Perth Amboy evening news., 1911-03-10
HEARING IN
SOUTH AMB0f
Matron of ~Tompkins Homo
Up on Charges.
s.scta, E. rho EVENING NEws.

. 49,
mittee on Poor met last night IN the
city hall to take up the matter OF
charges made against Mrs. COOK, lhe
matron of Tompkins Home. At first me
tboueht was to make the proceedings
nriyate, but later it was decided 10
maze the investigation public.
~sellor Lovely represented Mrs. Cook IN
def ending the charges, and City Coun-
senor Pearse looked after the prosecu-
tion.
chairman Stuart called the meeting
to order and read the charges as FOL
lows: "It becomes my duty TO make
the following charges against our mat
ron, for trying to obtain money from
merchants and having same charged 10
goods received, also abusing and ne
clecting inmates, mismanagement, also
furnishing board and lodging to her
son in month OF February. We feel
these charges being made that we
should give Mrs. Coos an opportunity
to defend herself !
Examined Overseer of Poor.
While the charges were directed at
Mrs. Cook, the major part OF the ex-
animation was taken up with the over
seer Of the poor. Bills dating back the
past couple of years were submitted
and items gone over In detail.
In the matter of obtaining money
from merchants it was explained ON
about three occasions in all when the
everseer was dealing with a particular
merchant for a period of two months
he had the opportunity once to obtain
butter at a muel reduced rate, but az
the seller wished the money Immediate
" and would not wait to have bill prs
scented in the regular way, he instruct
ed the matron to obtain the cash from
the dealer and apply it to the purchase
of butter. In order to allay any poss1'
bic unfriendly feelings of the mer-
chants with whom they were dealing
and who also sold butter, the cash waf
shown on the merchants books as being
advanced for milk. On another occas.
lion q couple of dollars were obtained
from q merchant in q like manner to
pay q man for cutting up some cord
wood and properly shown on the bill
presented by the merchant. Another
occasion q small SUM was obtained for
the payment of a milk bill as the milk
dealer would not make out a bill and
wished the cash. All these transactions
were checked so. K.o and while the
actual transaction might be a little out
of the usual mode of procedure the
money was properly disbursed. Ths
overseer stated that Mrs. Cook did
these things by his direction A wit
ness was produced who claimed Mrs.
ICook tried to get him to advance forty
cents and charge it on the book. This
he declined to do, but advanced the.
forty cents out of his own pocket. Mrs.
Cook stated this was for tha payment
of mending shoes for the inmates and
that it had to be done that very night.
The Abuse Charge.
AS to abusing and negleeting the In
mates. q witness was produced who
claimed one Of the inmates stopped her
one morning and asked "For Gods
sake can't you see the mayor and hays
some one appointed to look after us
e sssf j ast fas po IL s Fsfsae ra saIs u the HAS 0s sss,
tonlary for him to call at the hong
once a week at least, that he observe4
the food with which they were provid-,
ed, that he considered it good, that he
invariably asked the inmates If they
wers being properly cared for and they
always stated they could be treated no
better; that from his observation they
were clean and things were orderly.
As to furnishing board to her son
during February, a young girl seven
teen years OF age was produced who
stated THAT she saw the son coming
over to South Amboy on the trolley.
saw him go in to the home and saw
him going to Perth Ambey where he
worked in the morning. The girl stated
she had been in the home a number of
times and noticed that Mrs. Cook pro-
vided herself with good eatables but
the inmates did not fare as good. The
young lady admitted she did not have
any too friendly a feeling for Mrs.
Cook and that she could not saw the
son stayed there over night, but claim.
ed Mrs. Cook had once showed her n
room which she claimed was her sons
ROOM. 70 refute this the defense pro-
duced the young lady Of the house
where the son boarded in Perth Amboy
who testified that from the middle Of
last November up to February %. he
had boarded with them, that he had Ia.
ken all his meals with them during
that time and had slept in the house
every night during that period.
Evidence Favored Matron.
viewed from an impartial standpoint
the evidence was rather in favor of
MRS Cook and any slight Irregularities
d a might have occurred were really
shouldered by the overseer of the moor
who stated that he had directed Mrs
Cook to carry out his wishes looking 10
the interests of the taxpayers in pur-
chasing goods where they could be
bought the cheapest.
The taking of testimony lasted from
shortly after eight O'Clock until nearly
1850 O'Clock and then the council went
into secret session to consider the mat
ter. The witnesses examined were put
under oath.
Mrs. Cook has been matron of Tomn-
klns Home for the Fast FIVE years and
this is the first time any complaint has
been lodged against her. The oyerseer
OF the poor also stated he had never
had any complaint Of any character
from any of the inmates against Mrs.
Cook She Is an elderly lady of some
sixty or kixty,hve years. and the nm,
mereiful gruelling to which she was
subjected last evening was such that 4
was accessory to discontinue for a
short period and allow her to retire ont
Of doors to recover in the fresh air
The old lady, however, withstood tha
ordeal in a remarkable manner For ana
OF her years.
A verbatim report of the examina.
ton was taken by a ~stenographer for
the lawyer representing the defense 70
be used in casa the uaffar e t