The sun., 1895-05-26
TOWN AND GOWN AT YALE.
CONFLICTS BETWEEN VIEW HAVEN's
RoWDIES AND STUDENTS.
The Great Riot on 81. Patrick's Day In
1854. When the Fire Heiis Summoned the
Mob TO lombard South CoileGe-Tho
kiiiing OF UNein By the Student Sims.

, | The 9rrnt HtOt on bt. Pntrtck'o Hay IN
1854, when the Fire Helis Summoned the
Mob 20 lombard South CoiieEe-The
kiiiinE OF ONein BIZ the Student Sims
Some curious college history is given in an ar
ticle on "Town and Gown Rows at Yalc.'
In the May number of the Bachelor Of Arts.
| At Harvard tho writer says, tho town ele-
ment was never Of such size or power as TO COM
pete successfully with the students. AT
Yale. however, the situation is more similar
TO that OF Oxford and Cambridge. Tho town
has always been powerful Town and gown
rows have resulted three times In deaths.
In tho old days before tho war, tho Now
Haven FIRE companies, each numbering sixty
to n hundred volunteer members. formed tho
nucleus OF the town attack, and, together with
the stevcdores and 'longshorcmen, usually made
up the town army in the student riots. In nd-
| dition TO these there were the usual hoodlums
| and street gamins common to city of the size
| of New Haven. Before this century the rows
| between sailors and students were frequent In
| New Haven. The original " bully club, !" n stout
| oak stick two inches In diameter, was taken
from q sailor by powerful student in 1901,
| and, until 1s4l, was handed down from class
| TO class as an emblem of supremacy. The
| senior bully" was the captain of the college.
He held the bully club" during his time, and
| passed it on with sacred ceremonies to his
| successor.
During the French-English war French peo-
| pie In New Haven proclaimed themselves abso-
| Lutte ncutrals. The students were then good
| Tories to man. England was their father
land, and the:Revolution was not thought Of
| Yale was then an English college. Nathan
| IInle yale, lT73) was about eight years old at
| this time. The students threw rocks into the
| Frenchmen's windows at night. pastercd their
doors with mud, annoyed the so-called ncutrals
In every way,.believing, as they claimed, they
| were constantly assisting the French forces in
| Canada. To bo revenged, one of the French-
men gained access to the commons kitchen and
| put arsenic into the hnsty pudding 1t is said
that of those who ate the pudding, all recovered
| but one student. This led to an attempted at
| tack on the French residents by the angry STU
| dents, and the French ncutrals were compelled
| to leave town. Whitefeld utilized the situation
for stirring appeal, and revival followed,
in which half the college was converted.
The story of the great Yale riot in 1854 is told
by Henry r. r, Rowland who 10 was s,th then Yale
. In the spring and % winter OF @ 1921 a. q clever ,s
who were ere Well known upon the English stage,
were were playing an engagement ,E ,,,a at Aomans n,
Of hap %nd de sress in as
was known as Exchange Hall. = - On
the house, and tho galleries were filed with a
large del deegat5pn ,o Of steyedores and arsmen
demonstration,s, 9f approval and i'm insisted @ on
termined to interrupt the regular play and
break up the ,performance. The students
the Irish singer had become tired Of it. and
singer, but ut the continued recalls.
on No disturbance la occurred, however be
1a Misses %"f npdPasS 5 s % aaencc a
leaving the house, when the gallery audi
snee poured our out upon the neorle who had sat
between the hot spritss, of both sides. a scutiie
followed, and twoor three men We're knocked
arrests were made on both sides The stu
dents, l9ngshorGmen, and firemen adjourned
Chapel street, near Church. a
'longshoreman by the name of O'Neill was
under bonds OF S3oo to Keep the peace being
the only one held for bail AS they dispersed
st. Pntrick's day in the morning. None of
yom will dare to come to the theatre to-morrow.'
dents occupied the front rows in the body of
the house a, the next evening: hs The same same
The, students were the objects Of much a.
sSStnS sSa ansuSsa p hnd aITs % ephnes from
marks and missiles wera thrown.
:" During the performance the fire bells. We're
windows, it was seen that mob had gathered
in very large numbers at Chapel and Church
y
Captain Bissell came to the students as they
side was thirsty for their blood, and that hc
had no M force to protect them fro from the mob.
abusive epIthets Of every Kind We're hurled Tat at
marching up toward the college. As they
were opposite Trinity. Church. in order, to
drown the roar and noise and insults, they be- |
gan the song OF
Gaudeamus igitur
Juvenes dun suinus. &c.
The moment the song began the mob COM |
menced to throw bricks and stones, tearing |
up the pavement for the purpose. The students |
where the police were trying iher best to
protect them from the mob. The missiles |
Sidewalk the sparks eyw i immediatSsly M S there ere
was cry, and the students were reinforced by |
%ers SSy ysnapsd of TR h % 2es IsH rcd f Tf @ta
the crowd, which immediately broke and seat
tered tered M running behind trees: and the students
brought ht out students ,hGtr rooms
umn OF students with James $; Ranes. after
ward Irigadier-General in the cpntederateP
Spring. 1t was with the greatest dihicuty thar
Rainss was restrained from rushing into the
own account. Immediately behind us was John
Sims Of the class of '54, from Missls.ippi,
slass., lie had IL small man win i'm - and ND
brought , mp up the The s rear of Y" AZ
the mob who had been arrested tho night
before, caught Sims by the collar and began
pulling him back into the MOB Will II
great effort Sims succeeded in twisting himself
around, when O'Neill graspcd linn tightly by |
his nccktle, choking him SO thaeIe could not
cry out, and with two or three short Jerks
pulled him backward into the crowd.
Sims had bowie knife with him and he
called out to O'Neill that lie wUUld use il.
o'Ncill disregarded his threat, and Sims cut ut
his arm to make him lOOsc his hold That not
being effective, he cut ut his breast and when
he found that he could not break away from
him he thrust the knife under his arm through
his heart and ran up to join the students In the
college yard. There was immediate silence
in the mob, which fell back, and O'Nciil's
corpse was carried, amid tremendous excite
ment, to the police station.
Word was brought over, to the students,
who had been unaware of this especial strug-
gle, that man had been killed Sims lost his
hat in the struggle with the mob, and. unfortu-
nately, 1t had his name In it. lie rushed Ia tho
college and told u few Of us What liz hud done.
We buried his knife in the campus Mt the foot
Of an elm, in solemn silence, and determined 10