The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-10-25


of the Riot at the MitcheIIviIIe
School.
DIES MONIES, To-, Oet4 2t-The rot Of
the two hundred girls lin THE industrial
reform school at Mitchellville, this coua-
ty, will result in fifty or sixty Of the In
corrigibes securing their freedom. This
is exactly what the girls expected
The leaders of the riotous elem mt
among the girls include Lenora Allen, of
Des Moines, sister of the celebrated
Jeanette Allen, woman of the town, now
at Skaguay, Alaska, who has a penten-
tiary record in Iowa; Amanda join son,
of Ottumwa; Maude Jeffres, Of Des
Moines, whose parents live on Pennsyl-
vania avenue; Lena Leonard, of Lake
Mills. and Lizzie Randolph. They are all
utterly ;ncorrigible The only person in
the official corps of the Institution who
has been able to manage them is Miss
Rose Mintier who has been there six
years Miss Mintier IS a firm believer in
the efficacy of corporal pun. shment, and,
likewise, is adept at administering it.
She is about s feet inches tall, weighs
about $50, and is so powerful that it is
said no girl has ever been confined in the
Mintiec isn't much on moral suasicn, but
when she looks hard ct offender 1t
means that trouble is ahead; she can jerk
a 160-pound girl into the middle of next
week so suddenly that the girl never
realizes how much time she has missed.
Sheriff Stout and Capt. Hayes devoted
a good share of their time to the effort to
discover how the girls were supplied with
LIQUOR They say it was brought to the
grounds Saturday and Sunday night by
some young fellows from Mitche!lville
and ColfaX; that beer was brought by the
case whisky by the quart, and cigars and
cigarettes in proportionate supply. Many
of the girls were thoroughly intoxicated.
The officers and the board Of control are
determined to locate the offenders, and
are confident that they will soon be able
| to make arrests. 1t is proposed to make
an example of every one caught The
| girls, almost without exception, were
| clamoring for liquor from the beginning
| to the end of the riot. Young men came
| with buggies to the outskirts of the
/ grounds and taking girls in their rigs
drove away. They were well supplied
with liquor and cigarettes, and the girls,
| on their return, would invariably boast
! of their exploits.
While the girls were in possession OF
the main dormitory building and holding
! out against all assaults, they raised a
! fearful uproar There were two pianos in
| the building and both these were pounded
| vigorously, while can-cans and houtchle'
| couchees were done by a score Of gir.s at
| a time. In the big school assembly room
/ the girls smashed chairs, piled up the re-
mains of broken crockery, and then
| brought in a lot of Bibles, hymn books
international lesson leaves and small
edition of the "Moody's Anecdotes 1t
seems that in addition to the usual re-
| ligious training, the girls have been pro-
vided with several hundred paper-bound
copies of the Anecdotes, the board of con-
troll considering them ideal reading for
this class of offenders. The girls evident
ly didn't agree with the boards view, for
they took especial satisfaction in tearing
up the Bibles and Anecdotes. A great
heap of these books We're piled in the mid
die of the room, nearly all Of them torn
to Shreds.
Another. of the delicate attentions Of the
management, which the girls didn't seem
to appreciate, was big motto painted on
the wall of the main corridor, under the
stairway, from which the rioters hurled
soap dishes, tureens and kitchen knives
at invaders. The motto reads, in big red
and blue letters: BE What You Seem to
Be-" The girls had daubed it with ink
thrown pieces of crockery at it, and torn
a good share of the plaster off that par
ticular wall. I'VE thought we'd take the
advice Just for once" explained one OF
them afterward
There is no doubt that some Of the lead
ers wanted to burn the village. Many
of them declared as much. The employees
were surprised that no fires were started,
but expressed the opinion that it would
not be long before there would be either
another riot or fire.