The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-10-11
Tho Vindicatton of the Westchester
Home.

1HO NIuulChthoh VI bhV "OopSAhoSSOk
Home.
The memory Of the daringly criminal and
wretchedly unsuccessful attempt of one OF
the newspapers In this city to defame and
ruin the State Reformatory at Elmira must
still be fresh in the public mind and the
general attention now given to politics
ought not to avert proper recognition from
the disastrous ending of a similar campaign
of persistent Islander against another we'll
for INDECENT Children.
The attack was begun by the now de-
funct Recorder over three years ago, and
consisted of charges of general harsh treat
ment of the children in the Home by the
superintendent, Mr.. JAMES w. PIERCE.
No effort was made, as In the case of Mr..
BRoCKwAY in Elmira, to show that the
head Of the institution had actually killed
some of the inmates, nor is it probable that
there was any such deliberate s~ubornation
of perjury as was procured in the famous
Elmira case. But a great variety of
allegations Of cruelty were brought for
ward, any one of which, IL at all substan-
tiated, would have or should nave landed
Mr.. PIERCE in Jail. 1t was charged that
at the Westminster Home prolonged and
passionate %whippings of children were com
mon, the instrument used being a CATO
nine-tails with metal tips on the lashes; that
MI. PIERCE had broken the fingers and
arms of children in Furnishing them and
had tied children up by the thumbs; had
washed the mouths of children with kero-
seno and water for fbbing; had thrown
Bibles at their heads during church SER
vices; had starved children and kept them
handcuffed for months, and had chained
them in dark cellars in cruel pastures.
Other papers joined in. There were pic
lures illustrating Mr.. PIERCE in the act Of
s%trangling and manning children, and per-
forming his other f~avorite atrocities.
So continual and circumstantial were the
accounts that many newspapers which
claimed to be respectable repeated them in
a modified form and treated them as worthy
of credence. The State Board of Charities
appeared promptly on the scene in the
shape Of a committee of two Of its men,
bers. 1t is in evidence that this committee
spent a small part of one day at the West.
chester institution and then made a report
to the full Board, to which immediate pub
licity was given. practically co~rroborating
all the stories that had been told. The
Home was put under the formal ban of the
State Board of Charities, and, so far as we
can learn, that ban has not been removed
to this day.
Public sentiment in Westminster county
became aroused. The affair was made a
county matter, and, as the result Of a Pc
tition to the Supreme Court, a referee was
appointed by the court to examine care
fully into the charges and report thereon;
and then, for the first time in the whole
shameful business. was heard the calm
voice of Law. The investigation has
just been concluded, having lasted near.
ly two and a half years, and the report
of the referee has been filed in the
County Clerks Office at White Plains.
Able corps of counsel appeared on both
sides of the case, and, with the referee,
sifted and resifted the testimony of over
one hundred witnesses. No attempt was
made to Cypress the accusers of Mr.. PIERCE
with technical objections. The utmost
| federation was allowed, and, indeed, there
was fair ground for criticism because of
the extent to which this was carried.
What has been the result2 The investi.
cation has resulted in the entire disproval
of the charges and the complete vindica,
ton of Mr.. PIERCE. The arms and fingers
of children which, it was declared, Mr..
PIERCE had broken, were found to have
been injured before the children came to
the Home, or to have been hurt by the
children themselves at play. The tying
up by the thumbs, putting the children
IN 5arLr calIara 2Ep wara found fn he
pure f~ictions, elaborated in most cases by
the newspaper reporters from stories told
by certain children who were shown to be
incorrigibie little liars. The food, clothing
and sanitary conditions at the Home were
found to be far better han is usual at such
institutions. Handouts were used. but
only to properly restrain disobedient anG
vicious boys, and absolutely the only peg
on which the whole cloth of libels wa:
hung was that Mr.. PIERCE, in his discip
line at the home, had used about the sam,
amount of corporal punishment as is Gus
tomary in any ordinary, well-regulated fam
lily. He inflicted it with a whip consisting
of II toy drumstick and small shoestrings
1t has cost probably about $4,000 al
around to establish this, and the citizens o
Westchester county can now draw a lonl
breath and foot the bill.
One thought must now be uppcrmost II
the minds of people who are informed o
the disgraceful details of thisa affair. Tha
is that the Chief Executive of the State vii
do wisely, in filling future vacancies on til,
State Board of Charities, to select men ant
wOmcn of some common sense and practi
cal knowledge of human nature and o
penal and reformatory institutions, rattle
than elderly, retired folk whose whin
is philanthropy and whose eyes an,
ears are wide open to the whining
tales of boy criminals and of sick-face,
convict m%alingerers. We have no criticism
to offer of the members of the State Boar,
of Charities as individuals, but as a bod
they have shown a capacity for blunderinI
gullibility and soft heartedness that l
almost beyond belief and they have worke'