Walla Walla Students Burn Their Fired Principal in Effigy Downtown
After the school board ignored every recommendation and deposed high school principal E. J. Klemme without warning, pupils took to the main street Friday night with a straw man and a match.
Walla Walla — As a result of the meeting of the school board, which refused to consider any of the recommendations offered in favor of E. J. Klemme, principal of the high school, and deposed him, pupils attending the institution Friday night burned him in effigy on the principal street of the city. The trouble between the principal and the students had been brewing for months, and, owing to influence which they brought to bear on the board, his past record was ignored and without further warning he was discharged.
“Pupils attending the institution Friday night burned him in effigy on the principal street of the city.”
A school board firing a popular principal over the objections of students, staff and anyone who bothered to submit a recommendation is a script that still runs at school board meetings today. The difference is the outlet: in 1909 the students marched into the street and lit a fire; now they post, petition and pack the meeting room.
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