Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-12-31
The General Tells of His Experiences
at West Point.
GOT His REVENGE ON NEXT PLEBES
He Was Something of a Wild
Blade Himself.
VISITOR AT"BENNY RAVENS"

| in office as commanding general of the De-
| partment of Missouri at Omaha and has
| settled down to work. A good deal of
| interest attaches to General Lee In the
west, because many of the Nebraska SOL
ders and soldiers from other western states
| came in contact with General Lee in Cuba
and in the south during the campaign. The
| commanding general of this department is
being shown marked attention in a social
way, and no banquet is now thought to be
| complete unless he is present
The army officers of this part of the west
| are taking decided interest in the Booz
| haZing investigation. There are few MEM
bers of General Lees staff who have not
at one time or another INDUCED in some
| thing of this kind at least been the
victims of the pranks of their classmates
! In fact, General Lee himself confesses to
| a decided weakness for this sort of thing
when he was cadet during the years
! 49, o6 at West Point and in spite of mis-
| nigh standing as army officer. disci-
| planarian and proved fighting man, he tells
| today with evident relish some ridiculous
stories Of the days when he was engaged
! in making the life of the fourth-class men
! spicy or was himself the subject of a haz-
| ing party.
The General RecOunts Experiences.
Seated at his desk the day after Christ
| mas General Lee regaled a party of news
paper men with some of his experiences at
West Point. With the southern cordiality
| for which he is noted, the general told
| stories of those school boy days before he
! acquired fame a dashing cavalry leader
| of the men of Dixie. General Lee is a
| story teller of ability, and his reminis-
| censes were interspersed with some lively
| things In the nature of side lights. For
| instance when the general was recalling the
| day back in 80. when the first-c,ass men
| were tossing him on blanket in the COM
| pany street of the encampment while
| others were standing by dousng him with
cold water from huge buckets he tum-
bled back and forth between the moments
of laughter, observed that his experience
at that time reminded him of the story of
| the minister who went to a bird store to
buy parrot. The preacher wanted par
rot that could talk and he got it. The
bird man, however. forgot to tell the
preacher that the parrot also swore when
he mad Later the preacher returned
The birG had been swearing. He liked the
bird, but he did not want him If he had
| to talk like that. The bird man knew
| way to break him; the preacher was ad-
vised to throw a bucket Of cold water over
the cage and the naughty bird the first
| time he heard him swear, and that would
break him. The preacher stood ready with
a big bucket of ice water, and when he
heard the parrot swear ne let 1t fly. The
| the water from his feathers he looked
around and seeing the minister, remarked:
| Hello, you there; where in the h were
! you when the cyclone struck us?"
Rather FavOrs HazfnG.
| This story reminded General Lee of his
feelings when the men Of West Point were
tossing him on the blanket and throwing
| water on him in his flight. In this vein
General Lee told the story of his expert
| ence in hazng and being hazed at West
| Point He had never been able to see any
| bar In fba aati he
and, in fact, he always regarded it as a
| kind of physical exercise which was a
| genuine benefit to the boys.
| Discussing the life at West Point, General
| Lee said:
| I'm reply to your question 1 desire to say
| that I remember very well when | was a
| cadet at West Point the hazing of the
| fourth-class men or plebes was frequently
practiced. Nearly every cadet in the three
| upper classes had either been hazed him.
self, or had witnessed 1t, and therefore felt
| as if the new class coming in should have
| the same experience. A boy who was good
natured amiable and took everything as he
| found it, got off easily, but surly. con-
| ceited fellow was sometimes handled little
| roughly. l remember the older cadets came
into my tent during my first encampment
| and Selling hold of the ends of the blanket
| upon which was lying asleep on the tent
| floor, pulled me rapidly out into the COM
pany street, while two cadets standing upon
| either side Of the entrance of the tent threw
| buckets of cold water on me as l went
| out I took 1t good-naturedly, telling them
they were very kind. it would save me
from washing in the morning, but thought
at the time cyclone had struck me-
Was a Wild Blade Himself.
ct am sorry to say I was one of the wild
| boys at West Point, did not study much,
but could always be relied upon to join in
haZing, or any other pranks. L admit, too
1 frequently went down to the well-known
lJoy of
owing to the dummy, which 1 had dressed
up and put in my bed to represent me while
I was absent not showing some life and a
little animation when the inspecting officer
came around about midnight and threw the
light of lantern on the bed, was court
martialed for being out OF quarters De-
tween taps and reveille. and sentenced to
| walk ten extra tours of Sunday guard duty,
ten extra tours of Saturday afternoon
| guard duty during the time cadets We're
| allowed to be out of barracks, and to be
I confined to the plain of West Point for one
| year. Co.,,
"While I was walking one of these satur-
| day tours all alone in front of the barracks.
| saw Gen. R. E. Lee, then captain or
| engineers and superintendent of the acad-
| envy coming in the direction of my post
with his father-in-law, Mr.. George WASH
ington Custis of Arlington. AS he passed
1 brought my gun from shoulder to carry
arms, and then to present arms, In accord
ance with the manual OF those Gays h Alrsr
Gen Lee had passed a few steps heara
him say to Mr. Custis: DO you know who
that young man is walking extra tours Tor
violation of regulations? NO. quickly re-
sponded Mr.. Gusts, he is very polite,
| Though, isn't he?
Opposed to Cruelty.
'I suppose there will be more or less haz-
ing at West Point as long as the institution
stands but hope it may be kept within
the proper bounds, and If any undue cruel
ty is exercised that 1t may be promptly met
by the punishment Of the guilty parties.
Among 80 large number of boys. always
concentrated in companies and barracks,
the natural boyish tendencies in some of
them cannot be suppressed. The same con-
ditions do not exist in our colleges because
the boys are only massed in their recitation
rooms after which they separate and scat
ter out to their respective boarding houses"