Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1911-04-11
HIGH SCHOOL IN
RIOTOUS STATE
Many Parents Charge Lack of
Discipline and Worse In
w Management. IN.

Lack of respect for authority, lack
of discipline, as well as more serious
charges, are involved in the high school
row at lIilo that has resulted In the
suspension of Principal Richmond. Re-
ferring to the petition from residents
of Iilo asking for an investigation of
the matter, Superintendent OF Public
Instruction Pope. who has returned
from the investigation, says:
The general tone of the statements
of the petitioners was that thcy had
been informed that there was lack
of discipline in the high school and
that there was lack of respect for the
principal on the part of the pupils. This
Information they had in the main re-
ceived from the children who were pu-
pills in the school.
THEY also stated. most OF them, that
they had information which they be-
licved TO be more or less true, and
which they had derived from general
gossip, much of which referred to mat
tcrs of morality. Most of the evidence
was, so they intimatCd, held by Carl
Smith, who had been making an in
restigatioh at the request OF the citi-
zens, and, as he later on told me him
self, In his own capacity as a citizen.
Some of the petitioners knew moth
ing, or almost nothing, beyond that
they thought Smith held evidence with
regard to the lack of discipline. fall
ure of Mr.. Richmond to gain the re-
spect of the pupils and with regard to
his conduct. Two of the petitioners
had not even signed the petition them
selves
The Japanese Girl.
I'm this connection I was informed
that tho Japanese girl, to whom refer
cncc has been made repeatedly in CON
ncction with Mr. Gibson and his invcs-
tigation, was the sister of n girl who
Is employed by Attorney Carl Smith
as his stenographer. l may say. with
regard to the charge that Mr.. Gibson
declined to hear the statement of this
girl, after Mrs. Compton had asked him
to hear II, that Mr.. Gibson told me, in
the presence of the attorney general,
that he was not at the hotel mt the
time when this girl called, as he had
been delayed on the street, on his way
to the hotel, by citizens who wished to-
talk to him about the school matter.
lie did not refuse to see her. for when
he came to the hotel. ten or twenty
minutes late, the girl had gone nor had
she left any address.
Mrs. Compton the Trigger.
"Thc second batch of statements
which | obtained from persons called
by me who were not directly Interested
In the affair, was all mixed up, the
statements of some being directly con-
Trajectory to those made by others.
One thing was striking, namely, that
no complaints had come out previous
to the dismissal of Mrs. Compton. II
seems that she IL the trigger which
has set this whole thing Off.
Smiths Affidavits.
| 81 also called Mr.. Smith, though not
as an attorney, but as Il citizen. Hc
made very lengthy statement To me,
based in the main on anidavits which
! he held. lie presented these aiDdavitS,
two of them signed and sworn to, and
| their contents I think may be regarded
as much as evidence ms If the persons
making them had appeared before me
and had made their statements Both
of the aiHdavits are signed by former
pupils Of the high school. One of these
is the japanese girl whose sister Is
employed by Mr.. Smith, and the other
is Hawaiian or part hawaiian girl.
May Meet in Hilo.
Il have now closed the investigas
ton, or, at least, virtually done So for
have seen practically all the people
whom wished to Interview and whom
| have been asked to see, shall get
the evidence together and submit II to
the commissioners
~ Il
Commissioner NOR, and we have come
to the conclusion that II viii be best
to suspend Mr.. Richmond until the
commissioners have had an opportunity
to meet and take up the matter fully,
and to close the high school proper In
the meantime. Tho conditions are such
that we have deemed II wise to take
this action. not so much on account OF
any evidence, as on account of the agi-
tated state of the community.