Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1875-05-07
The Reform School INVESTIGATES.

The inquiry into the alleged abuses
in the Reform School at Lldora COM
menced on Friday, of last week, at
that place, before the Committee of
Investigation appointed by the Gov
ernor, consisting of Gen. A. G. Dodge,
Hon. w. II. Lcas, and Mrs. J. w.
Cattell. The Trustees of the School,
Messrs. Parvin, Corkhill, Dashiel,
Andrews and Vestal were also pres
ent.
The investigation, so far as it has
gone,-although the amplest oppor-
tunity has been given to the prosecu.
ton for the introduction of testimony
has not resulted in anything to
substantiate the charges of cruelty
and neglect against Supt. M'Carty.
1t is coming out, in the course of the
investigation, as we suspected long
since, that the whole trouble has
grown out of local quarrels and jeal-
ousies, fostered and fomented in great
part by that bravo of Iowa journal.
ism, Bob Mcbride, of the Eldora
Ledger. The attorneys for the pros
ecution, Huff and Eastman, Of Edo.
IA, are doing their best to make ev.
cry point tell against the manage.
ment of the School, for this purpose
magnifying every act OF necdful dis
cipline into a horrible outrage against
humanity, and holding up in the
worst light every mistake or indiscre.
ton by the employees, but, with all
their efforts to color it, the drift OF
the testimony is to exculpate the man.
agement of the School from the seri-
GUS charges brought against it. TO
show the character of this testimony
we extract the following from the re-
port furnished the State Register.-
The witness is Henry Tunis, an in
mate Of the School. He said:
Never saw Mr.. McCarty whip but one
boy. The whipping was not severe and
it left no marks. Have seen Eutrican
whip the boys. Have known of Lamoria
whipping boy while there. The boy
was whipped for swearing and fighting.
Lamoria whipped severely; has been in
the lookup for running away; was shack
led while there; was furnished with as
much food as deserved. but it did not
always satisfy my appetite. I would get
meat three times week about the size of
my hand; it was good meat. Saw Mr..
Blackman whip boy with his fist; the
boy was called up from his seat to be cor
rected for misconduct, when he rebelled
and seized and drew knife as if to strike
Blackman; it was heavy knife, used for
cutting bread, and eight or twelve inches
long; it was a kind of butcher knife
The boy Mr.. McCarty whipped was Hill
lery, who was trying to escape from the
lookup by taking the staples out of the
door. He was about IS or 20 years of
age, and has the reputation of being the
worst boy in the Reform School. l was
put in shackles for running away-was
captured at Ackley.
The boys are we'll treated. have new
er gone hungry at the School, or without
sufficient sleep. The bed-ticks were kept
well filled with clean straw; during the
winter each bed had six blankets on it.
The beds provided the inmates were all
alike. Boys would tell outsiders stories
about the school in order to get McCarty
and new man appointed, so
that they might escape. Myself and 9TH
ers concluded to send letter to the Ledg-
er against the institution, so that under a
new Superintendent we might escape.
know nothing against McCarty more
than would be held against any one in au-
thority. Have seen the Eldora Ledger
brought into the school, and when boys
saw their stories published they would
talk the more to outsiders. Know of
Judge Mccall coming to the School
Played on the organ when he was there,
and my hands were perfectly clean, and
was much surprised to see his article in
the paper stating that my hands were dir
ty. My clothes were good and clean
when he was there. l have never been
whipped at school; have been in the
school thirteen months. Am positive
that Judge Mccall was not as we'll dress
ed as the boys in the school, did not hear
him cry. His face was red, and looked
as though he might get down some liquor.
Have never spoken to McCarty or any of
The Trustees as to how should testify
Captain Reed asked me about testifying.
Of the testimony of another wit
ness, who has been prominent as re-
sponsible for some of the severest
charges against the School, the Reg
ister report says:
J. J. Royce, Deputy Sheriff of Black
Hawk county, was next sworn. This is
he man who made the sweeping state
ment last winter, and which went all over
he State, as to how cruelty the boys at
he Reform School were treated. The
TACT is, as was shown by his testimony,
hat he Was never at the Reform School
but once in his life and that was one ex-
;remely cold day last January, when he
.ook boy there. He was only there then
about an hour or two. This man also
wrote to the Governor that the rooms
we're in a filthy condition, and that the
boys had no conveniences for keeping
clean. The truth is, he did
not look to see what conveniences there
were. He had only been in one building,
and the Mushrooms, he said, were small
md dirty, although he did not go to ex-
anime, but saw them as he was passing
by. He said the wash-roOms were locat-
ed in the south side of the dormitories,
when the fact is, what he considered the
Mushrooms were water-c1osets for the use
of the boys at night. He said the dormi-
tories were cold and the windows thickly
Covered with ice last winter. He said the
floors were filthy, but could not be cleaned
owing to the severe cold weather, as the
water would freeze on the floor. He de-
MED ever having said that the Reform
School was the filthiest place in the State.
As whole, his testimony was pretty bad
ly mixed.
7 Jas. Mcbride, an uncle of tie edi-
tor of the Ledger, was also on the
stand, his testimony almost entirely
consisting of what he had heard, and
read in the Ledger. The only thing
about 1T remarkable was the admis-
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