Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1882-02-13

tho charge made BY the Enterprise Of
that city. that T. ]. Booher, Principal
Of the First Ward School. had in the
presence Of his pupils denounced the
late President a. q thief. Q robber and Q
bad man generally.
There was Q full Board present. The
investigation was prosecuted in detail
and was most thorough and searching.
h. @. Shaw represented the prosecution
and James A. Stephens the defense.
Fifteen children OF the school we're eI.
amined under oath. OF this number
twelve were called BY the prosecution
and three by the defense. To publish
the testimony Of each in detail would
require moro space than the columns OF
the Nxws can afford. and besides would
be unnecessary. With the exception OF
Fred Prsusch. the testimony Of all was
substantially the same.
FACTS As PRESENTED.
Tho investigation brought out that
sometime last October there was a dc.
bate in the school one Friday afternoon;
that the debatsrs were pupils OF Mr..
Booher's school. who had formed . lit.
ersry society and we're debating under
its rules and bylaws. one OF the pupils
being In the chair a. President. Sides
were chosen after the style OF an old
fashioned "spelling down MATCH" and
Mr.. Booher. who participated in the
discussion the same ~ . pupil. was
chosen ON the negative side OF tho quss.
ton. There had been three questions
given the sosisty by Mr.. Booher and
they had chosen: "Rssolved. That the
death OF President Garfield Was an irrep.
arabic loss to the United States"
From the testimony Of fourteen pupils
it appears that Mr.. Boohsr ~sulogized the
memory OF Mr.. Garfield. but claiming
for his side that the death did not cause
Q vacuum and spoke highly OF General
Hancock. In the course Of the debate
no said Hancock had been his choice
during election and believed he would
have made . good President. He. how
ever. deeply regretted Gsrfeld's death.
II was In testimony that hs said Con.
gress never had . brighter speaker than
the dead President, and that Garfield
had been q statesman and . good man.
The Credit Mobilier and De Gollyef
business was referred to. but az none Of
the children (outsids OF the boy Preuseh)
heard him use language disrespectful to
Garfeld's memory, 10 II more than likely
he but merely referred to them.
Only Miss Hendricks appeared to
take offsnss ut the allusion and
that was because she knew all
about the history Of those allegations,
having read then in the papers during
the campaign. II was also testified to
that after the debate was over Mr..
Boohsr had said he was on the afirma.
tive side Of the question thus far: he
believed the country had met with q
great loss. but had spoken In the mega.
tive, a. that was the side allotted to him;
also, that on all occasions he had taught
his pupils IL was right and noble to mp.
hold and fight for the Union. One pupil
said Mr.. Booher ones stated that bad be
been Of age at the time OF the rebellion
he would have been in the ranks OF the
Confedsraoy; the same pupil. however.
spoke Of Mr.. Booher's teachings OF 10y
atty to the Union.
THE TESTIMONY OF N
Prsusch testified that he had been at
school eight years, was in Mr.. Booher's
B class. and was present when the de-
bate about Garfield occurred; did not re-
member the wording Of the subject nm.
der debate; was on negative side Of
question, same a. Booher; had said him
self that he did not think the nation met
with much loss; said Booher called Gar.
field q thief and q coward, and said he
did not think q thief should be President
OF the United States; said he was a cow
ard, because when he went into battle he
was behind his men. and drove them
like sheep, instead Of leading them like
Hancock; that when elected to Congress
he went to work to rob the government;
at that time he was friendly to the teacher;
the paper containing the charges was
written ut the request OF his father after
IL appeared in the Enterprise. because his
father had told him 10 remember oil be
could about the debate; Fred. McCourt
had logged his memory about the asser-
ton OF coward; debate lasted an hour
and q half; Miss Hendricks cried, and
told Mr.. Booher he ought to be ashamed
to speak Of such things tths De Golyer
aud Credit Mobilier b~usiness) after the
Presidents death; that Boober replied
he had q right to talk Of auybody's pub
lie life, but not his private life; the pu.
piis decided that afternoon not to have
any more discussions on politics.
When crsss-examined no said ho did
not write tho statement until after his
sister was whipped. at which his father
was vexed. Here Stephens was procsed.
ing TO show that the statement would
never have been written were 10 not for
the whipping Boohsr gave Cora Preusch,
and the consequent family prejudice.
when Shaw. the prosecutor, objected to
that line Of questioning. and Stephens
did not insist. The boy. in reply to
other questions. went on 10 say his
father had never said anything to him
about the discussion. although hs (ths
boy) had told him all about 1t. until the
Enterprise Published II. when he told him
to write down all he could remember
Of it.
THE TESTIMONY OF rouRrEKS.
The other children fourteen in mum.
ber) disputed Prsusch's testimony In
every important particular. Not q re-
membersd having heard Mr.. Boohsr use
language disrsspectful Of Garfield; all
claimed he spoke in the highest praise
OF him; and when asked 10 Boehsr used
the words thief, coward or robber. they
emphatiealiy replied in the negative.
Miss Hendricks said she WAS veIed with
Mr.. Boohsr because be referred to the
Credit Mobilier and De Golyer pavement
business, but said he did not use harsh
terms; merely alluded to them. Her