Omaha daily bee., 1919-03-22
" H|PP|NC IN
PUBLIC LOT OF
GIRLS At Geneva
CONTINUED From Page One.)

woman who excepted made her OBJ
jections very plain and vigorous.
Asked if he believed in corporal
punishment, Superintendent McAu-
ley said while he was opposed to
this form of punishment, as truant
officer of Omaha he had whipped
more than 500 children and he knew
of no more humane methods than
he used.
McAuley described the lookup"
used for the confinement of the re-
fractory girls. This was narrow
hallway that had been partitioned
off. 1t was about 9 feet wide and
IS feet long, and was lighted by
three small windows in the rear. The
door was always kept locked when
occupied by prisoners. The equip
ment was a stool, bedspring placed
on the floor and on which was a
mattress. There was no dresser or
other article of furniture. The girls
who had run away and been captur-
ed at Grand Island Margaret Fritts
and Theresa Cotton, were in there
for 10 days as punishment. Their
evening meal for all that period was
bread and water.
Bread and Water Suit.
Describing the occasion when a
whole class of Is or more inmates
had been placed on a bread and
water diet, Superintendent McAuley
said that one of the girls had placed
a small piece of soap in the food
while in a bad humor. He was
satisfied the circumstances were
such that a dozen or more in the
class knew the identity of the Gull
prit and he took this means of pun
ishing them to compel them to d.
vulge the name of the guilty girl.
This he never learned.
Asked if he did not know that Of
ficers of all modernly conducted
corrective schools recognize the
childish code of honor which pre-
vents Switching" as a right, the
said that he did not.
The children were on the punitive
diet for 10 days and the superinten-
dent, asked if he did not think it
had tendency to lower their vital
ity and if it was not cruel to compel
them to do hard work in the laundry
during the punitive period. said it
had never occurred to him. He ad-
mitted that he had never consulted
a physician as to this and had never
as to whether the vic
Tins were made more susceptible to
disease as a result of this form of
punishment.
In his examination McAuley testi-
fled that when he first came to
Geneva he found that it had been a
custom of the previous administra-
ton to strike any of the inmates
with anything that came handy and
that he had found several of them
marked with bruises.
Punished Ten.a Month.
He determined then that he would
get along without using corporal
and for hundred days
no punishment of any kind was
Used except to take away the privil-
sges of the auditorium and CONVEX
'ation from the inmates.
McAuley stated that he had ap-
piled his first corporal punishment
% the two girls who had run away
md from that time IN these punish
nents would average ten a month. |
He always reported these to the
Board of Control as "strappings."
The circumstances of the public
were never reported.
He said it was the custom to admin
ster these strappings to the girls
Just before they went to bed at
night
Commissioners Ho1comb and
he stated, were opposed to
corporal punishment, although |
Chairman Gerdes favored it, as
knowing no other way to preserve
order.
He testified that girls were also
to disrobe in the daytime
or the administration of the pun
shment, but he had never marked"
hem. Once, after the strapping of
laura Jean Belcher, a colored girl,
lie said a spot of blood was noticed |
IN her gown. He had Mrs. Clark
ascertain the cause and the latter re-
ported that it was a natural cause.
Mayfield Objected.
Has it ever occurred to you that
whipping a girl of the age of 10
,ears or over, in public, and in thin
light gown, was an indecent thing?"
Attorney Wilson asked.
II never thought anything about
t." said he.
did any of the members of the
oard of control object?" ..
YES" was the reply, "Mr. May
ield objected to having any of the
inmates paraded in the thin drapery
f a night gown and strapped He
aid it was very immodest and would
e censured if publicly known. He
rdered me to have different gown
1ade, Of different colored cloth,
which | did"
The punishment" robe was then
1t was of thin, sleazy
of grayish black color,
1hich, when Senator Houston of Te-
anah held up to the light. showed
disabilities of revelation almost
quail to an X-ray gown.
McAuley described the Silence"
Methods used in the dining room.
he girls were compelled to march
0 the refectory with Their hands
lasped behind their backs and were
to go through the meal
,ithout uttering word, except to
SIX for more food in quietly modu-
tied voice.
Us it not a fact" asked Senator
turn of Plattsmouth that the
iris have to raise their hands as
pnal for food?"