Morning journal and courier., 1880-09-27
A Freshman societx,s caper.

and the POIice-ActiOn by the Jefferson
 ian CIub-A General Meeting at ths Coll
 lege To-Day to DenOunce the Outrage.
 On Saturday evening, shortly after nine o'clock, the large Hancock and English ban ner, bearing the names of these candidates, | which for several weeks has hung across Chapel street opposite the rooms of the lief fersonian club, Lyon building, was hauled into the room above, occupied by Sigma Ep- silon, Yale freshman secret society, and, as | appeared subsequently,, was torn in pieces. ! The hauling in of the banner was observed l by quite number of people and passers by, l and created some surprise, but nothing seri- l ous was thought of it, the supposition being l that the club had withdrawn it temporarily l to be repaired or for other legitimate pur- poses. The comment caused by the disap- | pearance of the flag stirred up inquiry and came to the ears of members of the Iefer- 1 sonian club. There was quite collection of I people on the walk, opposite the Lyon build ] ing. They had paused to hear the racket 1 and uproar going on in the Sigma Epsilon rooms It was initiation night, the great night of the year with the society; members of the freshman class were being introduced
 
 tossed in blankets, thrown from imaginary heights, and otherwise refreshed. The upper air part of the performance was occasionally visible to the spectators on the pave. With
 bandaged eyes, one by one, the faltering freshies were escorted up the stair
 ways to the top loft, where the rooms are situated-directly over the Jeferson1an clubs suite. Members of the club soon ap- peared upon the scene, and the crowd thick
 ened until the pavements both sides of the street and part of the street was blocked up, it being yet before the closing
 of many of the stores. Everybody
 stopped on seeing the crowd to inquire what
 was the matter, and the answer passed from
 mouth to mouth that the students had taken
 in the flag. Nobody seemed to think there
 was much of joke in the proceeding, and
 feelings of indignation were freely vented.
 The initiation continued as new candidates
 were being passed up stairs, and there was
 fresh bowling and uproar. Measures of re-
 taliation were proposed by some in the crowd,
 even to raid on the rooms of the offending
 society. Two patrolmen had arrived upon
 the scene who had been dispatched from the
 police office by Captain Hyde. In view of
 possible melee, ex-Mayor Lewis and other
 prominent Democrats counselled the crowd to disperse, and the police were soon notify
 ing people to move on, with good effect, and
 at about quarter of 10 the street had resumed it's usual Saturday night appearance. The news of the presence of a throng in front of the building had the effect of causing a sus- ;,.S4 freshmen who had been escorted up stairs were returned immediately without having ridden the goat or seen the animal Order reigned again in Warsaw. The exuberant freshmen had suddenly cooled down and re- turned to sober reflections and had folded their tents, like the Arabs, and silently stolen away, \ with the pieces of the flag. Not all of the fragments, however, were carried of, as several \ were dropped by the excited freshies in their \ nasty departure. A number of the pieces \ were secured by Judge Blydenburgh. He has, tened with them to exhibit them al, the Athene- ' um at the joint debate, which was attended | by host of collegians, but the debate was over Its exhibition to the throng would
 have been a quite unexpected episode, and \ would no doubt have created burst of in- dignation. Others of the pieces were taken \ and left at the cigar store of James Galla- ' gher, jr. Few of the members of the Jeffer- sonian club were in the room during the ex- citement. Many were away at the joint de- | bate. After the debate there was an | informal meeting at the club room. ! Ex-Mayor Henry G. Lewis presided and G. S. Thomas was secretary. On motion of William Parsons the Chair was instructed to | appoint committee of three to take imme- | diate action to consider what legal redress could be taken in regard to the outrage, and ' to lay the matter before the officers of the \ college and take any further action that ,i,-1,4- kob ba T., | William Parsons and A. H. Robertson were ' appointed the committee, and by vote H. G. ' Lewis William B. Catlin and w. W. Stowe | were added to the committee. The meeting ! then adjourned to meet this evening.
 The committee proceeded to the police ! office and waited upon Captain Hyde, who expressed his readiness to do anything which would result in the arrest of the perpetrators of the outrage. He ordered Sergeant Smith \ to station two men at the door of the hall | and arrest any one who should come out of 1t \ during the night. It was, however, regarded | as extremely improbable at this time that | any of the students had remained so long after the robbery. However, the guard was I stationed at the door and remainedthere until | daylight yesterdayt. Sergeant Smith was also | directed to proceed to the residence of Pros ! ecuting Attorney Pickett, lay the facts before l him, and if possible secure warrants under which students thought to be implicated in | the outrage could be arrested
 ! Further ParticuIars-Sigma Fps.
 l Regarding the attitude of the freshman so- | ciety toward the Jeffersonian club, which does ! not of course at all excuse the outrage it is | current that members of the Jeffersonian club had expressed indignation at the amount \ of noise occasionally made by the society and I had politely hinted wish that they would ! move out, this bringing the retort that the ! society had been for dozen years in its quar- | ters and had the best right to stay. Also | that the flag rope was made fast to the soci- l ety windows without asking leave or license, 1 but this was during vacation when the socie- ! ty was scattered to the four winds. Also I that Mir. Charles Prindle, who is janitor for | the Jeffersonian club, had recently cleaned l the students room and placed it in condition | for the Saturday night initiation. While | doing this work he states that he was assured | by members of the society that no harm ! should come to the flag. It is also reported l that the society sent word down to the club 1 that they were to have their initiation on | Saturday evening and asked them to bear ! with the extra noise for that evening. Those | present at the club expressed a willingness to accommodate for that evening Club
 members were not the less disgusted
 at the flag destruction from it's having
 been kindly disposed College men, under l graduates, will not shed tears, especially in
 thesupper classes, if the Sigma Epsilon soci- ety is swept away as the result of this very
 discreditable scrape, and regard the society 1 as an abnormal growth in the college body
 polite, an institution intended and carried on 1 solely for a racket and serving useful end. l As piece of boyish recklessness it finds nc
 favor anywhere. Freshies, in other words,
 were too fresh and have ''gloriously'' signal
 ized their entrance into college life and hon
 ored their society. Prominent undergraduates
 disclaim any political significance in the act,
 but characterize it as wild piece of frivoity,
 which the perpetrators no doubt regret ex-
 tremely.
 General Meeting of the Undergraduates 1 at the College TO-<lay-YaIe's Voice in | Condemnation S The affair was, of course, all the talk on
 the campus yesterday. But one sentiment
 was expressed, irrespective of party-that ot
 condemnation of the proceeding. Action was