Mrs. Frank Romano

Birth:  

Family Information: Wife of Frank Romano.   

Description:  

Pre-Colony History: The family joined the colony around 1928 -- paying in their money and starting in as colonists during the Allen case.  

Home in Colony:  

Job in Colony:  

Other Info: One of 42 colonists who signed a petition, dated January 10, 1928 and sent to the governor of the state, which objected to the securing of a new charter being issued to the colony. Among other things, this petition claimed that affairs of the colony had been grossly and intentionally mismanaged and conduct of the management so flagrantly opposed to good morals that a receiver assigned by the District Court was necessary to handle affairs. It alleged that management had: 1. Used misleading propaganda which caused hundreds of people to invest their money in the colony, only to be disillusioned and have to leave with nothing to show for their investment. 2. Reduced the colony to a peon camp - these "peons" being poorly fed, clothed and housed. 3. Advocated "free-love", including promiscuous relations of the sexes and other practices contrary to good morals. 4. Expressed contempt for courts and authorities by taking it upon themselves to punish two boys for stealing from the colony store. 5. Prostituted colony schools by employing nondescript persons as teachers, while issuing fraudulent reports and drawing hundreds of dollars from the Parish School funds in the names of certified teachers and by exploiting child labor. The case was taken all the way to the Supreme Court but eventually was annulled and the plaintiff's demands rejected.

When the receiver was appointed, the Romano's refused to take their places in the working forces of the colony, while continuing to live at the colony table and to enjoy all its privileges -- during the case against the colony it was impossible to cancel contracts or to expel members, so they were tolerated. When the affair had been concluded, they demanded their money back, but didn't want to make any allowance for the expense to which they'd put the colony.

Post-Colony History:  

Death:  

Sources: "Llano Colonist": February 25, 1928, June 3, 1933 (Story of Llano)