VANDALS ENTER SCHOOL HOUSE WITH MALICE
Series Of Petty Depredations Are Conducted By Numbskulls And Morons

Vandals pursuing petty depredations in Merrill and vicinity are proving a
constant annoyance to householders.

A car trailer was stolen from the premises of Math Lehmann in Merrill
Saturday evening. A number of gardens were raided and fruit stolen, and cars
parked on the streets were drained of their gas supply. Flower beds were
raided and ruthlessly trampled.

The Thoms school house on the West Branch, in Washington township, was
entered some time between the closing of school Friday afternoon and Monday
morning.

On arriving Monday the teacher, Miss Irene Ludwig, found desks overturned
and rifled, ink upset, and books torn and tossed on the floor, and property
damaged to a considerable extent.

The sheriff was notified and Deputy Sheriff Leo Hentges went out to make an
investigation.

The vandalism is supposed to have been perpetrated by numb-skulls living in
the vicinity.

Officers at the sheriff’s office say that complaints of vandalism in country
school houses are on the increase, and the depredations are equally
attributed to home youths with no training, to tramps and hitchhikers, with
moronic tendencies.

~Source: The LeMars Sentinel, September 20, 1935

---