Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-04-09
FOR UNRULY STUDENTS
The Academic Dungeon is Stern Fact in
Germany.
A Prison Where Many Famous Men
Have Been Confined In
Their Day.
From London Sketch.


mitted to prison only by the civil author
ity. In Oxford, 1t is true, the vice cham
cellor deals with undergraduate naughti-
Eess. principally in the form of debt AMI
IL subordination, for which he may impose
a momentary penalty. but he does not
deprive the defaulter of liberty. There is.
or was, a legend that a certain apartment
ur der the old Clarendon building was real
ly the university .'qucd," but for its au-
thenticity 1t is impossible to vouch. CAM
bridge has its spinning house for female
offenders-not lady students. but ladies who
might prove a delusion and a snare to the
mere male undergrad. There, II we ex-
cept the irksome penalty Of eating (con-
finement TO college or lodgings after a
stated hour). our academic efforts at IN
carceration>may be said to end.
In Germany. however, the academic dun
geon is very stern fact. The Heidelberg
Career is famous. Every reader of
Mark Twain will recall his entertaining
description Of the place. and how hs con-
trived to visit it. even unwittingly enlist
ing as his guide Herr Professor" His
pretext was to see young friend who had
got twenty-four hours and had con-
veniently arranged the day to suit Mark
for the German student convict goes to
prison on the first suitable day after con-
convenient, he tells the officer sent to hale
him to Jail that he will come on Friday
or Saturday or Sunday. as the case may
be. The officer never doubts his word, and
1t Is never broken.
The prison lie up three flights Of stairs.
and fs approached by 'Zugang' richly
decorated with the art work Of convicts as
the cell itself. That apartment is not
re omy, but bigger than an ordinary prison
cell. 1t has an iron-grated window. a
sn. all stove. two wooden chairs. two old
oak tables and a narrow wooden bedstead.
The furniture is profusely ornamented
with carving, the work of languishinE
captives. who have placed on record their
names. armorial bearings. their crimes. and
tie dates of their Imprisonment, together
with quaint warnings and foundations.
Walls and ceilings are covered with por-
traits and legends executed in colored chalk
and IL SCOT, the prison candle forming q
handy pencil. Some of the inscriptions are
pathetic. One runs
E. GliBicke. four days for being too eager
spectator of row.
If four days were melted out to a mere
spectator. what, one wonders. had been
the sentence Of the participators? 1t must
have been moving spectacle.
SavOrs of n Great Name.
Another record (also quoted by Mr. Glenn
ens) has the SAVIOR of a great name to 1t.
or course. 1t Is tie sen that Is meant. not
the father. The legeLd is:
F.. Graf Bismarck, 27-29. II. IA
This Mark Twain irterprets as a record
of two days durarce vile for Count Bis
marck in 1874. Had 1874 been leap year
one might have been inclined to interpre:
the numeral IT. as February. But the
'29'' makes this difficult, SO perhaps the
hImorist is right.
A third specimen is too tragic for COM
nlent 1t simply says:
r. Determination Love-four days.
Ungenerous successors to that sad cham
Der nave dealt harshly with their fore
runners regulations by ingenious substi-
tuition of heinous. crimes, so that certain
prisoners go down to posterity as having
been punished for theft and murder.
The prisoner must supply mis- own bedding
and Is subject to various charges. On en-
ternS he pays about tenpence, and on
leaving. similar sum. Every day In
prison costs sixpence; fire and light, six
trtf1e. Meals may be ordered from outside.
Every prisoner leaves his carte-de-visite.
which Is fixed, with a multitude of Others
Oh the door Of the cell. This queer album
Is glazed, to protect the photographs.
Academic criminal procedure In Heidel-
bend a student the captive shows his ma
circulation card. He Is then asked for his
ADDRESS and set free, but will hear more of
the matter, for the civil authority reports
him to the university. The Oxford regu-
lation, by the way, is In certain cases al
most identical. In Heidelberg the univer-
sity court try and pass sentence, the civil
power taking no further concern with the
ofrense. The trial is very often conducted
In the prisoners absence, and he Door
wight. may have forgotten all about his
pcccadiilo until the university constable
appears to conduct him to prison. Blu:
thither, seeing he may choose his day he
always repairs cheerfully.