Wilmington journal., 1873-07-25
VAN DALISM.
THE UNIVERSITY OE NORTH
CAROLINA.
Its neplOrable Condition, as II e.
scribed by Three Different
Eye-Witnesses.

THE DIALECTIC HALL.
The first building we entered was
the New West Building, in which are
the Dialectic Hall and Library. We
were under the guidance of Mr.. Alex.
McIver, late Professor of the Uni
versity, now Superintendent of Com
mon Schools, and it is to his watchful-
ness that the contents of this building
owe SO much of their comparative good
condition. Comparative, we say advi-
sedIy, for the building itself is in bad
condition, and all in it has shared its
fate to a greater or less degree. The
main entrance doors were all open, the
panels of several broken out, the floor
ing rotten and broken. The recitation
and students rooms were all wide
open, the doors of several of them
broken, windows smashed and the floor
covered with fragments of glass.
THE PHII.ANTHRoPIC HALL.
Entering this building over the leaves
of broken down door, we were ready
to encounter ruin in our triumphant
career. The Society Hall, however,
was in fair condition, though not SO
perfectly preserved as was the Dialec-
tic. The portraits were in good order,
and there was no mark of va ldallsm
in the room. The Library we found
wide open, the lock broken off ard no
obstacle whatever to the entry Of any
one. To Mrs. Spencer is owing the
care and preservation of anything.
She has arranged and rearranged the
books on the shelves until it has be-
come wearisome task. The Library
being perfectly open to access, it is not
to be expected it should escape depre-
dation. Many of the shelves are en-
tirely empty. Yet, as III the other
Library, the most valuable books have
mostly escaped. Those that remain
are i'll their appropriate places.
The centre table was loaded with the
debris Of the costly engravings that
once adorned it. The portraits around
the walls are uninjured, and SO are
the busts, with the exception of that
OF Judge CASTOR, which was thrown
from itspedestal and the head detached
from the shoulders. The face and
head are uninjured, and it may be
repaired.
THE SOUTH BUILDING.
Here spite and malice and wanton
mischief have emptied all the Walls of
their wrath. 1t is q wreck, without
the semblance of its former self, save
the walls. There is nothing left upon
which to hinge q pleasant association;
SO changed there is scarcely anything to
touch the slrlmbering chords of mem
DRY. All is hideous ruin; open, broken,
PROSTATE doors, windows shattered and
torn from their frames, plastering
broken down and cumbering the floor
or, whec remaining, covered with
ribaldry and obscenity, railing on the
stair cases broken, the floors gaping
with unsightly holes; the whole build
ing thrown open, abandoned to the
| sport of the winds or the levelry OF
| Bacchanals. 1t was heart-sickenin
| spectacle, one we'll fitted to stir up to
| bitter remOrse the hearts of those who
are responsible for its condition.
THE EAST AND WEST BUILDINGS.
These like the south are open to de-
struction, and present much the same
| appearance. The ends facing the north
have apparently been the favorite
marks for the skill Of boys in window
breaking, all the glass being shattered,
and littering the floor with its frag-
ments. A tree some time since fell
| against the north end of the East build
| ing, crushing III the cornice, and injrl-
! ring generally the walls.
THE CHAPEL
| was wide open also, but except that ii
! bore the marks of II recent Sunday
School celebration, was i'll fair condi-
ton.
PERSON HALL
10 wrarl- StopS aro oil hrnl-aD
down, the doors open, the windows
shattered, and the flooring decayed-
From Correspondent Of North caro-
lima Presbyterian Of J"ty Is, 1873.
Since the downfall of the University
and the death of Gov Swain, now
nearly five years ago, the property of
the college has been very little looked
after, and it certainly speaks well for
the population in and around the vii
lage of Chapel Hill, that not more
damage has been done to the buildings
aud libraries. considering that there
has been no ettectual means taken to
protect, or to prevent pillage. The
doors and windows and rooms Cf all
the buildings have stood open day and
lain free to any conner The libraries
alone have been kept locked III any
degree. The Di. Library, of which
Mr.. McIver keeps the key, has been,
since he took charge, unmolested -
Certain rude and Iawless characters
black and white-have once or twice
broken i'll, but the doors were quickly
nailed up again. The damage done to
this library was done mainly in the
days of Gov Holden's negro guard,
sent up to relieve Gov. Swain of his
charge. The Phil. Library has not
been SO fortunate. It has repeatedly
stood open, and has evidently lost
heavily. Mr.. Pool and his brother-in-
law. j. Mason, are in charge of this,
as Of all the other buildings, except
the Di. Hearing last week that the
doors had been open for week or
more, l went up, for the first time in
five years, to satisfy myself by per-
sonal inspection of the truth of what
| had been told. L found the beautiful
library i'll utter and direfnl confusion.
Nearly all the valuable centre table
books are gone. Fragments of some
remain. The large tables We're Uttered
with books, most of them lying open,
with plates, and maps, and cartoons
stretched ont, torn and defaced. piled
on each other. Any man VINO loves a
book would have groaned at the sight.
Many books lay on the 1oor--the
greatest confusion reigned among those
on the shelves, especially in the alcoves
devoted to light literature. 1t was
hard to find two volumes of a-set to-
gether. Hard to find complete set
of any work. And hard to find any
that did not show marks of hard usage
The shelves containing the standard
classics, French, Latin, &C., the bound
volumes OF Reviews, Quarterlies, &C.,
though in disarray, did not appear
broken; ; at least, on hasty inspection,
it did not appear to me that these
more valuable works had attracted the
vandals as much as the illustrated and
light reading-Dickens, Thackeray,
Scott, Bulwer and Edgeworth. L
doubt if, of such writer, one complete
set of the many the library once pos
sessed, could be found.
There had been collection of Con-
federate relics begun by both societies.
The Phis. was much the largest. I