Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 35, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 January 1903 — About the Ripper Bill. [ARTICLE]

About the Ripper Bill.

. “The Ripper Bill” has passed the* state senate and is now before the house. The bill “rips” up the management of the Jeffersonville reformatory, from stem to gudgeon And will legislate the present board of control and their warden or general superintendent, out of office entirely. A strong cppoeition is being made to the bill on the grounds that the conditions of affairs at the reformatory are in good shape and no such radical measures are needed. It is further urged that the bill is designed simply to avenge Governor Durbin for an alleged slight put upon him by the board of control, in letting Warden Hert suddenly resign and appointing an Ohio man in his plaoe, without consulting the governor or even notifying him of the intended ohange. This was a pretty hard slap sure, but in itself not sufficient to justify this radical measure, the Ripper Bill, provided the management of the reformatory is and has been all that it should be, and that there were no improper motives behind the sudden and secret change in wardens.