Omaha daily bee., 1914-07-24
RUSMTSEL WITNESSES WEEP
Tell of Alleged Abuse by Attorney
for ComplainantY.
MISS ALDERMAN TAKES STAND
Chief witness Against Head of the
Commerce school Testifies After
Repeated Demands from
Defendants Attorneys.

Weeping witnesses came cut of the
Board Of Education rooms, where
charges of 'tndiscreetness" against
Principal l. c. Rusmise of the Omaha
High School OF Commerce are being
secretly heard. Attorney E. w. Simeral.
for the prosecution, had abused them.
they said.
Chairman A. c. Kennedy and other
members OF the committee threatened TO
put Mr.. Simeral out of the room III he
did not calm himself"
HE apparently is incapable of con-
trolling himself when the evidence goes
against him." said Attorney c. \. Goss
for Mr.. Rusmisel
Mr.. Simeral came out OF the room
greatly excited.
even IL it's So" he exclaimed TO
Phillip Horan, party to the complaint,
"even If it's So"
Seeing reporters he addressed himself
to Mr.. Horan i'm a lowered voice.
Mrs. N. II. Nelson. president OF the
Omaha Woman's club, who heard the
clash between Mr. Simeral and tho Rus
misel witnesses. was also weeping when
she came out of the trial room.
"Simeral called me a liar, scalawag
and a scoundrel," said l. H. Crawford, a
teacher at the Omaha High School of
Commerce. He lost his head completely
There is no telling how much further ne
would have gone II the members of the
board had not threatened TO throw him
out IL he did not desist."
Chief witness Examined.
The trouble started following the grill
ing through which Miss Edith Alderman.
chief informer against Mr. Rusmisel,
passed at the hands Of Attorney Goss.
Miss Alderman had refused to go on
the stand, but such pressure was brought
to bear by Mr.. Rusmisel and his attorney
that the complaining attorneys yielded
and permitted her to testify.
n. c. Wood. a teacher at the commerce
school, and his wife went on the stand
TO discredit Miss Alderman and the re-
ports she had spread. They testified that
she had "gossiped about every school
official from Superintendent Graft down"
Mr.. Wood said his wife had forbidden
her to come 10 Mrs. Woods china paint
ing classes because of the manner in
which she gossiped
Mr.. Brawford and Miss Alice Belle
Hoskin gave evidence reflecting on Miss
Alderman's standing. This evidence was
what started the violence with which Mr..
Simeral handled the witnesses.
Miss Hoskin was weeping violently
when she came from the examining room.
All of the witnesses were greatly in
censed.
Representatives OF Mr. Rusmisel inti-
mated that the whole thing had been a
frameup and that the case against Rus
misel had been thoroughly exploded"
Miss Alderman was on the stand for
half an hour. Attorney Simeral said her
testimony was "meager" and denied that
she was the prosecutions chief witness.
Superintendent e. U. Graft returned
from Okoboji, where he is spending his
vacation, and went on the witness stand
James Knots. a teacher at the Omaha
High School of Commerce, returned
from his honeymoon TO testify in Mr.
Rusmisels behalf
Mr.. Rusmisel went on In his own de,
| fense at the afternoon hearing. Mrs
Rusmisel also took the stand
The hearing was adjourned until today
| to give Mr.. simeral an opportunity tc
! present witnesses in rebuttal.
| The judiciary committee will report Ia
/ findings TO the entire board August 3,