The Washington times., 1906-10-18
AdherentS of COlOred
Principal Create Excite
mental Secret Session.
CHANCELLOR COMBATED
Dismissed Official Declares
He Did Not Make State
mentS Charged to Him.

j.. l.. CardOzo. supervising principal
OF the Thirteenth division of the Dis
trict schools icOlored). mas summarily
removed AT the regular meeting OF the
Board of Education held yesterday in
the Franklin building.
This action was taken FOR the good
Of the service" and based upon state
ment from the SUI -rintendent that Mr.
Cardozo had admitted frequent
acts Of disloyalty TO his superior. the
assistant superintendent OF colored
schools"
But certain anonymous letters, which
Principal Cardozo was alleged 10 have
written. played a large part In the
meeting and lea 10 a prOtracJed discus
sion OF his right 20 a trial before the
board acted. The board finally gave
him a chance 20 be heard in confer
euce held for that purpose. heard also
his attorney, Henry Z. Davis, and then
in open session approved the recommen-
.dation of the superintendent
Ia the meantime a group Of excited
colored people, friends Of the accused.
undertook 10 urge the law upon the
beard and at the close of the meeting
they asserted positively they would
.sse the matter into court today.
characterization Rampant, Says Oyster.
The meeting was far from monotonous.
Mr.. Cardozo's case went before the
board at the close of routine business
through the reading of a letter from
Superintendent Chancellor, wherein II
was recommended that the supervising
principal be dismissed Immediately. In
support os this position il was urged
that Cardozo had been dislOyal TO his
superiors and had been connected with
the writing of certain anonymous letters
Capt James Il. Oyster was the first
TO speak THE conditions which con-
front this board" he said. are little
understood by the public. They require
heroic measures. The colored schools
particularly need firm control. That
branch of the system teens with dis
respectfuIness and INSTRUMENTATION. l
have Investigated this case personally. I
have seen the correspondence. I have
no doub, rs 10 the facts. While / wish
that another course had been followed
in presenting the case for action. / feel
that The result would have been the
same whatever course had been chosen.
J am ready 10 vote to sustain this
recommendation"
Hearing Behind Closed Doors.
Attorney Davis then made an address
in which he declared the colored prin-
cipaI was entitled TO a hearing, II the
board intended to press charges against
him To this some members Of the
board delnUrred. Admiral Baird sug-
gested that il would be better TO dis
cuss the matter in conference The at
torney readily agreed and the room
was cleared, with the exception Of the
secretary and stenographer.
ant L.
that some sort of a hearing would be
held behind closed doors the Colored
contingent became somewhat incensed.
The Rev. a. G. Gamer, pastor OF Ply
mouth Congregati ti0nal Church, produced
a copy OF the school law. Calling the
other COlOred people, he explained the
import of the law as he read It. Ac-
cOrdiug TO his conception the bo4fu was
making grave mistake by holding the
hearing behind closed doors.
Bv unanimous consent it was decided
{ that three OF the party should enter the
room and demand that the nearing DC
public. Considerable eNclLeInenI pre-
vailed. At first none OF the cOlOTed men
would be the leader to enter the room.
Tbere was one woman present, and
through her urging. the NeV, Gamer
was persuaded.
Courage Fails at Door.
The colored minister grasped the copy
M the law tightly and with half a dozen
colored men and women at his back
made a move as If to enter the board
room. When he placed his hand upon
the knob and pulled the door open. his
supporters backed away. nearly falling
over each other. The colOred minister
stuck his head in and presented the law
TO the secretary. who was standing near
the door For half an hour or more the
adhereuts OF Cardozo stood about in
little groups and passed Judgment upon
the "lawIessness of the board
About an hour after the doors were
closed Mr.. Davis came from the room.
and stated TO the newspaper men that
-igb+S ~ he hoard Il have requested
that the colored principal be given a
hearing" he said. IF the board fails
to comply with the law. CardOzo viii
enter suit against every member OF the
. hoard who voted for his dismissal"
The hearing was full Of ginger Dr.
Chancellor stated that CardOZo nad ad-
, mitted to him that he had on frequent
occasions criticised the actions Of AS
sistant Superintendent Montgomery In
cidentaIIy, the superintendent explained
that the accused had told him that he
had never refrained from expressing his
views upon any subject LhdL related 10
school aualrS.
Denies DR.. Chancellor's Statement.
while the superintendent was speak
ing CardOZO broke in to deny emphati-
caIIv ever having cOnversed with Dr.
Chancellor upon subjects relating to
school work.
His attorney endeavOred 10 stop his
client from speaking. bat CardozO, ut
terly Ignoring his protests, continued to
express his mind This somewhat in
censed the superintendent. Admiral
Baird observing that matters were
growing serious, rose ana said that i.e
was OF the opinion that DR.: Chancellor
was thoroughly familiar with the cir
cumstances of which he spoke.
Mrs Mary o. Terrell explained TO the
board that she had read several OF the
letters alleged TO nave been written Dy
striking resemblance tG documents
avowedly written by Cardozo, she
said. But / would not say positively
that the col0red principal was the au-
thor"
Supporters Blame Montgomery.
Cardozo's supporters claim that Su-
perintendent Montgomery is responsible