Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1871-08-04
The State Reform school.


Your articles upon the state reform school
seem to require and invite some attention from
the trustees, and therefore they ask little space
in your paper.
| Mr.. Samson, upon whose statement your arti-
cles are based, was connected with the insttu-
ton as carpenter for several years, and the ques
ton of his discharge was before the trustees
months before the alleged outrages were COM
mitted. At the meeting of the trustees early in
April, final action was taken, and he was in
formed that his services would not be required
after the first of June. He refused to work an
other day, and left greatly displeased.
The present number Of trustees is six, and
Ave of this number have been members of the
board at least two years, and most of them four
or five years. One or more Of them visits the
! institution every half month, and the board
holds meeting every quarter, and yet, in all
these years, and with all these opportunities,
Mr.. Samson has never, tillsince his discharge,
made to the trustees, as body, or to any indi-
yidual member of the board, any complaint as
to the treatment the boys were receiving at the
hands of the officer referred to; nor did the
trustees know at the time of his discharge that
Thus it appears that he at least was not dis
charged by that influence which "contrives to
get dismissed from the institution every en-
ploye who attempts to bring these brutalities
to the attention of the authorities" Nor has
he since his discharge spoken to one of the
trustees on the subject made any charges to
them, or asked at their hands an investigation,
and it was only incidentally that they learned
that he had made charges to any one.
After he left the institution, he brought to the
notice of his excellency the governor, and of
member of the council, these cases of alleged
cruelty, and the 4th of May letter was adj
dressed to him from the executive department,
stating that the matter had been inquired into
and that "under the circumstances his excel
lency the governor does not consider it expedi-
ent to further examine the case, as measures
have been taken by the trustees to prevent the
recurrence of any complaints of a like nature"
There was then so much of an examination
into the case, and Mr.. Samson was knowing to
the fact, for he put the letter above referred TO
into the hands of one of the governors council.
The investigation on the part of the trustees in
April last, showed ths-that without the knowl-
edge of the superintendent the strap complained
of had been used in some instances upon
disobedient and rebelous boys; that previous
to his knowledge of that strap the use Of all
straps for punishment was forbidden by him;
that a boy had been punished with rattan, or
| the pith of the cane, whose system was so full
of humors that it gave the appearance of much
greater severity than there really was; that this
boy was called from his work, and in the alb
sence of the superintendent examined the next
day by the assistant superintendent, Mr.. Merrill
that he found that the square end of the rattan
| had in some instances broken the skin; and that
when the extent of the punishment was brought
to the knowledge of the superintendent by the
matron and by Mr.. Samson, it received his i'm
mediate attention, and the officer promised TO
refrain from such severe punishment thereafter.
taso appeared that the necessity, as the off,
Ger thought, for these severer punishments arose
in part, at least, from the large accession to the
institution of boys from the scholarship, an in
ere ase of forty per cent TO the number under
| his charge, making the number employed in tine
chair shop about one hundred and forty; that
many of these were dangerous characters, as is
shown by the fact that one threatened the life
| of the officer; that another struck with his
knife boy working near him, cutting his hand,
and that they did not mingle with the other
boys, but made up a class by themselves.
| The promise of the officer with reference to
| punshments has been faithfully kept, and for
the last four months there have been no cases
of excessive punishment
The trustees greatly desire TO avoid corporal
punishment, and their efforts have been earnest
and constant in that direction, but they have
found it utterly impossible, without occasional
resort to it, to preserve order and exercise a
proper restraint upon boys whose character and
training, or want of it, have been such as to
bring them to the reform school, and who have
always been subject to that kind of punish
ment at their homes.
Their policy, therefore, in regard to corporal
punishment has been, not to prohibit it entirely,
but to reduce it to its minimum. They have
sought to control the manner, the means and the
circumstances. In accordance with this policy
the use of the strap was forbidden, the single
rattan was substituted for the braided one, and
all corporal punishments are now inflicted in
the presence of the superintendent.
1t is not easy to knolo that punshments have
been reduced to the least possible num-
Der, but they are certainly reduced much
below the number in some similar institu lions /:
SO reduced that an officer, who has been long
upon the ground, referring to the time when all
corporal punishments were forbidden, remarked
that there is really less of it now than former.
ly, when there was said to be none" Still
when boy picks up brick in the yard, and
threatens to split an officers head open with it,
as one did last winter, Or when one deals an
officer blow, as has been done this summer,
there must be punishment of some kind and
the only alternative to the infiction of bodily
pain seems to be solitary confinement, and that
is not so very solitary when all the lodges ART
in the same general apartment. If several art
in the lodges at the same time, the release from
labor and the opportunity for conversation rem
der the situation not altogether unenjoyable.
This confinement must be prolonged if il
would be made effective.
+ As the parties seeking a formal investigation
have never made complaint to the trustees, but
have carried their charges to the executive coun
q Gil, and as the trustees have examined into the
matter till they are satisfied that abuses so far
as they have existed have been corrected and that
| bhSh "hu bhat vi lue community
ought TO be unabated in the integrity and eficien
cy Of the superintendent, they leave the matter
r in the hands of the executive, expressing theil
willingness to aid in any investigation that max
be deemed desirable.
BY vote of the trustees,
# Z. A. HUBBARD, Chairman.
t. JOHN AYREs, Secretary.
IN Boston, Aug. 2, 1871.
as ---
o. The annual meeting of the Athol and Enfel