Ariston Bathhouse raid

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Coordinates: 40°45′53″N 73°58′55″W / 40.76472°N 73.98194°W / 40.76472; -73.98194
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The Ariston Bathhouse raid in 1903 was the first anti-gay police raid on an establishment located in New York City. It resulted in thirty-four arrests, sixteen charges of sodomy, and twelve trials, five of which possess transcripts.

Raid

On February 21, 1903, at nine o’clock at night, two

patrons, and witnessed multiple instances of anal and oral sex, which they later recounted at the trials.[1]

At 1:45 a.m., a group of police officers entered the establishment and blocked the exits so that none of the seventy-eight men inside could escape. They went through the men and found the individuals who they possessed complaints against, and arrested thirty-four men. The rest were let go with a warning. The

proprietor of the bathhouse, John Begley, was accused of keeping a disorderly house and was held in $2,000 bail. Of the men arrested, some were charged with liquor law violations and disorderly conduct, and at least sixteen were charged with sodomy. Twelve of those sixteen were sent to trial, and five trials have transcripts that survived and are viewable today.[2][3][4][5] Of these five trials, three returned verdicts of guilty, one verdict of guilty with a recommendation to mercy, and a mistrial. However, two of the guilty verdicts were later appealed.[6]

It is known that police had spent several weeks collecting evidence against men who entered the bathhouse, which they did in conjunction with the Society for the Prevention of Crime. They used this evidence to create two diagrams of the bathhouse, which were used in the trials that followed.[7]

Trials

In the trial of People v. Kregel, the defense relied on the physical impossibility of sodomy. The

prosecution
continued to describe that Chamberlin had performed anal sex with Kregel, while another man, John Rogers, performed oral sex on Kregel. All three were arrested by police about an hour later. However, Kregel denied the testimony about the alleged sex acts, and maintained that he had never been to a Turkish bathhouse before and that he received the ticket to the bathhouse from a customer at his shop in exchange for fixing a coat.

At that point, Dr. Pierre A. Siegelstein was called by the

physiological reasons. A medical expert specializing in sex crime cases, William Travers Gibb, refuted this claim, and said that upright anal sex was feasible.[4] Eventually, it was declared a mistrial and Kregel's bail was reduced from $2,000 to $750.[1]

In People v. Galbert, the defense attorney cited the “physical impossibility” and “mathematical impossibility” of the crime. An employee from the bathhouse was called as a witness, and said that the couches present in the room where Galbert was found were a little more than a foot high, and Charles LeBarbier, Galbert's attorney, suggested that the couches were too low to permit the accused crime to take place. Galbert was an architect for Carrere and Hastings, a prominent firm that lead the Beaux Arts movement. Because of this, John Carrere, an accomplished architect, was called to attest to Galbert's mental health along with four other character witnesses. When Galbert was found guilty, LaBarbier used his resistance against the police during his arrest as a testament to his manliness and masculinity.[8]

In People v. Schnittel,

venereal disease due to his face having broken out in large, blotchy patches of red. His defense claimed that Schnittel had entered the bathhouse in an effort to clear up the skin condition. Schnittel himself claimed that he had never been in the room where the alleged sex acts took place, and his defense attempted to cement his masculinity by pointing out his engagement ring. In the end, the jury returned a verdict of guilty as charged.[5]

In People v. Bennett, Walter Bennett's defense attorney also cited his client's heterosexuality and desire for women as proof that he was innocent. The police accused him of wearing a sheet as a woman might, as well as engaging in oral and anal sex with another man. To testify against this, two women and a minister who knew Bennett were called. One of the women, Catherine Bolton, said that she had known Bennett since he was fourteen years old and implied that she had been romantically involved with him at some point. The prosecuting attorney claimed that the feminine perspectives of the women and the minister were not a good indication of Bennett's character, and went on to imply that Bennett was not unlike the women himself.[3]

In People v. Casson, Theodore Casson denied the charge of sodomy placed against him, but did admit to being in the Turkish bath, where he was arrested. The officer who arrested him claimed to have arrested him shortly after the accused act took place, which caused a direct conflict of testimony. The jury returned a verdict of guilty with a recommendation to mercy.[2]

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 9781438461953
    .
  2. ^ a b People of the State of New York v Theodore Casson (Trial 350) - Lloyd Sealy Library Digital Collections - John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Retrieved 27 February 2018. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  3. ^ a b People of the State of New York v Walter Bennett (Trial 369) - Lloyd Sealy Library Digital Collections - John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Retrieved 27 February 2018. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  4. ^ a b The People of the State of New York v Abraham Kregal (Trial 353) - Lloyd Sealy Library Digital Collections - John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Retrieved 27 February 2018. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  5. ^ a b People of the State of New York v Michael Schnittel (Trial 355) - Lloyd Sealy Library Digital Collections - John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Retrieved 27 February 2018. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  6. ISBN 978-0-7867-2335-5
    .
  7. ^ "(Page 4 of 29) - The Ariston Bathhouse Raid of 1903: Character, Class, and the Legal Construction of Sodomy authored by Donovan, Brian". citation.allacademic.com. Retrieved 27 February 2018.
  8. ^ "(Page 21 of 29) - The Ariston Bathhouse Raid of 1903: Character, Class, and the Legal Construction of Sodomy authored by Donovan, Brian". citation.allacademic.com. Retrieved 27 February 2018.

40°45′53″N 73°58′55″W / 40.76472°N 73.98194°W / 40.76472; -73.98194

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