The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-06-10
.HARVbRD'S NED FAc
History of an Ancient Order
of Young Dare-DeviIS.
1T HAS NOW DEGENERATED
Into a VandaI Gang--Great
Names on Its Rolls.
1T HAS NOW DEGENERATED

Cambridge, June "A little over a week
ago. one morning there appeared on the
! base of the John Harvard statue the mys-
tic legend Med Fac" in letters almost six
inches in height. This was not the first
! nor the second time that the Father Of the
! University had had his likeness used for
! the purpose Of advertising this mysterious
/ society. Almost three years ago the night
/ watchman at Harvard was petrifed with
! astonishment and dismay one bright
morning by finding painted across the
/ base Of the statue, this time in the bright
/ est of red paint, the following chaste and
! poetCal sentiment: 81 TO . To - VITA
/ Yale" This also bore the sign manual Of
/ the Ned Fac The last occasion mas served
to once more bring prominently before
! college men Of the country as whole
| Harvard's most secret and least known
| society. For the first time since the or
ganization Of Med Fac is printed an &C
! count Of the society and some Of it's doings
| since its inception.
Hoary with antipathy indeed IS the Med
Fac. Away back in 1913, al the beginning
Of the present century, four young men
met one evening in a room in the upper
part Of old Hollis Hail. bearing the mys-
! ferrous number Is. Stebbins, Loring,
7 Cr0cker and another were the names Of
| this quartet, the fathers Of Med Fac, and
the ringleaders Of their day and class in
aIl-sorts Of deviltry and mischief. Yet, IN
like a majority Of tn men who came after
them in the society. they were not seem
ingly malicious. They did not destroy
property for the mere sake of destroying
it. neither did they cause men needless
suffering.
At the beginning, and, indeed, until its
first suppression, the society was confined
to the senior class At the close of each
| college year, however, thirty or more Of
the more prominent members of the junior
class were summoned before the Med Fac
for initiation into its mystic rites. The
original upper room in Hollis was draped
in the deepest black. the long table which
extended the full length of the room being
swathed in cotton Of the s0mbre hue asso-
cisted with funerals. Across the head Of
the room, directly back Of the chair g the
president, was a black curtain of some
heavy material. and covering most Of its
width was a dead white gigantic skull and
crossbonas. The cavities where the eyes,
| nose and mouth had been had been treated
with some sort Of phosphorescent material
50 that when the terrified neophyte entered
the gloomy room tn skull appeared to be
glibbering a CHASTITY welcome. Across one
Of the crossbOnes glimmered tae fearful
motto: "Satano duce nil desperandum."
Translated freely into modern college"
| English this means: "You can't lose when
| the devil leads Across the other bone
! were the initials Of this motto of the soci-
ETY.: IS. D. y D"
The chief officer Of the society was the
| president, who sat at the head Of the table
| On either side Of the long table were the
| professors who were all, like the presi-
dent, draped IN black gowns and wearing
black Oxford caps. the proverbiaI mortar
| boards Of the present day. Near the door
were the "gensdarmes," generally the two
| strongest men in the class, clad in flesh
| c0lored tights; the principal holding in his
right hand an immense club, technically
| known as the 'mtonitans Bolus." His as
/ sstant grasped a smaller club known as
! the little ''B0lus." The questioning of the
/ candidates and their replies were supposed
| to be in Latin-there were no elective
! courses in those days, and every man in
! the upper classes in the university was
| supposed to be able to carry an a sustained
! conversation in that language. AS mat
! ter Of fact, however, the Latin used in the
! Med Fac was decidedly Of the hog
variety, and the wonderful idioms which
! appeared in the printed reports Of lis pro
/ ceedings were peculiar to it alone.
/ The in Ii tt rs usually consisted OF asking
/ the candidates the most absurd and per-
/ s5nal questions that the presiding officers
IF the Med Fac could invent. All sorts Of
/ ind.gnitfes were showerod upon them.
! They were told to stand on their heads and
/ from that position to deliver Latin ora
! ton. Again. they were obliged to crawl
/ about the floor with the collar bone Of an
ass gracefully fos;ooned about their heads.
In this attitude the officers Of the society
were privileged to kick them as hard as
! they preferred. and they usually made lb-
( cral usa Of the privilege. Singing the
Mother Goose melodies was another test
Of the merits of the candidates. and If the
ueophyte succeeded n satisfying A-s tor
mentors he was lucky inleed. As rule,
IN candidates finally rcbeued. and then
the TWO ''b-luz,S' were called into the ar
eument. and the re5e.ious ones were
dubbed into subsection and then thrown
bodily down the stains. The evening S
snort then terminated win an inspection Of
tae quarters of the unfortunate freshmen.
who were dragged billy from their beds
and forced 30 do aI manner cs foolish
p .h.n-S for tho amusement OF ,neir tor
mentors. Ge1cra-y the night ended u0 IN