The star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1908-1909, 1908-11-30

This strap was displayed last Monday
to the investigating commission and
Mrs. Mansel said that at that time she
told the members she was willing tc
throw it into the furnace If they Sc
riously objected to continued use Of it
Doesn't Want strap Exhibited.
She was asked where the strap was
and replied that it is still at the home.
She also said she does not care to
nave it generally exhibited, for such
things are generally so exaggerated
Mrs. Mansell admitted that Gottlob
Kohler, a man who is employed at the
home, helps her once in a while to
apply the strap. The applications are
given in the private rooms of the girls.
When Kohler is called in to assist, his
duty is. Mrs. Mansell said, to hold the
hands of the girl while the doses of
strap oir' are being administered
Mrs. Mansell was asked to describe
the manner In which the strap is ap-
piled. She snid the girl usually Is
forced to lean over the foot of the he'd
and then applications are given over
the shoulders or hips. when kohler
helps i'm this operation he holds the
hands of the girl and Mrs. Manseil
does the rest.
Mrs. Mansell was then asked If she
believed in corporal punishment. She
answered:
mot always, but at times I have to
resort to it,"
She explained that she wanted the
commission to know the kind of girls
she had at the home. One inmate, she
said, who had a baby, put the child on
the railroad hat it might be killed; an
other stabbed her playmate.
Mrs. Mansell said that she was will
ing to abolish corporal punishment, If
the commissioners thought wise. She
said, however, that some school author
tiles were advocating the reestablish-
ment of corporal punishment, and it
should be remembered that she had no
other way of controlling the refractory
girls.
Girls NAV be expelled from school.
but the worse they are, in our home,
the longe | have to keep them," she
said.
FeebIe-Minded Unwhipped.
Mrs. Manselrs answer to further
questions brought out the fact that the
home was overcrowded and that she
was compelled to handle thirty or forty
who are feeble-minded.
This class of girls, she testified, were
never whipped. She added that a great
many of the girls under her charge
should be sent to a reformatory in
stead of the home.
When she was called upon to produce
q punishment book the matron frank
~ admitted that she did not keep an
accurate book on this subject, and
added. 'If there is any fault to this,
tie blame should come to me alone
Thomas p. Fay, president of the hoard
of testified that soon after
he became a member the dark room
in question was examined and later
three windows were u into the room.
Since that time he has not examined 1t,
and did not know of the new light
ROOM for punishment until last
Wednesday. He also testified that he
was not aware of whipping with a
strap.
Mr.. Fay also testified hat he did not
favor corporal punishment. but was
willing to defer to the opinion of those
who have had experience in such mat
tiers.
At this point Mr.. Fay and Simon
Hahn, counsel to the committee. entered
into a lively tilt, in which Fay said the
newspaper stories were unfair to the
home, and he thought the record of the
hearing should show it. Counsel Hahn
insisted that there was no disposition
to be unfair. Q F
II hope not" replied Mr.. Fay. And
then he insisted that the room in ques-
tion was not a dark room and
should not be called that, because three
windows had been cut into it.
Secretary Ransom, of the Investigate '
ing commission, declared that when
the commission visited the room they
could not ''see their hands before their
faces"
Mrs. Mansell interrupted and said:
at was 5 o'clock in the afternoon when
the commission were in the room and
It is nearly dark at this hour at this
time of the year"
The skirmish led to adjournment un-
til . o'clock, so as to permit the COM
m~issioners to go to the home to in
spect the room upon which there YVES
such a difference as to its condition. !
The Scandal of 1000.
The charges considered today by the
Dependency and Crimes Commission
grew out of the investigation of the in
stitution by that body IN last Monday.
After the commission nad lOunu the
buildings Immediately clean and the
girls we'll clothed and apparently hap
py, some members of the commission
recalled the investigation of eight years
ago, which resulted in a scandal.
At hat time 1t was found that it had
been customary with the s~uperinten-
dent, Mrs. Myrtle B. Eyler, to incar-
cerate refractory girls in cells in the
garnet of the main building. One of
these was a wire cage, and was known
as the light dungeon" The other,
known as the dark dungeon was
completely enclosed, except for a small
opening over the door to admit air, but
not light A prisoner in this cell was
not only in solitary confinement, but in
absolute darkness.
The members of the Dependency and
Crimes Commission, which visited the
State Home for Girls last Monday ana
who discovered that the use of the
dungeons had been revived by Mrs.
Elizabeth V. H. Mansell, Mrs. Eyler's
successor, and that a heavy four-ply
strap had been in vigorous use, were
Ars Emily r. Williamson. of Eliza