The Weekly Tallahasseean., 1901-07-04
GAME is HELD Up
Examination Frauds in DuYal
Fully Established
sTATESUPTSPROMPTACTION
D.suIts in Laying the Whole Rotten
y Thing Bare to the Public


Hon+ III of Public Instruction for Flor
tenuG = roceiyipg the congratulations OF
' H;S many friends throughout the State
.hic hi week upon his successful ruse IN
orta @ abiishing beyond a reasonable
Jomht the existence OF fraud IN the
Examination of cOlored teachers IN Du-
val county in June.
W" Eor wears there has been to the
..noc+iced eve of the Superintendent, In
ppounoction with his knowledge OF af-
foirc down there, evidence OF traud IN
CONDUCTING these examinations, DuC
Uben it came to securing evidence OF
tho fact which under any known rules
of procedure, would convict any one Oh
complicity in or even knowledge OF
the frauds, it became "a horse OF
another color"
This time it leaked oft, however, as
murder will, and before very many
npople knew anything was suspected,
tbe evidence was in the hands OF the
State Superintendent, who very care
fnllv guarded it, without breaking a
seal or looking at a paper, until the
whole thing in all it's rOtteDness was
nnfolded in the presence of the County
Superintendent of Duval and d commlt-
tee of investigation selected partly Dy
the County Superintendent and partiy
by the State Superintendent.
II was so glaring that there could be
no disputing the fact, and after only
short resistance the County Superln-
tendent agreed to having the examina-
finn for colorel teachers declared ille-
gal and void, and all applicants for
certificates at said examination d1-
rected to appear at the September ex-
maination-that is, if they still want
to teach.
rhe story of how it was all done,
briefly told, and without going into de-
tails is as follows:
Tom. F. McBeath, we'll known to ed
ucators in this section Of the. State,
having formerly lived here, was chair
man of the grading committee. Going
over the papers flied with the commit
tee as those of the colored examines
he found so much similarity in
the verbiage of the answers in certain
3 SbPanches and so many exact copies OF
the book answers in others that he
and the other members of the commit
tee were convinced that an organized
plan of fraudulently answering the
questions had been successfully WORKED
all through the examinations.
The grading committee, through Mr..
McBeath, communicated these facts TO
Mr.. Sheats, who, suspecting that a
demand would be made upon the COM
mittee for the papers, at the first indl-
cation of an investigation, directed
that they be sent to him here.
Sure enough, a demand was made,
but the papers being beyond the Jur-
isdiction of the County Superinten-
dent, he could do nothing.
The latter part of last week State
Superintendent Sneats went to jack
sonville and summoned the grading
committee before him. The papers were
then opened and the Irregularities and
impossible similarities pointed out to
him.
The Duval County Superintendent
was then called in, committee of in
vestigaion selected by him and Mr..
Sheats and the merits of the case taken
up.
When fifteen papers presented by as
many examines we're shown to be
exact copies of each other as regards
spelling, punctuation, capitalization
and paragraphing, the State Superin-
tendent proposed to the County Super
ntendent that if he would bring in two
or three of the fifteen examines who
had answered exactly alike, and they
could re-write in the presence OF the
investigating committee even the sub
lect mater of the answers, he would
stop the examination and allow the
certificates to be given, if the County
superintendent would accept the prop
OSltlOn of fraud if they failed.
The County Superintendent had all
along cOntended that the similarity of
tne answers was a mere coincidence,
uue solely to the wonderful memory OF
tne negro race, and their ability to re-
peat verbatim book answers. This,
therefore, was a proposition he could
not very we'll refuse to accept.
messenger was sent out for the
Examines, but could find only one OF
them-a negro woman. She responded.
was given pen, paper and ink, and took
TWO and quarter hours to answer
less than one-half the questions on one
subject.
When she handed in her paper, all
uOse present having agreed to rest the
vase on her, in the absence of being
SOie to secure more of them, only one
Jung could be done. Her paper bore
" similarity in language, sentiment
VI construction to the one she had filed
tne examination. The County Su
perlntendent then admitted the exist
enee OF fraud, and under the law vest
,ns IN the State Superintendent poweI
~ueclare such examinations illegal ant
SOlo' ne took the action stated in th'
'eelnning of this article,