The Semi-weekly leader. (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1905-1941, 1907-10-02
NEGRO TEACHERS SURPRISED.
Discovery Of Unlawful Traffic in Exam.
ination Questions.

UtSCUtCiy VI unlawful lTdlIiC III EAdtn-
ination Questions.
County Supt. Edgar Green and
Prof. w. q. Williams, of the
County Board of Examiners,
sprung surprise on the negro
teachers who had assembled last
Saturday at the second county ex-
animation of eolored teachers, by
having two of their number
arrested for the unlawful and
fraudulent use of examination
questions. The teachers arrested
we're Maud M. Handy and Carrie
Powell, who, at the time of arrest
we're at the Court House engaged
in the days examination, and to
say that the taking of them into
custody by Constable Hoskins pro
duced CONSERVATION among all the
teachers present, is putting it
mildly. The two teachers against
whom the affidayits were made
were allowed to give bond and
their trial set for next Saturday,
5th inst, before Justice Hoff-
man.
Supt. Green and Prof. Williams
having had their suspicious arous-
ed, were on the qui vive and soon
discovered that these two and pro-
badly other teachers had had ac-
cess in some way to the examina
tion questions before they entered
the room and when fully convinc-
ed of this, their arrest followed
and the trail was taken up in ear
nest. Valuable evidence has
since been secured.
1t is learned, among other
things which have leaked out, that
a strange negro has been in the
county lately who was offering
copies of these examination nues-
tions for sale at $40 per copy,
and that some smooth" local
negroes have been into the game
and helped to secure purchasers
and deliver the goods for share
in the profits.
1t was in this way that the ne
gro girls arrested and other negro
teachers came in possession of the
questions they were fraudulently
using to pull themselves through
the regular county examinations.
Supt. Green seems confident of
convicting the guilty teachers,
and also of locating and bringing
to account those carrying on the
traffic. Some of the develop
ments along this line promise to
be very interesting, involving one
or more prominent and well
known negro teachers of the
county.
An effort will also be made to
trace the supply and theft OF !
these examination papers, which
are issued originally from the
State Superintendent's Office with
great care and secrecy and only
into official hands, to its fountain
source, and this may implicate a
pale face somewhere.
Section 1916 of the code of
1906 is the one under which the
arrests of Saturday were made
and reads as follows:
Penalty for receiving assist
ance. If an applicant in any way |
receives assistance he shall be de-
MED license and not permitted to
teach or stand another examina-
tion in the cuunty for period of |
two years. Any person who sells
or offers to sell, or give away, or
offers to give away the examina-
tion questions. or answers to the
same prepared by the proper au-
thorities for the examination of
teachers of the public schools, be-
fore the date for the examination,
at which time such questions are
to be used, shall be guilty of
misdemeancr, and on conviction
shall be fined not more than one
hundred dollars nor less than ten
dollars sor imprisoned in the
county jail not exceeding sixty
days, or both, at the discretion of
the Court"
On yesterday, still following
up clues to the unlawful traffic in
these examinations papers, Supt.
Green swore out an affidavit
against Eugene N. Bryant, color
ed, of Brookhaven, and had him
arrested. Bryant is an old school
teacher of the county, but latterly
has been engaged in conducting a
mutual benefit insurance organi-
zation among the negroes, pub
fishing The Peoples Relief,
negro newspaper, and otherwise