The Jersey City news., 1899-08-07
confident that on second thought he will
act for the best"
THE SCHOOLS INMATES
The Sunday CALI Says
They Are Not Tots,' = But
Incorrigible Robust
Girls.


The Newark Sunday .'Cans has Tren-
ton letter containing this interesting dis
cussion of the investigation of the State
Industrial School for Girls:
| There are many who think that there
are clouds gathering over the new ad-
ministration of Governor Foster M. voor-
| like an Ajax and defes the cloud. The
Governor comes from German stock, and
when his mind is fixed, he rarely turns it
over His position in reference to the
punishment of the girls in the Girls In
| dustria1 School has been deliberately
| taken. He appreciates the fact that it
may cost him political oblivion, but he
declares that he will sacrifice everything
before he will yield to the popular clamor
and admit that condition exists that
does not.
4 The Girls Industrial School is probably
misunderstood by the general public. 1t
is a penal institution of the mild order.
It's inmates, have. in nearly every case,
violated the statutes and they are reg
ularly committed under the seal of the
courts to the Institution for punishment
and for betterment The last printed re-
! port shows that the offenses Of the in
mates are as follows: ws:-Incorrigibility, 36;
disorderly conduct, IS; fit subject IA;
vagrancy. IA; petit larceny, 9; larceny and
| receiving, 13; assault and battery, 1; lewd-
ness, 8; poisoning. I; obtaining money un-
| der false pretense, l; forgery, l.
There is one girl between 10 and IL in
the school, one between II and 12: two
between u and 10; eleven between l3 and
IA twenty-five between Is and 16: twenty
between l6 and II; seventeen between II
and lS; fifteen between IS and l9; eight
between 19 and 20; four between 20 and 2
Ihese figures show that three-fourths
OF the girls are over IA years of age. so
they are not tots by any means. but
as rule. robust, fearless girls whom
the state, instead of sending to prison.
sends to school
There is large farm. fine plavero,,nds
and well appointed buildings. The state
has always been solieiteus about this par-
tlcuiar school, because it appealed to the
humanity of the men and the women
OF the State, and representative men and
women have served it. Some of the re-
preventative families of the State can be
found among the list of the officers since
the passage of the act governing the
school in 1872.
The girls in the school are not all
angels. A majority of them can give a
Dutch pirate lessons in profanity. Their
conversation at times would shock the
FOUNDERS in Bohemia. They are strong
and athletic, and for scratch as scratch
can" they would win medals. It is moth
ing more or less than a girls, reform
school or girls house of refuge. such
a. dot 1,o
high stone wall, with iron bars at the
windows. Here there are no fences what
ever
The punishment is the same as is pur-
sued in reform schools all over the coun-
try. The cells in the garret admit of no
praise, but they were mere makeshifts
and cell building has not been elevated to
a positive science. There have always
been cells for bad girls and nobody ever
complained about them. The new cells
were not built by Mrs. Eyler, but by the
State of New Jersey, through the action
of the Board of Trustees, at the head of
which is the Rev. George c. Maddox,
the chaplain of the State Prison. They
were built because six men. selected for
their excellent character, decided they
were needed They were not intended for
ing, so they were made dark in the hope
that the hysterical rage of high tempered
girls could be reduced by terror, refec-
ton or fright. The trustees fixed the
rule for the punishment of the girls, and
the matron, TO get her salary, carries out
the orders.
The existence of these cells has been no
secret, and the punishment by imprison-
ment with bread and water is no act the
State is ashamed of, as a book is kept,
known as the punishment book in
which is recorded every punishment, for
the inspection of the officers of the in
stitution. These punishment books are
features of the official school library, and
have never been regarded with any cur
iosity until within the last ten days. Now
they are, called "the book of horrors"
If there were no punishment of posi-
tive character the school could not be
handled by women, because the girls who
break the rules persistently are tough
girls. Only a small percentage of the in
mates get their name in the punishment
book Those who do are the chronically
s'bad girls of the house. The others
would be perhaps as bad If it were not
for the punishment that the daring ones
get. Moral suasion is urged by many,
It is tried on every girl that comes into
the place.
Manager Mrs. Evangeline Emily, of Pat
erson. who takes a great interest in the
school work, was a great advocate OF
moral tactics, and joined forces with Miss
Mary S. Atterbury. of Trenton, to re-
claim Mary Cline, from Hudson. This
girl was to be their particular protege.
They promised comfortable home for
her If she would ''be good,' and they
guaranteed to establish her firmly in life.
The girls tears attested, so they thought,
to her sincerity. That same night she let
herself out of window and escaped for
good and left behind a vicious and pro-
fame letter for the edification of her bene-
factors.
Governor voorhees, IS convinced that
Mrs. Eyler is prosecuted. The trouble be-
gan when she was the matron of the
Florence Crittendon> Mission. She was put
between two fires. and then withdrew to
let the factions fight 1t out. Many un-
complimentary things were said about
her. She was selected by Mrs McFad-
den, for twelve years the principal of
the school, as her successor. When her
trunk arrived, one of the teachers who
is now to submit an affidavit that she
was forced to resign under pressure, said:
won't be here long. This was AIRS.
Eyler's start and then followed her con-
tiuous trouble with the teachers, and On
that account the Governor win not con-