The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1915-10-20
Cruelty Against CrittentOn
Home Inmates Alleged.
State Board of Control Will In
yestigate Matter.
TOO WEAK To STAND AT PHONE
NeighbOr Claimed She Had to
Take Care of Quartet.
Case of Feeble Minded Lass
Also Contained i'm Probe.

Complaints wherein officials OF the
Topeka Crittenton home are accused
OF abusing inmates and in one instance
causing four girls to leave the home
owing to friction between them and
Mrs. d. G. DedeIl, the matron of the
home, will be Investigated by the state
board of control, according to Cover
nor Capper- The complaints were
launched by Mrs. n. B. Waller, 1923
Union avenue; this morning when she
placed the matter before the eXecu-
tive
The verbal charges are the result
OF four girls leaving the home Mon
day afternoon. They appeared at
Mrs. Walters home, which is near the
institution in Quinton' Heights, and
asked to use the phone and to leave
their suit cases and trunks at her place
for a short time.
been forced to leave the institution
said Mrs. Waller this morning when
interviewed. They. said they had no
place to go and that'the matron of the
that they could not stay at the home
over night. One of the girls was in a
pitiful condition. She was the one
that tried to use the phone. She was
weak and trembling and her face was
as white as sheet. She was unable
to stand up to the telephone, SO I call
ed the party she wanted-a woman
that she thought would befriend the
quartet.
1.-The girls had two suit cases, two
trunks and two boxes with them. They
told me that they had been trying to
hide their downfall and shame from
their relatives and from the world.
"Then they left to hunt for a place
to stay. Pretty soon Mrs. r. G.. Moody,
president of the home, and Mrs.
Whitaker, a rescue worker of the in
stitution appeared in company with a
man and started to take the grips. I
told them that they could not do this
but the man said he was an officer
but showed no papers or star. They
took the luggage Afterwards called
up Harvey Parsons, chief of police,
and asked him if there We're any Of
ficers that were authorized to commit
the act He said there was Dot-and
Investigated, and later found out
from him that an officer off duty had
taken part in the affair.
The girls told me that there was
considerable trouble between them
and the matron. The girls left and
are rooming in the city and waiting
for their parents to come after them
and help them"
Matron Denies 1t.
When interviewed over the teie-
phone this morning Mrs. Dedell,
matron of the home, acknowledged
that the girls had left the home and
also admitted the trunk and suit case
episode. However, she denied that
there had been any abuse directed to-
ward the girls but claimed that the
girls had broken several rules of the
home. She denied that they had been
ordered to leave and stated that no
one around the place knew that they
intended to leave.
E'eebleminded Girl.
Mrs. Waller also included in her
complaint to the governor she alleged
case of a feebleminded girl that spent
six years at the home. The girl is now
staying at the Waller home.
THE girls baby was born at the
home six years ago says Mrs. Waller.
land afterwards she stayed there. She
was not even given good clothes and
she did a mans work-carried coal,
worked in the barn and attended to
cows.
"She never received a cent in pay"
Mrs. Waller says she does not know
where the four girls came from but
that she understands they are from
out of town. ''They told me their
names and as l remember them they
were. Grace Johnson, Susie Childers.
Mabel Porter and Miss Whymore. All
of the girls were in the home for
care
Following his interview with Mrs.
Waller. Governor Capper stated that
he would ask the board of control to
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