Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1912-02-21
HIS 10 the simple story Of
the kiss that upset q town
/, 30 consumed hard, as Cap
tain Dunbar says, that half


IS whether they're foot Or ..
horseback, which. coming from an
omcer Of the law. carries weight. The
town II the snappy little village 1of
8Treeport, L.. IL II M
Since the primary incident. and 40
& an indirect result thereof,, the author-
& tiles at Albany have been appealed to
twice, the police have been called
G upon to perform emergency duty four
4 men have lost their somcial Jobs, there
/: has been q strike, parades through
the town. . placarding Of fences and
{ barns with statements and warnings.
mass meetings OF citizens. men and
8 women alike, and q general condition
4 81, such persistent turmoil that no one
would so much as think Of predi citing
what's going to happen next, accord
& ing to a. correspondent Of the New
York World. #s 3; III S
BY starting with the kissing Incl
dent, IT Is easier to set matters down
In something Ike order.
Arthur E. Barnes. Union college
man. tall, angular. red headed and
3 given to wearing stiff starched white
lawn ties bow-knotted at his Adams
y apple, as ssuperint ende emit OF the Free
port schools had ofhceA In the high
school. One day after school John
Lewis, In the performance OF his JAM
7 torial duties, mounted q step-ladder In
the hall soutsid the superintendent
once the better to dust the transom.
sObviously he had to look In. He says
4 he saw Superintendent Barnes in the
I act Of kissing, or being kissed, BY 1nes
Armstrong, q demure and willoWy lit
Sitle teacher Now. this incident, which
sis no pnrt Of the high school curricu-
Jun 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:
1 gossip which naturally follows on the
very heels of q. story Of an indiscre-
tion. did not take prompt action.
In the Role Of Joseph.
Barnes himself admitted the kiss
inx. saying that he was the recipient
thereof instead Of being the kisser.
He furthermore. credited 1t to ia thys-
terical outburst on the part Of the
young teacher due to her delight at
having been successful IN. an examine
ton for promotion in which he had
aided her. a &. 3i3l.
s5 But 1T hadn't looked that way to JAM
&itor Lewis or to his assistant, Eddie
Smith. n 4. H
the schools closed the young
teacher went away from Freeport,
and during the long summer drone
the school board turned the matter
lover in It's official collective head and
fnally decided that Superintendent
Barnes admitted qualifications for
4 school direction, coupled with his sew
Seral years Of service, should not be
disregarded. SO he was re-engaged
for another year. \
And Barnes came back with his
white lawn tie to the scene Of the
incident at the beginning of the fall
term. But the young woman didn't.
Then some of the townspeople
sought out Janitor Lewis and his as
! sfstant. and even an upper grade
i youth or two for a more detailed ac-
count of what had taken place within
the superintendent's room. They got
sit. Smith confirmed Lewis. The boys
confirmed Smith.
Trouble for Superintendent.
The next move was the circulating
#of an appeal to the state superinten-
dent OF education to compel the Free
port board of education to rescind its
contract with Barnes.
Some of the townsfolk announced
i that they would withdraw their daugh-
tiers from the school until such time
~ Barnes had been given his walk
s ing papers. Barnes stood pat when
the term began. Having been exoner-
ated by the school board and his con-
tract renewed, he went about his du-
ties quite as II nothing had happened.
Not SO industrious John Lewis or Ed
die 4. Smith. Their respective brooms