The Washington herald., 1908-02-14
SLAIN BY HIS CHUM
SchOOlbOy Accidentally Cuts
Companion in a Fight.
ROW IN HOUSE OF REFUGE
Struggle for Leadership Comes when
Former Boy Ruler, or "Up," Serves
Ont Sentence and j. Dismissed.
Desire for Supremacy in Two Fac
tiOns Causes strife.

New York, Feb. l9.-Nyer Qsbansky,
sixteen-year-old prisoner iH the House Of
Refuge on Randalls Island, died this ar
ternoon in the refuge hospital from a stab
wound which he had received last Satur-
day night from his chum. Raphael Sforza,
by whose side he was fighting in an at
tempt to make Sforza the Cup" or boy
dictator in the school
Three other boys are recovering from
knife wounds received in the battle
sforza has been handed over TO the police.
IF Sforza hadn't been ambitious, none
Of these things would have happened. but
when. a week ago Thursday. a quiet, un-
dersized boy, whose wonderful influence
among his comrades neither Superintend-
ent Byers nor his helpers could ever
fathom. graduated from the Refuge and
went back for anyother try at ''keepin'
good and away from the cops" as he
expressed II, some one had TO be leader.
and Sforza arrested his claim.
Of course. there are guards and super
visors for the boys on the island, but as
supt Byers explained to-day. the greatest
control is frequently exercised by the boy
who is picked out by the others, uncon-
sciousIy perhaps. to be their leader lie
is not elected-he just happens; but his in
fuence is none the less for that.
Other Boy Leader.
The boy who was discharged "a week
ago Thursday. and whose name Supt.
Byers -conceaIs, because he did so we'll
that he wants Tim to have every chance
to do better. was q ruler who made his
subjects obey the laws of the Refuge. He
was a good up and Won. his place with
out fighting
Sforza was Of another sort. He tried to
become the up" by force Of arms, and
the battle followed. As far as Supt. Byers
could learn, the trouble among the 2l0
boys in the section to which Sforza be-
longed had been brewing ever since it was
known that dhe old leaders time in the
school was about up. OF course. none Of
the supervisors knew anything Of the
matter but in the way known only to
boys the word was passed around that
Sforza and his chief lieutenants, Oshans-
Ky and a negro boy named Johnson,
would lick the stuftin " out Of the lead
ers of the opposition whenever they got
the chance
Samuel Blumenthal. the fifteen-year-old
leader Of the other faction, says that he
sent back word that he didn't gant no
trouble" but he didn't say that he was
willing to bow to SforZas rule. and the
trouble arrived last Saturday night.
when the boys turned in to the play room
after supper
Tussle or the Floor.
Sforza is said TO have pitched into his
enemies single-handed. but it wasn't
more than d second before Oshansky had
butted into the crowd and was hitting
out right and~left. Just as he arrived.
Sforza went down, and as several Of his
opponents fell on him, intent on their
advantage, friend and foe were undstin-
guishable in the tussle on the floor. II
was then that Sforza pulled out the
knife, an old broken-handled thing with
a two-inch blade. He said afterward
that he was trying TO stab Blumenthal.
and that he lest his head in the fighting
and struck out g5lindly.
Even the short-bladed knife did wicked
work in the hands of one whose birth
right was the knowledge to WELD it, and
when the solitary guard in the room had
succeeded in breaking his way through
the mass of boys packed about the fight
ers, he found four Of the boys badly
slashed.
Oshanslsy Cut in Fight.
Oshansky was the worst hurt. with
stab wound under his left arm. It was
not thought to be q mortal wound, how