The leader., 1903-05-27
A STATEMENT by PROF. SCOTT.
Also a Statement from Lady Teachers
Of the Public School Conc ernine
the Recent Disorder, and an
Explanation by Pupils.
From The Lincoln County Times, May 21.l
TO THE PUBLIC.

From The Lincoln County Times, May 21.]
TO THE PUBLIC.
A careful reading of my articl,
in this paper of last week viii
convince any fair-minded person
that l did not attempt therein tt
"condone or minimize" the disor
der referred to,-as witness these
statements, therein: There was
unusual noise and some disorder
caused at times by conversation
(not confined, however, to chill
dren) during the rendition Of
parts and in the shape of applause
between numbers, too prolonged
noisy and disagreeable." Also.
"This is and has ever been, dis
tasteful to me and | would gladly
join in proper attempt to sup.
press it." But while admitting
the disorder which occurred
protested, very dispassionately
against the sensational manner in
which this disorder was described
in The Leader and attempted to
show in few words that the prin.
cipal and the school board should
not have been criticised for the
occurrence of this disorder.
wish now to make certain points
clearer to the minds of unbiased
persons who may not know the
whole situation.
There were no officers present
on that occasion because none had
been called for by me. This was
the eighth public entertainment
held in the school building during
the present session and On none Of
these occasions had I felt the need
Of a public officer to keep order,
nor had I heard of, or seen in the
newspapers, any criticism or COM
plants as to disorder on these &C.
casions. We had, also, three
evenings of closing exercises last
June, with an unusually large
audience present each time, and l
did not hear any complaint of dis
order.
IHAD NO PREVIOUS NO
TICE, nor ANY SUSPICIOUS
BEFOREHAND, that thafe would
be an attempt On the part of any
one to create disorder on this oe-
casion. My suspicious were
aroused, however, after the au-
dienee had begun to assemble and
then feared that there would be
an attempt to cause trouble; but ]
took what I regarded as proper
precaution to prevent this Il. e,
by keeping myself In the midst OF
the crowd which / suspeeted) and
l believe that I did prevent dis
turbance from this source. In
thus keeping down what l feared
might be serious disorder | could
not maintain close Waseh over the
small boys nearer the front of the
building. 70 have attempted to
lido this might have caused me tc
lose control of both elements.
This also explains Why / did not
60 onto the platform when the
Applause became too demonstra-
Etive and request better order.
Thought it wiser under the cir
cumstances to put up with the
boisterous, bat innocent, applause
Eof the small boys rather than risk
fprecipitating more serious kind
of disorder.
I maintain that what DID occur
was INNOCENT in motive,
though, of course, annoying to
nervous ladies'; but that what
MIGHT have occurred would
have been disgraceful and serious.
l wish to impress upon the minds
of all: the principal is master OF
ceremonies and has full and sole
control of all entertainments like
the one in question, unless there
happen to be police officers pres.
ent, and even then these officers
are only under duty to arrest Oh
eject those committing crime
or misdemeanor. On the occasion
! in question, there were no officers
present (for reasons explained
above) and the whole responsible
ty rested on my shoulders, as
principal. found myself sud
denly and unexpectedly confront
ed with serious problem, viz
what to do with a crowd of boys
! (some of them men in stature, anC
all OF them probably armed will
weapons, l might have sent for al
officer, but it did not occur to MT
as the best thing to do, as it woult
have created somewhat of sen
sation and would certainly have
caused the boys of this crowd t.
believe that / was personally
afraid of them. So l quietly die
the thing which seemed to M
then, and still seems to me, thu
wisest thing l could have done un
der the circumstances. | wen
among the boys and showed then
that | was not afraid and it hat
the desired effect. In doing this
J I had to neglect other duties ant
there was beisterous applause ant
some conversation in other por
J tiens of the audience, but [ regar'
! this as Of minor Importance a
compared with the moral effec
produced on the crowd which
kept down.
But why arm myself with tn
revolver?
Since the editor of The Leade.
has seen fit to publish this privat