The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1903-06-18

II is understood that Gardner ana
| Hmm looked upon the charges as trlv-
ial and not worthy of consideration,
while Blalock regarded them as Ser
/ ions Professor Burke in self-defense
loxnlained his position to members OF
the board in a personal letter to each
of the members, a copy of which the
Statesman prints as follows:
Prof. Burke's Letter.
IN G.. BlalOck,
To the members of the Board of Edu-
cation. Walla Walla City schools.
In view of the fact that certain I'M
Iscrupulous and designing persons,
who are untiring in their efforts to
cause our downfall, have distortingly
magnifed some of the official acts per
tanning to the duties of our office, thus
lusing many unwarranted and untruth-
full statements. and believing that you
are fair minded and cOnsiderate men,
who will Judge prudently and honestly,
we desire to submit the following
statements for your cOnsi 1eratiOn:
/. We admit that, in order TO check
the undue OfficiOus advances of GER
tain subordinates. we acted imprudent-
ly. but in no way fraudently.
2. Certain persons, not our friends.
from political and selfish motives,
took undue advantage of the opportun-
ity thus offered TO maliciOusly attack
our reputation.
8. We have at no time betrayed the
trust of our office, or Incorporated
any public or private property.
4. In selecting books for the school
libraries. the schools were asked to
take nothing but their own choosing.
>. Most of the books were those
regularly purchased, some of which
had been ordered in advance subject
| to approval. Some We're our own
| books that the teachers had been al
| lowed to use while we were principal.
| Others were books that Prof r. c..
Kerr had at different times presented
to us.
6. Our purpose in pasting down
the blank leaves was % a matter Of
neatness. This leaving them in a
better appearing condition than that
of allowing the name to remain. or
the disfiguring caused by scratching
the name. would have left them: (2)
We wished to distinguish them from
our books that were circulating in the
school.
Any one who wants to be fair can
clearly see that there was no fraudu-
lent attempt at cOnCealment, as many
Of the leaves were so thin that the
writing beneath them was visible 1t
is certainly evident that one attempt
ing cOncealment would have scratched
the names before pasting the leaves.
1t seems that this fact alone is sui
fcient evidence to justify us if there
was nothing else in our favor.
I. In order to give the schools a
financial benehC. the books that had
been marked or previously used were
quoted to them 2. a greatly reduced
price with the" option to purchase
either them or Nv ones.
s. Now as to he second hand book
claimed by Mr.. lash and sold TO Mr..
Shepherd 1t has been the practice
| for some time to aid the pupils, pass
ing from a grade. in disposing Of the
| books that belong exclusively to a
grade, to those pupils who enter that
grade In order to simplify matters
as much as possible, We have, where
we knew that the books could be
placed Immediately. marked the price
in them and paid for the mon delivery.
| There being many books that have
thus passed through a number of
| hands, We took no notice of the names
| in the books, except perhaps to erase
| the names, or. il the books back was
loose, to mucilage it. In this way at
the beginning of school year. We came
! in possession of and sold, among many
other books the one above referred
| to. But we have no idea from whom
we obtained it, as we had no distrust
in the matter and in the confusion at
| tendant on the first days of school, an
! imposition would have been easy The
pupils having come to us requesting
| us to get certain books for them. or
the teacher having made known to us
that certain number Of was wanted
in her class, we felt safe in advancing
for them until we had the number ask
ed or.
9. After We were compelled to va
| cate the, then Paine school, toward
the close Of last school year, the
building was then broken into and
looted, books and supplies being TAX
en- in great quantities. Some of these
We succeeded in recovering from chill
dren near the school, who had thought
lessly, or otherwise. carried them
away. We, also, by having the word
get around that We were searching for
the stolen property, succeeded in hav-
ing many books returned and placed
on the steps of the building The
books thus taken were pupils books,
books from the library. and books our
own. From this it may be seen read
lily how the above mentioned book. or
Others could have been in the hands
of persons not the owner.
10. We are ready to make affidavit
70 all of the fOrppnino statements