The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-01-19
THE REFORM SCHOOL.
SUPERINTENDENT FINDS FAULT
WITH THE HERALD REPORTER.
A Complaint and an Explanation
The Sanitary Condition of the In
stitution and the Treatment of
the Inmates.

Following is communication received
from the Superintendent Of the Reform
school who we think has exaggerated
what was stated by our reporter. We
have given the latter space to reply
and assure the officials of the Reform
School that The Herald has no I'M
friendly feelings toward them or the
institution but on the contrary has al
ways appreciated them and is desir-
Gus of their welfare.
To the Editor of The Herald
Your representative in his report of
| the visit of the Legislature to the Re-
| form School on Monday last made sew
eral mistakes which I desire to correct.
| AS to the statement that the mat
resSes found in the dormitorieS were
stained, ragged and uncleanIy, I will
! say that when the Reform School
burned they were all damaged to some
extent. The best of them were picked
out as too good to throw away. They
are somewhat stained, but are clean
and wholesome.
! The second charge as to the bad
sanitary regulation, based upon the
fact that your informant found cfilor-
| ide Of lime in the closets is too funny
( for anything What disinfeetant did
he expect to find there? We use it
every day as an extra precaution, and
invite the attention of a sanitary in
| spector at any time.
| AS to the insinuation found in sew
eral places in his report, that the in
stitution was on dress parade" How
did he know that when he had never
visited the institution before. We re-
spectfully invite any fair minded mem
Der of The Herald staff to visit us for
the purpose of thorough inspection at
any time they may see fit. Your re-
porter should have asked for an ex-
PLANTATION of anything he found to be
out of the regular order. But he
sought his information from two boys
Billy Cornell and Earl Stevenson,
whom he knew before they were sent
to the Reform School-two of the
most unworthy and incorrible boys in
the school. The boys say that he tried
in every way to get them to make a
statement to the effect that they were
mistreated by the officers of the insi-
tuition, failing to elicit the kind Of in
formation, he approached another
manCkconditon shrdlu shrdlu shrdlu III
inmate, one Drysdale who had escaped
from the school the evening before,
and had been re-eaptured, and who
while still in a Sullen mood on account
of his failure to escape, probably told
the story as related by your reporter
of the cruelty and blaSphemy of one
Of the officers. This matter have
not had time to investigate. The girl
inmates were approached by him in
the same manner, and the same queS-
lions, all tending to throw discredit
upon the institution, were asked them.
1t appears to me that he came to the
institution for the purpose of n1align-
ing the trustees, the superintendent or
some one or something connected with
it. Why this should be 1 am entirely
at loss to know
In conclusion 1 will say that the in
stitution is thoroughly inspected every
month by the executive board of the
trustees of the school; the inmates
are questioned in private as to their
treatment and the conduct of the Off
GERS. In addition to that the grand
jury of the district makes it's term re-
port based upon their visit of inSpee-
ton to the institution, and have as
yet failed to call our attention to the
uncleanliness or bad sanitary regula-
tons of the building. Very respectful
ly, E. NJ. ALLISON
Superintendent.
Ogden, Utah, Jan. II, 1894
The matters complained of by Mr..
Allison seem quite bad on their face.
But The Herald representative went
to Ogden with no idea of saying any
thing against the Reform school or its
management In the schoolroom he
had no conversation with any Of the
boys until one of the members of the
Assembly called his attention to the
fact that the boys were complaining
about the act mentioned in the report
He then talked with the boys, and
after getting their story, endeavored to
find Mr. Allison. AS the reporter did
not know him, he did the next best
thing and saw an instructor, who was
said to have been present when the
act was supposed to have been done.
whom he had seen in Salt Lake about
this matter. AS 20 the mattress, his
attention was called to that by one of
the officers of the Assembly, who
turned the bed down. No conversation
was held with any of the female in
mates, the only member of that sex
who was approached being a relative
of Mr.. Allison, who told the reporter
| the name of the cook.
AS the reporter was unable to see
Mr.. Allison before he left the institu-
ton, he laid all he had gathered be-
fore Mr.. Allison's son, who was at the
institution helping to entertain, and
asked his opinion regarding certain
matters. At that time the reporter
told the younger Mr.. Allison what he
intended to publish, and expressed re-
greet that he had not seen his father.
That the institution was on dress
parade was admitted, but the reporter
was assured that the younger Mr.. AL
lison could see no harm in publishing
what was published and assured the
reporter that his father would feel
that way.
| In no place in The -Herald's report
was there any evidence of a desire to
linjure anyone in the institution, anG
the things complained of were men
toned only because they were items
of news. There was no display made
of them, they receiving no mention in
the headlines In fact. these things
were kept in the background and the
general clearly appearance of the
place emphasized.
Ballet Dancers Have No Corns.
Mile. ~Cerale, a premiere assoluta,