The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1900-06-26
EIGHT YEAR OLD sCHOOLBOY
RELEASED
Commissioners of Education Promptly
Mitigate the Sentence Of Judge Wal
puilani.

johnny ElOQtOn was set llGG early
this morning and sat in Deputy Sheriff
Chillingworth's office waiting for his
mother to come and take charge of him.
The boy said he had not stolen any
books or papers, but that the other boys
had, and had given him some of them.
His parents have decided to stay in
Honolulu for the present At about ten
o'clock the mother came and took away
the yOungster who so narrowly escaped
"a two-year term in the reform school.
Johnny FloucOn, eight years old, con-
Victed of the awful offense of joining
with half a dozen boys of his own age,
and in a boyish prank taking papers
from the schOolhOuse where they at
tended school, which they had been told
not to do, is now free.
superintendent of Public Instruction
Atkinson and the Commissioners of
Education acted promptly in the matter
when it was brought to their attention.
The boy arrived by the Kinau, as was
stated in yesterdays Star His father
and mother, broken hearted, had given
up their employment on Pahala planta-
! ton and come to Honolulu to live in or
der to be near the boy. High Sheriff
! Brown interested himself in the case as
soon as he heard the circumstances of
! it. So did +. A. Schaefer, the Austrian
| consul the parents of the boy being
| Galicians, and subjects of the Austro-
I
toned the Commissioners of Education
to release the boy.
! The petition of the mother sets out
/ that the boy is only eight years old,
| and has always been well behaved His
offense consisted in going into school
house and taking some papers that did
not belong to him. AS soon as the
mother found out about the matter sne
caused the papers to be returned and
made as complete restitution as was
possible. What he did, the petition
| AYERS, was more in the nature of boy
ish trick than anything else and was
. participated in by several other boys
though these We're allowed to go free
/ The petition further AYERS that the
mother and father are perfectly able to
take care of the boy. and feel that his
future life will be much Influenced for
the bad by his two years stay at the
reform school
! +. A. Schaefer, the Austrian consul,
who forwarded the petition, says in his
letter regarding the matter: There is
no question in my mind but that in
this case the parents are better able to
take charge and care Of the boy than
the reformatory school, and it would
be an act of undue severity fraught
with dangerous consequences to the flu
ture life of very young boy, to detain
him in the reformatoIy school for fur
ther time Certainly the mother will
not live through such a trial, and the
boy. who l am assured is not by any
means a boy of a bad disposition.
would not benefit by a two-year's de-
tentiOn in the refOrmatory school, but
the reverse"
High Sheriff Brown called the at
tention of the Commissioners of Edu-
cation to the case in communication,
setting out the facts of the offense, and
the Sentence of the District court. He
says, THE boys parents were employ
ed on the Pahala plantation, Kau, and
state that the boys previous conduct
and behavior has always been good
The parents are very much broken
hearted over the matter; in fact, have
left the district of Kau and moved ia
Honolulu, in order to be near the boy
Upon receiving the petition and uc-
!, companying papers, Superintendent of
Public instruction Atkinson immediate
ly sent them around to the Commits
siOners of Education, and received theil
approval of the boys release, Commits
sioners E. A. Mott-Smith E. Van c.
Hall, A. c. Jordan and II. NJ. Won Holt
signing their approval, and then the fol-
lowing letter to w. G. Needham, super
intendent of the reform school, was
written:
I'm accordance with section 1405 of the
penal code, I hereby authorize the dis
charge of John Floucon, a Galician.
aged eight years and six months, who
was convicted by Judge Waipulanl at
Kau, Hawaii, on the first day of June,
1900, for the offense of malicious mis-
chief, and sentenced to two years de-
tention at the reformatory school,"