The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-12-24
REPLY TO DOCTOR
IVES CHARGES
President McIver Makes a
Detailed Statement.
IN THE CASE OF MISS I'VE
RESIDENT PHYSICIAN ADVISED
AGAINST HER REMOVAL.
WHY NO TELEGRAM WAS SENT DR.. I'VE
President Never Says Miss lve Left the Normal
Five Days Before the First Death Among
the Students CT That nstitu-
lion Occurred.
To the Editor: In yesterdays paper
there appeared the following article and
editorial comment:
C,RTCICISES THE NORMAL.
DR.. G.. NJ. Ivie Declares the Manage
ment Should be Changed.


ment Should be Changed.
TO the Editor: The silence of the
press in relation to the state of affairs
ut the Normal ana Industrial College in
Greensboro is, to say the least. aston
ishing. For some unknown reason to
the public, the press has had but little
40 say regarding this sad affair. This
being Il State institution and dear to
the hearts of the people of our State.
Those who have not suffered directly
are shocked to know that there exists
somewhere at this institution a cause
that has darkened many homes and
made many sad hearts throughout the
domains OF our State. What this cause
may finally be, and who is to blame for
same, l cannot say. However, L do
know that there is some existing cir
cumstance that 50 poisoned the system
of the young ladies III attendance that
III many cases has resulted in death.
4 have recently stood by the grave of
my beloved sister, who fell Il victim TO
this deadly poison. | was by her bed
side for ten days and nights, she was
also attended by five other physicians,
doing all that medical science and skill
could DO, yet with no effect. The dead
~ poison which filled her system was
sufficient to have killed half dozen
strong men. There is Il side to this
sad picture that is hard to understand.
There is question that the public
would like to have answered. Why was
it that these young ladies' our sisters
and daughters, who We're so near and
GEAR to our hearts, were kept huddled
III this pest hole, as it were, until the
situation was SO alarming, with scarce
~ no knowledge of the sad state Of af-
fairs escaping the college domains? 1t
is now known that several weeks pre-
yious to the suspension of this school,
girls were falling in sickness almost as
soltiiers in battle. Yet it seems that the
management OF this institution, to whose
tenderest care these girls had been en-
trusted, all sthe while was indifferent,
so far as the public knows, treating
this as very slight affair, and is
known to have spoken contemptuously
in regard to it even after deaths had
occurred in the college. When the
news of my sisters illness reached her
home, brother went for her. They
seemed 10th to have her leave. which
resulted in her remaining at the col
lege amid the poison some days longer.
I@uttI, dIieI SlSLtI Idi SIONII
worse, she was refused the privilege of
sending me telegram, as to her con-
dition. One of her friends wrote me
by letter of her condition. | went for
her at once and found her condition
critical which resulted in her death. /
learn this has been the experience or
many. What moral CT legal right did
the management of this institution have
TO keep these girls confined there under
such critical circumstances? For com
mon sense or the exercise of the least
reasonable Judgment was sufficient TO
have shown any one that there was
something greatly wrong at this insti-
tuition, as many girls as We're constant
ly falling. in the same condition. This
is indeed serious affair. If 1t be
criminal Indifference and neglect OH the
part OF the management il is nothing
more nor less than murder, if it be
incompetence it is surely Il scandal.
Whatever it may be, il is to be greatly
lamented that our State institution
should be desecrated by management
who for any reason would jeopardlze
the lives of innocent girls trusted TO
their care Were not their lives more
sacred than the public welfare and
name Of this institution? Again, We're
these girls prisoners of war that they
should he held together under any cir
cumstances? And it Is indeed heart
rending. either for criminal Indifference
or incompetence, to have them kept
confined amid an epidemic whose start
ling rapidity was enough to alarm the
dull Arab Of the heather world. YET
no word was spoken, no action was ia
ken. until the situation was so grave
as to force its own way into the pub
lie. If even common sense had ruled
ut this institution. school would have
been suspended before my sister and
many others We're taken sick. The
Normal and Industrial College has been
the pride of eur State, and from this
standpoint aside from the loss Of our
loved ones, this sad affair is much to be
regretted But whatever has been our
feeling in the past toward this nstitu-
ton, however much we have loved it,
so long as it remains under the same
management. it deserves to become a
by-word and reproach among all de-
cent institutions Of our land.
g. NJ. WE, NJ. ID.
Stoneville, y. G..
We regret that Dr. Ivie feels called
upon 10 write in this strain. Readers of
this paper know that nothing has been
kept from the public. but that this pa
per, along with others, has insisted thai
the facts in the ease be ascertained and
made public. We have no reason To
believe that this has not already been
done.-Ed.l
1t is a painful duty that compels m'
to appear to dispute or contend in an.
way, publicly or privately, with il maI
unde.. sore affiiction. but there are
few statements i'm DR.. Iyie's articl