The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1904-12-01
IAN INTERESTING CASE

Forcing Pupils to Attend SChoo
Under Compulsory Law--hOme
Instruction the Defense.
| The first case under the new state
compulsory educational law came ul
Tuesday evening in Justice LeBarrons
court. Frank l.. Desh was arrested and
arraigned by tie school board for fail
ure to send his children to the public
school. He plead in defense that he
and his wife were teaching their chill
dren at home; that their refusal to send
tue children to the public school was
based on moral and religious convic-
yictions; they did not wish to expose
them to bad associations on the streets
and around the schools, and SO kept
them closely at home. The jury acquit-
ted him.
The case has some peculiar features
that make it an unfair test of the COM
pulsory law. This will appear as we
unfold the circumstances. The Desh
children are rather pretty and bright,
and intelligent and obedient to parental
control. Mary is ten years old, Johnny
eight. Both were born in Africa while
the parents were missionaries in that
country where they remained six years,
returning some three years ago. The
children have never attended the public
school. MIR. and Mrs. Desh are gener-
ally regarded as religious cranks not a
very definite term and may mean more
or less. 1t is not intended here to cast
any rejection upon the honesty and
sincerity OF these people. They have a
perfect right to their religious opinions.
They differ from almost everybody else
in this respect and claim that they are
prosecuted and annoyed; that even
their children are taunted by public
school children who make use of foul
language and point guns at them. The
Deshes exaggerate all this no doubt but
to them it is a serious matter.
The school board has no discretion in
the matter; they must enforce the. law
or subject themselves to heavy penal
ties. So after several interviews with
Mr.. Desh and the use of advice and per-
suasion, and when he fatty refused to
send his children to school, they con-
sidered it their duty to arrest him and
cite him to trial. They also sent COM
mittee OF teachers to examine the Desh
children i'll the common school branches.
This committee consisted of Prof.
Wheeler, Miss Irwin, Miss Kittle and
Miss Ockerson. They reported that
Mary and John did very we'll in the ex-
animation, better, Prof. Wheeler said
than they had expected, but in their
Judgment were not up to the average
pupils Of their age in the public schools.
The trial came on Tuesday evening,
and noSh Hnpna nd n
the case over to the next day. The
jury selected were John Mentzer, Frank
Mullison, Willard McCloy, Bruce Sipe,
r. w. Steele and VIM. McMahill, County
Attorney Sutherland and Walter P.
Crosse appeared as attorney for the
board. Mr.. Desh was his own attorney,
but he found himself no match for the
lawyers in presenting his testimony
and so called Col. Castle to his aid.
1t was soon apparent that Mr.. Desh
had the best of the case. He showed
that he was in = way educating his chill
dren at home. His plea to the jury was
as fine and elective piece of work as any
lawyer could make. He claimed he was
not violating the law nor opposed to
public school or education, but he claim
ed the right under the law to educate
his children in his own way. He read
this section to prove his claim. ""Any
person having control of any child of
the age Of z to IA years inclusive, in
proper physical and mental condition to
attend school, shall cause such children
to attend some public, private or paro-
chial school where the common branches
are taught, or where they receive
equivalent instruction by competent
teacher elsewhere" etc.
The latitude of this provision Of the
law gives Desh the right to educate his
children in his own way. He claimed
he and his wife were educating them
for missionaries and the course he was
pursuing was from profound religious
convictions, and the laws of the country
declare that no mans religious convic-
tions shall be trampled upon. He said
that if his school was imperfect so also
is the pubic school and he quoted a
Chicago judge to the effect that the
public schools are overstraining the
young making them nervous and tend
ing to insanity. He said he was not
fighting the laws nor the public schools
His, children were not truants. He
wanted them educated, and was educat-
ing them the best he could.
We think Mr.. Desh is mistaken in his
course, that he would serve his children
better by sending them to the public
fschool; that under his course they will
grow up narrow, bigotled, unsophisti-
Gated and incapable of graphing sue
cessfully with the affairs of life; that
they will be like hot house plants when
they get out into the world. Neverthe-
less he has the right to educate his chill
dren as he pleases.
The Desh children do not come under
the compulsory law.-Shenandoah Sen
tinel.
Grand Chancellor Maud Coming.
The Knights Of Pythias of Leon will