The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1868-02-18

10y - - February 9Th, 1868.
Editors Journal:
In the belief that letter from this
part of the country may not prove
wholly embarrassing to the intelligent
readers of the JOURNAL, have ven
tured to address you a few lines.
Cambridge is a city containing
thirty thousand inhabitants, and,
next to Boston, ranks the largest in
the Commonwealth. It is situate
just three and half miles from Bos-
tom and ffteen minutes ride in the
steam, or thirty minutes in the street
cars, will bring you to the Hub of
the Universe. Of that | will speak
in my next. Cambridge covers an i'm
mense space Of ground, in cOnse-
quence Of the houses being built so
very far apart. it Is one of the oldest
cities in the UBion, and paradOxical
as it may seem, In many respects
sinks into insignihcance when com
pared or associated with our young
city. Evansville. We have water
works, and street cars traversine
every part Of the city, but its gen
eral appearance is tar below that of
Evansville. With the exception of
its college buildings and churches,
Cambridge presents by no means
very attractive appearance.
/ witnessed a fire last night, and
the manner in which the companies
proceeded to business in such cases
and, here again / must say, that their
code of discipline is far inferior to
that of the Evansville Fire Com
panies. Had it not been for the snow,
which considerably retarded the pro-
gress of the flames, a destructive fire
would have been the consequence.
Quite an excitement was created
not long since, In consequence of
melee which arose between several
law students and Sophomores. 1t con-
siderably disturbed the eiiquibrium of
the minds of the College Faculty, as
they were called upon to take the
matter into serious consideration.
Different versions of the affair have
appeared In the Boston Herald, Bos-
ton Post, and other papers, but all
Of them have been more or less ex-
aggerated. An appropriate cut has
also appeared in the Police Nesos of
Feb. /. Being intimately acquainted
with the law students who were forced
to participate In the melee, and from
whom L have an accurate account of
the whole proceeding, / will endeav-
or to give you, In as few words as pos
sible, resume of the whole affair
Be it known, then, that the house of
a Mrs. SWeetman is occupied by law
students, with the exception of two
Freshmen, who were the Alpha and
Omega of this melee. There are
many means to which the Sophomore's
resort for the purpose of hazing, as it
is called, the Freshmen; and nothing
pleases them more than to have their
efforts crowned with success. no mat
ter how trying an ordeal the Fresh
men must pass through. Eight Soph.
ignores, flushed with the hope of
success, and supplied with twenty
feet rope, towel, for gagging pur
poses, &c, proceeded at eleven O'Clock
of dark night to the house where
the Freshmen resided, with the i'm
mutable resolution e. if circumstances
lead directly to the door of truth, y
of taking the two Freshmen down to
the Charles River, which is about one
hundred yards of, and there to plunge
them in, and keep them there until
they thought proper to let them out.
But,
"The best laid plans of mice and men
All gang aglee,"
And this was exemplifed in the
case of the eight SOphOmores, for
scarcely had they demanded admis-
sion to the Freshmen's room, when
one of them, believing discretion to
be the better part of valor," aroused
by his cry of murder (Which, of a
night sounds awful to a mortal tymp-
anum), the law students and Mrs.
Sweetman, who Immediately fastened
to the scene of disturbance. But.
before they arrived. the SOphs. by
some means or other, had managed to
get into the room, upon which they
Immediately bolted the door. By
this time the law students and Mrs. |
Sweetman had arrived at the scene of |
action; but they found the door Sc
curely fastened, and, apprehending |
that danger would befall the two
freshmen, demanded admittance.
The Sophs, however, couldn'tsee it,
and needed not their demands nor
imprecatiens. In the twinkling of |
an eye, down went the door; aud |
there, face to face, stood the contend /
ing parties. Had Mrs. Sweetman
listened to the voice of reason, ID
stead of passion, all would have been
well; but her Irish ire obtained the
ascendeney, and, armed with a base
ball club, she went for a SOph, but |
he, having long since heard of Mrs
S-rontnnanls nennhant for r,,1r;lishio |