Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1899-10-24
70 Prosecute GIRLS
Board Of Control Decides to Prose-
cute RiDgleaders in the Riot
At Mitchelvills.
About Twenty Of the Girls to Be
Tried Under the Criminal
Laws.
Further Particulars of the Uprising
and Its Results Much Dam
age Done
Special to Times-Republican.

Special to Times Republican.
Des Moines, Oct. PA conference
was held this morning between Lar
rabee and Cownie, of the board of con-
troll, and Attorney General Remley and
County Attorney John McLennan. 1t
was decided to prosecute about twenty
OF the ring leaders of the Mitchellyille
reform school riot under sections a712
and 5035 of the code.
Whoever unlawfully aids or as
sists any inmate lawfully submit
ted to the industrial school in escan-
ing or attempting to escape there
from, or knowingly conceas such
inmate after escape, shall be pun
isheo oy fine not exc eding 81 900,
or imprisonment in the penitentiary
not exceeding five years"
Prescibing penalty for riotous con-
duct:
liz any person or persons unlaw-
1ully or riotously assembled pull
down, ln1ure or destroy or begin to
pun down, injure or destroy any
dwelling house or other building or
destroy, attempt to injure or de-
stroy any boat or vessel, or perpe
trate any premeditated injury on
the person of another not being a
felony, he shall be imprisoned in the
penitentiary not more than five
years, or be fined not exceeding $500
and be imprisoned in. the county jail
not more than one year, and shall
also be answerable to any person in
Jured to the full amount of the dam
ages by him sustained"
These will be sent to the penitentiary.
as they are all from is to 20 years old.
mostly is or over. Some others will be
returned to the counties. An investi-
CATION will be held shortly to determine
who are the most guilty. The damage
to the institution, it is claimed by the
board of control, is not over $500 at the
outside figure. Close investigation
shows the cause of the outbreak was
that an entire family" of forty girls
were locked up Sunday for the misbe-
havior of five or six in the chapel aud
in violation of the board of control
rules, were deprived of supper. All is
quiet at Mitchellville today.
Des Moines, Oct. 24.-Chairman Lar
rabee and John Cownie. of the board of
control, went to Mitchellville as soon as
possible after they were Informed Of
the riot They found the establishment
in sadly demoralized condition,
though State Architect Liebbe, who ac-
companied them. said the property loss
was not so large as had been estimated
Most of the window panes in the five
institution buildings had been broken.
The walks around the structures We're
strewn with broken glass and crock
cry: inside the corridors and rooms
We're piled with wreckage: doors We're
smashed. many of the window frames
We're wrecked commodes smashed,
pictures torn down. In fact, there
seemed to be only one article of furni-
ture which was sacred against the at
tacks of the infuriated girls. They
proved that despite their viciousness
and fecklessness they were still women,
by sparing every mirror on the
grounds. Not one was to be found in
jured.
The employees and subordinate
officers of the institution are unanimous
in the belief that the abolition of corr
poral punishment was a mistake. These
people,, WHO Ou6Al lO illltl =
stand the character of their wards, de-
clare that it is useless to try to conquer
them by kindness; they will only take
advantage of any lenity manifested.
The method of administering corporal
punishment was to take good solid
strap or thong of leather and apply a
certain number of good smart blows to
the palm of the offenders hand. There
are stories. too, that some of the en-
ployes have seen fit to apply the lash at
times to the naked backs of the girls.
The employees all deny this, and it is
probably untrue.
In the opinion of the citizens of
Mitchellville. who have known the in
stitution from it's beginning. and of the
employees, corporal punishment should
be restored and a lookup should be
provided upon the grounds. AT present
there is no place in which offenders
may be locked. The need of such a
place was we'll proved during the riot.
The leaders of the riotous element
among the girls include Lenora Allen
of Des Moines. a sister of the cele-
brated jeanette Allen. woman of the
town, now of Skaguay. Alaska, who has
a penitentiary record in Iowa; Amanda
Johnson, of Ottumwa: Maude Jeffres.
of Des Moines. whose parents live on
Pennsylvania avenue: Lena Leonard. of
Lake Mills, and Lizzie Randolph. They
are all utterly incorrigible. The only
person in the official corps of the in
stitution 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
punishment, and likewise is adept at
administering it. She is about feet 5
inches tall. weighs about $50 and so
powerful that it is. said no girl has ever
been confined in the institution who
dared to oppose her Miss Mintier is
not much on moral suasion, but when
she looks hard at an offender 1t means
that trouble is ahead; she can Jerk a
16O-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 de-
voted a good share of their time TO the
effort to discover how the girls were
supplied with liquor. 1t is now known
beyond question that large amount
of 1t has been supplied to the girls.
They say 1t was brought to the grounds
ga turdav and Sunday n;uhtu ~, .,,S... :.