The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1900-05-06
Long and Exciting Contest Over
the Freshmen'S Class Pole
and Flag.
S0PHOM0RES ARE DEFEATED.
Their Repeated Efforts End in Fail
ure-'Large Crowd of Citizens
PreSent-Faculty Or
derS Are Ignored.

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENCE.
Lawrence. Kas.. May Son MAY hay. at
Kansas University. occurred the most ex-
citing class rush that has ever taken place
in Lawrence. For years IL has been the
custom for the freshmen to nut IN a May
pole. sUrmounted by their flag. and the
scphom"res to try 10 take it down. De
spite faculty injunctipns. the contest took
place as usual, with Al great crowd to Wit
ness the students contest.
AT l. O'Clock the niGht before 20 freshmen
gathered in front Of the High School built
ing. secured their pole and 4 few buckets
Of tar. and started 10 the campus but -
sophOmor-s had preceded them. and taken
possession OF the hill.
About l. O'Clock in the evening fifty inn
iors had handed a large rock. wcishiua
three and one-haif tons. with W. chalkeJ
on If. out upon the grounds. The sophie
mores promptly tied them up 10 the trees
about the campus. There they calmly
waited till the freshmen cut them loose.
about 80 in the morning.
BY a clever ruse the freshmen nI,nted
their pole in safety. They took 9 dummy
pole to a different part Of tho ground. and
fought over II with the su~phornores, while
my picked men planted the real pole Sc
cr:tly in another part OF the grounds.
AS soon as 1t was planted the freshmen
nl.tfe a run for IL and massed themselves
20 strong around il. At > O'Clock The sgph-
omores made a hard dash for the n6I..
and chaos reiigned for about ten minutes,
after which the sUph'morys Withdrew. iaav-
ing thirty Of their men tieI ana guarded
by the freshmen.
After tn freshmen untid the juniors before
mentioned. quiet cigucd till : O'Clock in
the morning. All ghe while the freshmen
hung around their pole whiiStIinC ana .jrc-
ing. tntll ; O'Clock there was no one on tn
campus but the freshmen. and about forty
brave guards. whom the faculty mad srI-
toned there 1" prevent the Naypole being
put up.
The Great Ejsht.
On the morning Of May ] 10 class : met.
nut everybody turned cut to see the great
struggle. which all knew would como after
5 O'Clock. Hundreds OF freshmen and sorbo-
more girls stood aruuHd the rlmous cheer
Ing for their sides. Hair tn citizens Of
Lawrence We're on m" hill to wat-i. the
Tray. while dozens Of cameras were yisih!.
on an si!eN. ready to take snap shots.
As the professors came on the grounds
they took of their hats to the MavpoIe.
Those who were reluctant To do this were
carried up 10 the tar-covered pole. where a
freshman pushed him up Till his nose
touched IL, when he tipped his hat. Many
juniors then Joined the freshmen. while over
sophomorcS.
The sophcmores circiei around the pole
n few times. then they suddenly made an
DINER terrible rush FOR il. The Strugsl,
was fierce fer about five minutes. TIsn
the sophomores withdrew for a little white.
without getting the flag. II was a tenn
porary withdrawal. however. and a few mo-
m.hts later they came on again.
lhey gave the freshmen all they wanted
10 Keep them back till chapel time. when
the fight was to stop.
The Last Bush.
The freshmen Were So slate-l over the sic
,"SSiui defense of their flag that they at
tempted To take the flag TO chapel. This
placed them On the offensive. and another
desperate tight took place. II took them
fhif an hour to fight their way To the en-
trance door forty yards distant. There the
chancellor stopped them and persuaded
them to give him the flag. So IL ended
scarcely q man out Of the so in the fight
had a shirt on after II was over. and all
went home 10 get the sleep which they had
lost the night before. No classes met tina,
day. and the fighters We're busy washing on
the tar. which nearly every man had got on
his face in the fight.
Several were tarred so badly that their
faces smellcd so that they are not vet able
To attend school. Considering the ficrceness
of the struggle. there were few accidents.
Besides getting tarred. a few OF them got
their fingers broken. Numerous spraius Uer.
in evidence. and one sophomore had his
collar-hone and three ribs broken.
Ii remains to be seen what the faculty
will do about. the affair. II threatened In
exrel all participants. but both souhomorrS
and freshmen agreed to stpp school i'm "A
body If any one should be expelled The Dis
ciplinary Committee met Nav . and had an
ail-day meeting. May , il met again. II
was at "A deadlock. some members voting Il,
stand by their threats. others voting To let
II drop.
Even the girls in both classes say thar
they will not attend another day II the fac
ulty eXpels any one.