St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1878-03-29
A Hazed student,s Device.

a
In 1912 some of the law-and- order
students of Bowdoin College undertook
to stop all hazing and other like irreg-
ularities. They sometimes used scar
nal weapons" and used them pretty
effectively, too, to the grief of those
who considered hazing divine. insti-
tuition and all who interfered with it as
having no rights which a hazer was
bound to respect. Some circumstances
made one of the leaders of the anti-haz-
ing party especially obnoxious, and he
was warned that some terrible ven
geance would be executed upon him by
a league formed for that purpose. He
was not easily frightened and he did
not even think it necessary to take
special precautions. One night, about
midnight, seven of the hazers broke in
to his room and seized him in his sleep.
1t did not take him long to wake up
sufficiently to comprehend the situation.
Resistance was useless. He instantly
decided to play ''possum" and teign
death. He was borne down two flights
of stairs with rush, ia no gentle hands
and with many a wrench and brulse,
to the pump. But he never moved;
he lay perfectly limp in their hands.
The device succeeded. When they
reached the pump one of the ASSISTANTS
exclaimed: "He is dead; ;" the fright
ened students dropped him on the
ground and fed. The sight of the
pump and the wet platform revived the
dead, and he arose and pursued the
fleeing students. Fear added wings to
their flight; they were all masked and
they all made good their escape. He
went back to bed and being naturally
unexcitable and cool, he went to sleep,
woke later than usual, ate his break
fast, and went about his usual business,
taking no notice of the affair. The
students held a college meeting and
passed strong resolutions cOmmendato-
nv of his course and character, and con-
demning the perpetrators OF the act as
of college fellowship. But
they were unknown, and the college
Faculty was unable to take any action
in the premises, even if it had been
minded to do so. What were its incli-
nation, or whether it had any, we do
not know.
The student, however, had decided
what course he would pursue before he
went to sleep that eventful night, and
he was well satisfied with his decision.
He has shown in after life in many a
critical emergency, the same GOODNESS
and the same resOluteness of purpose
which served him then. For six weeks
he absolutely refused to talk about the
affair even to his most intimate friends.
Every one thought it buried forever.
In consequence the actors became COM
They ''leaked." The stu
dent waited and watched till his evil
dence was accumulated and convincing.
Then one morning, he waited on a law
yer in the town and desired to retain
him for criminal case of assault and
battery. The lawyer was at first in
clined to pooh-pooh at him. The stu
dent pressed the question Is 1t an as
sault and battery to break into mans
room at night and carry him fOrcibly
down stairs to pump on him Is it an
offense against the laws of the State?
Is there any punishment provided for
such an Offense? Will you take the re-
tainer? Or shall it go to the lawyer over
the way? The case was taken, the
warrants were issued, the seven perpe-
traitors were all arrested-if we are not
mistaken, were marched out of their
recitation rOOm-One morning by the
Constable and seventeen cOllegians
were summoned as witnesses to prove
the facts. The whole college was in an
uprOar; the excitement extended
throughout the town, and we venture
to say that the office of the Justice of
the Peace was never thronged before
OF since by Il more interested and ex-
cited crowd.
The Justice adjourned the case for
two weeks to give time for the employ
ment of able counsel. Lawyers were
retained for the defense from Portland.
But when they knew the facts they adj
vised their clients that there was no de-
Tense. They we're guilty they would
be convicted; they must be sentenced.
The court would have no option. There
was no escape except in the mercy of
the prosecutor. They offered to pay
him for the damage done. He replied
that he wanted no money; he simply
wanted to punish great wrong and
to prevent its repetition upon Others.
At length, thoroughly frightened, the
hazers signed confession, which was
publicly read in the college chapel, and
paid all the costs of the prosecution.
The case was discontinued; so was haz-
ing in that college, and for that period
of its history. Some of the most dis
tinguished citizens of Maine took pains
to thank the student for thus proving
that law was supreme in college as out
of it. The student himself is now a
leading Professor in one of our theOlOg-
ical seminaries.