St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-08-11
REARDoN KNEW NOTHING.
Six Children in Miss Taylor's
Room Wrote the Naughty
Notes.
THEY ASKED FORGIVENESS.
On Account Of Their Youth
and Promises They Were
Forgiven.

tempest raised by Miss Taylor, III which
she blew in statements of the immoral
ity of the Madison school, was the reso-
luton of the schuol board adopted OH
the lst-inst., appointing a special COM
mittee to investigate the charges. Pres
ident Wilrich appointed Messrs. E.
Vanish, MeNair and Dawson as mem-
bers of this committee.
The public interest in the matter.
which mad not been stirred to any depth
by the statements of Miss Taylor, was
deeply enlisted by the charges made i'll
open council by Mr.. Reardon. who
stated that the public schools Of this
city were sinks OF iniquity, and that.
from the nature of the teachers, were
probably engaged in immoral conduct.
This sweeping charge of the erratic as
semblyman has been repeated in the
press of the country, and has placed
stigma upon our public schools that will
last long after the lack of Yeracity is
demonstrated.
The committee appointed set yester-
day as the time and their office in the
high school building as the place where
the Investigation would take place, aud
sent notes to every one who they
thought would be interested. including
Mr.. Reardon and Miss Taylor. At
O'Clock there were present besides the
special committee President Wilrich,
Mr.. McGil and Supt. Gilbert, connected
with the chools; Russell Dorr, of the
committee appointed by the chamber of
commerce; as were also eX-Mayor
Wright. F. B. Doran. c. W. Hackett,
James Suydan and others. Principal
George c. Smith. of the Madison school.
was there. and also the Misses Worm
wood, Patton, Tong and Phelan, of that
school.
Mr.. Vanish called the meeting to Or
der. Stated the purposes of it. and asked
any one present who had any facts
bearing ON the matter to state them.
No answer was made. and Mir. Vanish
called for Mr. Reardon and Miss Taylor,
but neither of them was present. Mr..
McNair stated that he had told Mr..
Reardon of the meeting, and Mr.. Vanish
stated that he had also seen Mr.. Rear
don, who told him that he knew nothing
himself, but supposed that the board
was in possession of all the information
necessary. The secretary of the meet
ing stated that notice had been sent to
Mr.. Reardon and Miss Taylor. LII the
absence of any person to subStantiate
the charge made by Mr. ReardOn in the
council, Principal Smith was called
upon and stated that he had baen for
sixteen years principal of the Madison
school; that in all of that time the
morals of the school had been vely
good, with the exception of one incident
that occurred last winter
In Miss Taylor's Room
when it was ascertained by the teacher
that three boys and three girls. aged
from twelve to fifteen years, had writ
ten uncbaste notes. Mr.. Smith stated
that he Immediately consulted with
Supt. Gilbert. that he personally saw
the parents of the children involved;
that the children, on being confronted
with the acts. admitted that they had
written them, and expressed sincere
contrition for their misconduct and
promised better behavior in the future :;
that he and the superintendent decided
that, in view of the promises of the
children and of the parents and of their
immature age, and of the injury that
would result to them il expelled, they
would retain the children in school, and
| that their conduct since that time had
been exemplary. No such case of mis-
! conduct had arisen since in any other
| rooms of the school, nor has there been
| any repetition of it in Miss Taylor's
| room. This occurre April 6, and was
confined to one class in that room. MIR.
| McGill thought that the important thing
was whether the treatment Of the chill
| dren had been what was required by
the nature of the cases, and, in response
from inquiries from Mr.. Dorr, Mr..
Smith statedthat the Madison school
had LOO pupils.
| The school board had not seen the
original notes passed between the chill.
| dren, but those presented by Miss Tay-
lor were either copies or reproductions
from memory. Mr.. Suydam entered
upon QuizZical examination of Mr.
Smith as 10 what was done IN such
cases; what discipline was applied
which elected from Mr.. McGill the in
quiry whether it was the policy in such
cases to try to save the children or to
cruelty them. Mr.. Suydam took the
stand, but no information was ELECTED
from him, he saying that he knew OF nc
immortality in any school in the city.
Reardon Knew Nothing.
At this juncture the grizzled and
wrinkled front of the redoubtable Tim
Reardon appeared. Before Mr.. Rear
don was put under the pump the Misses
Norwood and Patton stated that they
had been connected with the Madison
school for fourteen and twelve years
respectively, in the eighth and seventh
grades, and that in all of their expert
ence they had never known in theil
rooms all instance of the writing of bad
notes. They only knew of the instance
in Miss Taylor's room by hearsay, but
had not seen the notes that were writ
ten.
Mr.. Reardon took the floor In response
to call of Mr.. Vanish and frankly stated
that he knew nothing whatever OF tht
matter more than what he had read liz
the papers during Miss TaYlor's frolic
aud what he had been told by Miss
Madigan. Mr.. Vanish asked him If he
had said In the council that the school:
of this city were sinks of iniquity on nc
other foundation than this, and with
unblushing front Mr.. Reardon admitted
that he had. He said, however, that II
the committee had power to send fol
persons and papers he would furnish Il
with the names OF persons who could
give some information to the board.
1t was suggested to him by one of the
members that, as a citizen and as q
public officer, he was as deeply Inter-
ested IS any one In the public schools,
and that 1t was his duty to aid the board
In getting all the information possible
Finally he gave the names OF the fol-
lowing persons upon whom the board
might call: Roy Ogdon, Miss TAYLOR
| Miss Mauigan who he said had NC !