The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1894-03-19


Albany, y. T., on the ssh inst. without
dissenting vote. agreed to report . bill de-
aning haxing - . criminal offense- This
bill vas introduced jas: after the mur-
cerous folly Of some members OF the
sophomore class ~ Cornell university had
excited universal indignation ard horror.
With the aid Of glass and rubber tubes
they conveyed. or sought to convey, cur
rent Of deadly chlorine gas from . con-
ceaisd stone Jug into dining hall flied
With their fellow students. the freshmen.
One Of the tubes had been diverted.
20 that only q small amount OF the
gas entered the diaing room: but even
this amount Was SUFFICIENT to pros
trate, and endanger the lives OF, those
who inhaled It. The main portion of the
gas had entered the kitchen, and there an
unfortunate old colorcd woman. the cook.
was instantly killed By it, while her
daughter escaped death only By fight.
Men who know enough TO prepare this
gas know iss effects, and had not their
purpose of filing the banquet hall miscar-
ried the loss Of life in . crowded room
would probably have been great. but in
any event the whole performances in it,
conception and execution was instinct
with the spirit Of cowardice, meanness and
lswlessness; IL was about on . level with
the boorish pranks Of . primary school
boy who pats pepper on the stove: It istha
stupid vuigarity Of "Peck's Bad Boy"
masquerading - sophomore at Cornell
university.
These fellows have committed crime
for which they can only plead the baby
act. just a. might . young hoodlum who
moved . switch on the Northern Pacific
railroad and wrecked . train ''just for
fun" But these fellows would BE- very
indignant II they we're called children;
they claim to be ''men." and II they are
men they must expect TO b treated Is all
other men who are guilty Of acts Of gross
lawlsssness. Cornell is unfortunate in
having such "men" among her students.
but she Is not the only unfortunate college
at the East. The practice of "hazing"
at college when It involves cowardice,
trickery. faisehood, forgery and meanness
is bad enough and vulgar enough to demand
the sternest punishment at the hands Of
the college authorities, but certainly when
1t rises to the level of q criminal act or
legal misdemsanor tho college authorities
ought to instantly help the civil govern
ment in their efforts to punish these hood
lums within the college exactly - they
would be punished il they were hoodlums
outside . college. 1t il worth far moro
than . diploma or . degree to . young
man to Be taught that he cannot break the
civil law with impunity behind the screen
Of the walls Of . college. 1t may not be Of
very great consequence to the state
whether student leaves college scholar
or not, but 1t Is of serious consequence to
the state that he ID taught while
In college to be . law-abiding citizen;
taught that there Ii no impunity for ruff
anism no matter who practices IL. This 10
tho very last lesson that q stud emit Is likely
to be taught at college: on the contrary.
the college authorities in the past have
dealt 90 lightly with college ruffians who
break the civil law that every now and
then a college 10 disgraced by acts that
would land any body but . college student
in the penitcntiary.
AT West Point and Annapolis shaking"
is punished without mercy, and I'M
der President Whites administration
Of Cornell lawless students had
short shrift and stern punish
hment. At Princeton last fall the
perpetrators Of the practice OF hazing were
handed over to the civil authorities, tried,
found guilty and fined. A particularly re-
voting case OF hazing that occurred at the
Ohio Wesleyan university last year. when
two students were disigured for life by
caustics used by fellow students. was sub.
mitted to the courts. And the supreme
court In Michigan last summep confirmed
the finding Of lower court giving 81, 800
damages to a student who had been in.
iured In a college rush"
When the courts get hold Of these coll
lege ruiiians they deal with them severely,
but in times past the university officers
have not always co-operated with the au-
thorities In the interest of law and ius-
tice. Tho detestable feature of all these
acts Of college hoodiumism is, even when
they are not atrocious like the Cornell
affair. that they are utterly below that man
illness, courage and standard OF gentle
manly behavior that we have a right TO
expect of college students. While the
Tufts freshmen were eating their dinner
in Boston the sophomores at the college
were engaged in stacking" freshmen's
rooms: thai is, destroying carpets, fur
niture, pictures and bedding
Some of the students at Dartmouth col.
legs have recently made themselve, liable
for unlawful deeds. An ordinary citizen
who would enter a neighbours room. sack
IL and smssh the furniture would he sent
20 the penisentiary. Why are not the
civil and criminal codes enforced arains,
college ru.iisns as against other hoodlums ,
The New York Ereni.s Pest is none too
harsh when il answers the question by
saying that this business Of rGffani.m
could have been stopped long ago If the
colleges had no: been deferred by the
iradesman fear of losing customers"