Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1897-07-25
THE MADISON SCHOOL TROUBLE.

upon your space to- correct some state
ments made by professor A. M. Stew
enson and published in the Register
Friday, June 25th.
At the request of Prof. Stevenson
| the Commissioners of Madison distric
called a meeting for the purpose O
hearing sor1e statements from him
which he said he desired to make t
the commissioners, and which he stat
ed hfs would make in the presence Of
the grammar teachers, therefore, the
grsmmar teachers were requested tC
| be at the meeting. On arriving at the
! ulace designated, the Commissioners
were somewhat surprised to find pres
|, ent others than those summoned to ap-
/ pear. AS it was known that Prof
Stevenson intended to make charges
against teacher at this meeting,
objected to being a party to such an
unjust act as compelling a teacher to
be present in a public meeting to have
charges made against her; to do so
would be assuming authority not in
! vested in the Commissioners. 1t was
! made plain to those present that the
( Commissioners had no desire to keep
from the public anything in reference
to the difficulty in Madison school.
Prof. Stevenson says that incident
ally charge was made by Mr.. Max
well that the principal had written a
certain article and published the same
in the Evening News" this is abso-
lutely false, and when he wrote it he
certainly knew that he was wilfully
disappearing the matter.
The truth of the school house Incl
dent is as follows:
called the attention of those pres
ent to an article that had appeared in
the Register on the morning of June
18th, the last sentence Of which read.
prof. Stevenson is opposed to MAX
ing the meeting secret" / stated that
this was an insinuation against the
Commissioners, and that this statement
could have but one source; he asserted
in the meeting that the statement
made in the Register was correct,
thereby proving my allegation that the
statement referred to could have but
one source, to be absolutely correct.
Prof. Stevenson then asked me if I
meant to say that he had written the
article, to which l replied plainly and
distinctly that l had made no such
statement, and again reiterated that
what I sad was, that the statement re-
ferred to could have but one source.
He asked second and third time II I
meant to say that he had written the
article, and each time was answered
as before. Failing to have me admit Of
having made statement which l did
not make, Prof, Stevenson went into
a paroxysm of rage and completely lost
control Of his temper, making a dis
graceful scene in the school room,
vhereupon the lady teachers fled from
the building and did not return. This
ended the meeting.
l will not ask the residents of Mad
ison district to judge as between my
statement and that made by Prof !
them to all present at the meeting.
Those present were Myron Hubbard,
E. Buckman, Lou Stone, William IT.
vine. John Shellhase and the three
grammar teachers of Madison school.
What Mr.. Stevenson said to me on
the evening of the meeting of the
Board of Education in July, 1896, was
as stated in my previous letter, not
withstanding Prof. Stevenson's attempt
to dodge it. To Miss Wiley's frienos
Prof. Stevenson has insisted that he
had made no reports to the Commits
sioners adversely to her. He states In
his letter that he did say that Il trust
you will not do an act OF injustice TO
me by stating that l reported adverse
ly to Miss Wiley. From anything
ever said, you can not be JUSTIFIED IN
making this statement" If Mr.. Stew
enson had not given information to
the Commissioners detrimental to Miss
Wiley. why would he come to me and
ask that I do not so report him? IL
he had not made any such statements,
can anyone tell me why he would come
and ask that l do not so state before
the Board?
AS an explanation for his absence
from the principals meeting, to which
he was summoned by the superinten-
dent. Prof. Stevenson makes the fol-
lowing statement: "The meeting re-
ferred to occurred on September 18th.
l was not there. was In my school.
l received a report Of the meeting a
day or two afterwards. With me that
was a very busy week in school. Ar
ranging classes, admitting new pupils
and conducting special examinations,
left no time Off other duties. / leave
the public to Judge of the truthfulEess
of the honorable CD gentlemans state
ment."
Every sentence of any importance
In tho above statement is absolutely
false. The meeting was held Septem-
Der 18th. He was not there, that much
is true: he says that he was in his
school. that is not true, for school did
not open until Monday, september
14th. He says he received report OF
the meeting a day or two afterwards.
The teachers in the grammar school
could not wait for him to receive re-
mort therefore, went to the superinten-
| dent for their instructions. He says
with him that was very busy week.
arranging classes, admitting new pu-
! nils and conducting special examina-
lions. Since there was no school that
week these statements prove them
selves false. l do not ask the public
to Judge of the truthfulness OF hi;
statements, but ask them to go to the
records in the Office of the superinten'
dent of public schools, where they car
satisfy themselves of the untruthful
ness of his statements.
Explaining his failure to inform TIT
Commissioners of a vacancy among I'M
teachers. he says: "The last talk
had with the teacher referred to ad
vised her to send her resignation c