School. First called St. Mary's Institute, and later named in honor of Father Wiget, the school enrolled 1,150 boys in the 1859-60 school year. Thomas J. Whall Thomas J. Whall (Kilkenny, Ireland, March 31, 1848 - Reading, Massachusetts, March 14, 1911) was a Catholic student in Boston's Eliot school, who was whipped for refusing to read aloud the Ten Commandments in the King James version during the Eliot School rebellion. Whall's family attended St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church in Boston's North End, which held the city's densest concentration of Catholics, most living in the tenements near the wharf. On March 7, 1859 ten-year-old Thomas J. Whall refused to say the Ten Commandments as required by Massachusetts law for all public schools. Thomas stated that his father directed him not to recite the Protestant version. Whall's father was the school principal. Whall senior and members of the school committee attempted to reach a compromise. However, member Micah Dyer, a supporter of the Know Nothing Party insisted on strict adherence to state law. Whall and his father sued Cooke for use of excessive force. The court's ruling supported Cooke. The case received widespread attention. Seven Catholic schools sent testimonials of admiration, including the cathedral school of Covington, Kentucky. The cathedral school of Cincinnati, Ohio sent him a gold hunting-watch case and later a gold-lined goblet. However, as an adult, he had some difficulty finding employment. See also Anthony Kohlmann References Incidents of anti-Catholic violence Catholic Education Eliot Eliot Anti-Catholicism in the United States 19th century in Boston