Arizona republican., 1913-08-15
HARPER |S OUT
 WH|PPLE Is IN
The Superintendent Fails to Make Defense Against Charges of Cruelty TT w.. NJ. Whipple, Former Leg islatOr, Succeeds Him

The official axe wielded by Governor Hunt and Secretary Osburn of the board of control fell upon the neck of A. l.. Harper, superintendent of the In dustrial School charged with cruelty towards the boys and without a sign of defense on the part of Harper he was seperated from the pay roll of the state. With him in his. dismissal will go Mrs Harper who has acted as mat ron since the incumbency of Harper. w. M Whipple, strong Hunt supporter in the legislature of which he was a member. was immediately nominated for the vacant position by the governor the motion was seconded by Secretary Osburn and by a vote of two to silence was appointed superintendent and left for Benson yesterday to assume his of ficial duties.
 The investigation which promised so many thrills, inasmuch as the general public believed that Harper had been reserving his defense to present it to the board, fell flat. It was all over in a very short time. the only thrill to the meeting being the statement of Audi tor Callaghan. a member of the board who was present and not voting in the session. Mir. Callaghan looked his sympathy for Mir Harper, and spread his objection to the procedure upon the record.
 Harper was represented by counsel c. IT. Whitcher, who requested that his client be allowed the privilege of a pOstmonement of the further proceed ings pending the action of the superior court of Cochise county before which
 
 of aggravated assault. The warrant on this charge was served on him just as he was about to leave the supreme court room after the proceedings Dep uty Sheriff Allie Howe served the war rant The application of the attorney was oyerruled by Governor Hunt who said that if Harper had anything to say the timbe was at hand to say it.
 Following this the secretary of the board of control read the report he had prepared upon the investiga ton he con ducted at the school last week No answer was made to any of the state ments in the report. Several letters Were read from Cochis couny and one from the school doctor, Dr. Powell, who spoke of the thrashings of the boys as strictly deserved" There was nothing more to the investigation than this. In justifying his position yester- day Governor Hunt said Mn Harper had nothing to say"
 The statement of Auditor CaIlaghan is as follows:
 Although the statues provide that the superintendent of the state in dustriaI school shall be appointed by the state board of control, of which body I am a statutory member nevertheless, in the selection and ap- pointment of the former superintend- ent of that institution Mir Frank Brown, I was not consulted and had no part. The circumstances relating to this appointment I took occasion to explain in my first annual report to the governor and through him transmitted to the first state legis- lature. covering the fiscal year ended June 30, 1912
 In the selection and appointment of the present superintendent of the state industrial school, Mir A l.. Harper l have been denied any opportunity o depression of prefer ence in the selection and appoint ment of these officials, 1 have conse- quently felt no compunctiOn as q re- suit of their official administra ton.
 However, I can readily conceive that the conditions which faced the present superintendent at the outset of his administration were not en- couraging. These conditions result ing from palpable incapacity, utter incompetence, fragrant immortality, and absence of discipline which char acterized the preceding administra ton, together with the intermingling and association of 'honor" felans from the sate prison. who were placed at the institution in the capacity of tutors without authority of law. While regretting keenly the present apparently deplorabIe situation as it affects the state industrial school, nevertheless, in the disposition of it feel only passive interest, insofar only as is affected by it, the institu- tons official personnel
 J. CALLAHAN. State Auditor and Member of Board If Control