Arizona republican., 1913-08-10
INVESTIGATION OF
 SCHOOL STILL ON
Governor Hunt Not Ready to Announce That he Will Fire Harper From
 Industrial School.

The activity in the investigation of the state Industrial School, where ser ious charges have been made against
 the superintendent, A. L. Harper for cruelty, has been moved from Benson
 to this city, with the return to his of flee yesterday of Governor Hunt, and the return from Benson of Secretary of the Board of Control Charles R. Os burn At the present status of the in- Nestigation, and in the light of the fact that the Gray boy who has been brought back to the school, made an at tempt to cut his way out again on Thursday night, and that in spite of the fact that he was clad only in his night shirt. is in the same shape it was since the Harper defense was made known. Governor Hunt stated positively yes terday, that although he felt very strongly upon the matter of flOEginS i the boys, he was not prepared to an nounce that he would dismiss Harper from his position. This was a question he said that required cool meditation, and the application of sound judgment to it, and the future of the school as
 permanent disciplinary value to the incorrigibIcs of the state demanded that he not act hastily, but with sober i thought. He was amazed that any newspaper in the state should have i quoted him as saying that hc would i fire the superintendent by telegraph
 and he was equally amazed to seS in | the same paper that he had decided to | dismiss the present superintendent, and 1 that that EcntlemanS neck was wait 1 ing the application of the official axe.
 In communications received by the | governor from the superintendent, cru i eItv is positively denied, as is also bru- l tality. The superintendent does not 1 deny whipping the boys, but says that | they deserved it and that the lash was 1 administered without passion and in ! the interest of discipline to the state. i Governor Hunt in discussing the mat ! ter yesterday said that although fIogg- 1 ing has been prohibited, there is no | objection to giving the youngsters | licking occasionally Ii must not be | used however, as a regular means of ! punishment but only in extreme cases. ! Never under any circumstances will | whipping to be brutal or cruel. He said his idea of an industrial school | was to correct the faults in the boys 1 and girls sent there. in such a man | ner as to develop their minds, teach ! them to respect authority. and al the 1 same time do this without any injury 1 to their bodies He did not expect the 1 reform school to be filled with angels, | if it were it would cease to be a school l of enforced attendance.
 Secretary OSburn conducted the in l vestigation at the school in a thorough 1 manner. He had all the boys engaged in the conspiracy before him and ex- l amincd them. He did not find any fear l of the superintendent there, neither did ! he find any denial of the fact that they ! had been whipped. He found that but l five of the boys had gone into the of l flee to overpower Mrs. Harper, but that 1 the other nine in the conspiracy whose names were easily obtained, did not go ] into the room They were all. how | eyer, licked roundIy. The instrument
 used was what appeared to be q piece ! of side leather about four inches wide i fastened into a handle This was ap- piled to the naked skin of the recalci- | trant youth This thong was d survival | of the former administration.
 Superintendent Harper has had a great deal of trouble reducing the i school from the chaos in which he found it to a degree of discipline. The former superintendent when instructed that he would not be allowed to thrash the older boys without the permission of the board of control had ceased the use of the strap entirely and as a re- suit the boys ran wild, without the semblance of discipline Harper had to quell all this and obtain results as well. a matter of extreme difficulty Now
 that the school is in a period of tran sition. with the superintendent away q part of the time the situation has been somewhat more difficult to handle.
 It may not be that Harper will con
 tinue as the head of the school but at this time the governor is not saying
 that he will fire him, neither is he sug- gesting who might make a proper sub sHtute for the present head of the school