Waterbury evening Democrat., 1891-04-27
UNIVERSITY FIGHTS.
English "Town and Gown" Struggles In
Vogue at Ann Arbor.

The university OF Michigan is more
| Familiarity known to the college world
as Ann Arbor university, from the
town in which it is located, just as the
college of New Jersey is generally
known as Princeton college. The resi-
dents of Michigan themselves rarely re-
fer to their state university as such,
but it is almost invariably ''those
wicked students of Ann Arbor univer-
sity,'' for it is a fact that a majority Of
the people of Michigan think that the
students spend most of their time Great
| ing disturbances.
! Clashes between the students and the
town authorities are not infrequent, to
be sure. more frequent, perhaps, than
at any of the large colleges in the east.
When they do occur, they are usually
| of somewhat serious nature, and are
reported in the daily newspapers with
Earring headlines, so as to create the
Impression that the students are par
Ecularly unruly and un-Student-lilze
body. This is far more true, however,
as all of these conflicts between ''town
and gown" arise from traditional
feud between the town boys and the
students, which has its origin in we'll
| grounded dislike that the town boys
have always entertained for the
gown" The enormous police force Of
q chief and one assistant is utterly in
capable of coping with a mob of yelling
students and town roughs.
The more recent disturbances were
the ''circus riot" and the conflict with
the militia, the former with strangers,
of course, and the latter with town
boys. The circus riot was in May,
1889. The students attended the per-
clown prepared to perpetrate a joke,
the students maintained a silence until
he was about to announce the point Of
the joke. when his voice was completely
drowned Of their yells. The circus men
became enraged and drove the students
from the tent with iron-shod tent
stakes. When threats were made to
cut the ropes the circus men made an
assault upon the students with clubs
and revolvers. A battle followed and
lasted until the circus men left
the town early the next morn
ing. Their show wagons were
battered and not a pane of glass left in
their cars. The circus cook was shot in
the back by his own men, an onloolzer's
skull was smashed, and there were in
Vulnerable bruises and cuts on both
students and circus men.
A similar circus riot occurred in 1878.
It was Adam Forepaugh's circus. One
thousand students with one thousand
horns made a perpetual din from the
beginning OF the end of the perform
ance. The "triumphal march" was
failure, because the horses and
animals refused to march past
the horrible clamor. Forepaugh
made speech, and then ordered his
men to attack the students Their APP
pearance, formed in phalanX, was greet
ed by defiant blast from one thousand
horns. The students were unarmed,
and soon withdrew from the tent. But
they had their revenge afterwards.
When the wagons passed out of the
town they had to cross a bridge. This
bridge had been weakened, and the cir
Gus was, therefore, compelled to make
long detour to reach the next town.
Next day when Forepaugh attempted
to put up his tent, the canvas fell to
pieces. 1t had been saturated with
acids from the chemical laboratory. A
complete account of this affair APP
peared in the Press.
The most serious, perhaps, of all
these disturbances was the conflict with
the militia last fall, an occurrence still
fresh in the minds of the college read
ers of the Press. The writer was an
eyewitness of the whole affair, and is
able to say, without prejudice, that the
militia were wholly to blame. The
militia was composed mainly of town
boys, about twenty years of age, with
out uniform and dressed in factory
, clothes. They had been serenading a
wly-married couple, and their shots
. had drawn out about twelve hun.
dred students. This was perfectly
) natural, because of the fact that five
: students had been arrested the night
before, charged with riotous conduct
in the post Office, and it was supposed
that the shots were an outcome of this
affair. The five students We're after
wards discharged, the mayor paying the
costs and apologizing for his error
The mayor had been hung in effigy. 81
the students were excited and expected
when they heard the shots, tina
something serious was happening
; When the students learned the cause
of the shooting, student-lilze, they ser
enaded the happy couple with the U. o
, NJ. yell. Now, a townboy, above all
: detects the U. Of NJ. yell, so when thei
! drum corps was silenced by the din an,
the play soldiers were unable to hea
i the commands of their officer, word wa
, passed along the line to charge the stu
dents.
+! The assault was unexpected, an
Q all Of the students did not succeed il
: escaping. One was killed and severa
8 badly wounded. The killed student wa
a freshman, and had been struck upo
h the head with a dubbed musket.
!. There have been, of course, the regr
d lar student pranl>s, the painting Q
$ statues, printing of handbills directe
Q against the freshmen, Halloween cele
s brations, etc. The most original @
d these pranks was the abduction las
spring, of the freshman POSTMASTER
g who was bound and gagged and drive
III Il L.