The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1912-03-02

y E1k so consumed hard, as Cap
o. tain Dunbar says, that nan
eM,NY the folks don't know
~ whether they're foot or a
horseback, which, coming from an
officer of the law, carries weight. Inc
town is the snappy little village OF
Freeport, L. I.
Since the primary incident, and as
an indirect result thereof, the autnor-
tiles at Albany have been Appealed 10
twice, the police have been calieo
upon to perform emergency duty, iour
men have lost their official JOBS, there
has been a strike, parades through
the town, a placarding OF fences anu
barns with statements and warnings,
mass meetings Of citizens, men ana
women alike, and a general condition
of such persistent turmoil that no one
would 90 much as think Of predicting
what's going TO happen next, accord
ing to correspondent OF the New
York World.
/ BY starting with the. kissing incl
dent, 1t Is easier to set matters DOWN
In something like order.
Arthur q. Barnes. Union college
nnan, tall, angular. red-headed anu
given to wearing stiff starched Wnite
lawn ties bow-knotted at his Adam 9
apple, as superintendent of the Free
PORT schools had Offices In the hign
school. One day after school john
Lewis, in the performance Of his 1anl-
torial duties, mounted step-ladder IN
the hall outside the superintendent
Office the better to dust the. transom.
Obviously he had to look in. He says
he saw Superintendent Barnes IN the
act of kissing, or being kissed, by lnez
Armstrong, a demure and willowy lit"
tie teacher. Now, this incident, which
is no mart OF the high school curricu-
lum and nowhere mentioned by the
regents, was communicated to the
school board. But the midsummer
vacation was approaching and the
school authorities, having in mind the
gossip which naturally follows on the
very heels of story Of an indiscre
ton. did not take prompt action.
In the Role OF Joseph.
Rarnes himself admitted the kiss
ing. saying that he was the recipient
thereof instead of being the kisser
He furthermore credited 1t to hys
terical outburst on the part of the
Young teacher due to her delight a
having been successful in an examina
ton for promotion In which he hat
aided her.
But It hadn't looked that way to Jan
flor Lewis or to his assistant, Eddie
Smith.
When the schools closed the young
teacher went away from Freeport
and during the long summer dront
the school board turned the matte
over in its official collective head ant
finally decided that Superintendent
Barnes admitted qualifications TO
school direction, coupled with his sev
eral years of service, should not b.
disregarded. So he was re-engaget
for another year.
And Barnes came back with hi
white lawn tie to the scene Of tn
incident at the beginning of the fal
term. But the young woman, didn't.
Then some OF. the townspeopl
sought out Janitor Lewis and his as
sistant, and even an upper grad
youth or two for more detailed ac
count of what had taken place within
the superint room. They go
t. Smith confirmed Lewis. The boy
confirmed Smith.
Trouble for superintendent.
The next move was the circulating
of an appeal to the state superinter
dent of education to compel the Free
port board of education to rescind it
contract with Barnes.
Some of the townsfolk. announce
that they would withdraw their daugt
tiers fror the school until such tim
MS Barnes had been given his walk
ing pagers. Barnes stood pat whe,
the terra began. Having been exoner
ated by the school board and his con
tract renewed, he went about his du
ties quite as il nothing had happened
Not so industrious John Lewis or &c
die T. Smith. Their respective broom