," was yesterday haled before Judge G. C. Winn in the U.S. commissioner's court where a certified copy of an indictment, returned by a federal grand jury in Seattle, was read to her as a matter of procedure involved in disposing of her case here by admitting the woman to bail. The woman's bail of $5,000, originally ordered by Federal Judge C. H. Hanford at Seattle, was ordered reduced to $3,000 and the Richards woman furnished that amount, gaining her liberty. The case now goes out of the jurisdiction of the courts here. The Richards woman will have to appear in the district court at Seattle for arraignment and plea, otherwise her bond will be forfeited.

The Richards woman was arrested in this city last Friday on a warrant sent north from Seattle, where she was secretly indicted a month ago. The indictment charges the wholesale importation of young girls to Alaska. Specifically it gives the names of four girls when the Richards woman is alleged to have lured into a life of shame. The indictment contains eight different counts and is a sweeping charge.

It was last March, say federal officials here, when the authorities in Seattle joined hands with officials here in conducting a systematic search for evidence that would lead to the arrest of the Richards harlot on charges of a white slave character. Link by link the claim of damaging evidence was forged. The indictment followed. A copy of it, together with a warrant for the arrest of the accused woman, was sent north for service. Owing to a defect in the certificates, the indictment was sent back to Seattle for correction. The corrected indictments arrived here Thursday and the arrest was then made.

How many young girls have been guided into the paths of destruction by this one woman no one perhaps will ever know. The indictment says she has enslaved four girls known to the grand jury. It is said that her trial will be rushed through the next term of the district court at Seattle, providing her plea to the charges is not guilty.

We don't know the location of the "Castle", but it was almost certainly on South Franklin Street, between Admiral Way and the sawmill (today: Downtown Library to the Mt. Roberts Tram).  This section of the street was lined with bars, brothels, rooming houses, warehouses, and marine-oriented industry.