‘Soiled Doves’ refused to fly the coup

For The Madera Tribune

Sheriff John Jones. shown here, tried his best to rid Madera of its Red-Light District, but it was just too well entrenched.

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No one has ever pretended that Madera didn’t have its share of bawdy houses. Most assuredly it did. In the early part of the 20th century, its red-light district operated with impunity along F Street between Yosemite Avenue and 4th Street. However, it was always considered an eyesore and embarrassment by most members of Madera’s polite society. Therefore, local lawmen decided to do something about the problem. On May, 9, 1903, Sheriff John Jones put the denizens of the tenderloin district on notice that their days in Madera were numbered. After an interview with a Madera Mercury reporter, Jones’s warning came out in print. 

“The hangers-on of the disreputable houses in the tenderloin district,” said Jones, “will have to shake the dust of Madera from their feet and seek new pastures.

Jones called them human parasites “who live off the earnings of women”