Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-01-28
One West Pointer Who Was Not
Hazed.
CAPTAIN FRANK SCH0EFFEL
His Power and Strength Con-
quered All Corners.
CAREER IN THE ARM y


Mr.. Wanger.
Il heard Of one. 1 can't remember his
name, but think he Was pebe' in ISIS.
Why did he escape all hazing?"
He whipped every man who was pitted
against him. sir. He fought five men in
one day. and in all he licked about thir-
ty.'' said Brinton.
rs there monument erected to his
memory asker Mr.. Wanger.
No. sir
Not even tablet in Memorial Han?''
mo, sir
"Well, then. there shouldsbe. Prom tes
timony taken by congressional committee
investigating hazng at West Point.
Captain Frank Schoeffel of the 9th In
fantry, is the prodigy to whom Cadet Brin
ton referred in the extract quoted If no
tablet in Memorial Hall bears his name he
mas built his own monument by his prowess
and courage, both in the academy and
the field of battle since he became an Off
In West Point traditions Schoeffel will
long be remembered as the plebe who
whipped everything in sight" who fought
five men ito a finish in day and
knocked OUT his most accomplished
tagonist after twenty-eiSht rounds. In the
army ne has gone right ahead whipping
Spaniards, Fflipinos and Chinese Boxers
impartially whenever opportunity offered.
Schoeffels career Is considered worth
Sketching.
one-half inches in height is aggressively
red-headed and comes of fighting stock,
being the son of Colonel Francis \. Sehoef-
fel of Rochester. n Y. When Frank de-
cided to try for a West Point cadetship in
1887. he already had his growth. He had
heard something of West Points physical
standards. well as its intellectual re-
quirements, 50 he went into systematic
training.
He ran many miles daily along the canal
towpath, he swung Indian clubs and dumb
bells, he punched the bag, skipped the rope
and took boxing lessons from the best in
structor in Rochester. y year later, when
Frank got his coveted appointment. he
might have served the model for a
Statue Of the gladiator.
Big Cadet is Called Out.
OF course he was promptly called OUT
West Point could not show the white
feather just because this particular plebe
looked big enough and strong enough to
sweep the parade ground with any two of
the upper classmen.
History mercifuly conceals the names of
The thirty men whom Schoeffel met
cessively before he established his right
TO immunity from persecution. He left
marks on most of them, knocked them
out in from one TO twenty-eight rounds.
and during the young giants first year he
supplied material for at least one ward in
the hospital. with great regularity.
One particularly obnoxious upper class
man. with the reputation OF a bully, an
eerei Schoeffel, who told him plainly that
he was not fit for the company of gentle
men OF course the bully had to fight,
which pleased Schoeffel nightly. With
neatness and precision the Rochester youth
decorated first one eye and then the other.
Then HI spoiled two front teeth. Finally
the bully was carried to the hospital.
Vnnquished Five in "a Day.
Before Schoeffel had compelled recognl-
ton as the undisputed fstic champion of
the academy his friends of the upper
ba +r1-irc
of meeting five picked bruiSerS successfully
in a single day. This test was expected to
humble his pride, but Frank sent one after
another down and out. and then asked II
anybody else had aspirations. After this
his supremacy was very generally con-
coded and he had some available time for
study.
So deep an impression did Frand Schoef
fers prowess leave upon his comrades that
when, few years later. his brother Ber-
nard came along as a plebe and the cadets
observed that the stripping was built on
the same lines the redoubtable Frank
and learned that he had enjoyed similar
athletic privileges, he was accepted on his
apparent merits and did not have TO hght
his way TO fame. The elder brother had
established the famiys status in a class
by itselft and thenceforth 1t stood unchai-
lenged.
Shoulder To shoulder these sturdy brothers
have since fought their way TO Santiago. in
the Philippines and at Pektn sharing IN ali
the honors of the glorious OLD 9Th Infantry
II was their fortune to be detailed to the
same regiment. When Brisader General
Hawkins. bare-he AIDED, his long. snow white
hair streaming like the plume 81 Henry OF
Navarro, led his regulars up the bullet
swept slopes of San Juan, First Lieutenant
Frank Schoeffel and his company were
among the first to gain the summit. They
made him a captain after that. and Ber-
uard was a lieutenant in his brothers com
pany when the fighting 9th was ordered
to General Lawtons command in the Phil
HDpiues.
Only about 10 per cent of the men now
in the 9th were the veterans of Santiago
The regiment had been recruited with q
lot of good. but material that had
never stood under fire. Ii was during
Lawton's famous turning movement, direct
ed against the towns lying south of Ma
Mia The boys called it the "trip across
the desert
Fighting Under Difficulties.
Not a drop of water to drink the hottest
day of the season; sweltering, parched. the
troops had struggled behind or fallen out
by hundreds. Their officers rallied them,
and after a night OF rest the advance was
resumed the next morning along a creek
bottom. Emerging from bamboo thicket
into a valley covered with swampy rice
fields, the skrmishers were greeted with a
hot fire from of the hills that thanked
the valley. The Filipinos were there in
force.
Lawton was between two fires. The men
advancing To the assault Were being shot at
from in front and behind. The general
here achieved a remarkable evolution with
a command under double fire. lie ordered
the 9th right about face, and started it
charging toward the hill from which came
the second attack. while the of the
command continued TO assault the position
first heard from.
AS the 9th advanced it was met with
such a calling fire that the We're or
dered To lie down in The rice fields. During
this trying ordeal many of the raw recruits
lost their nerve and were on the verge If
panic. When the fire slackened slightly the
order came to resume the assault. Rut
some Of the men Of Capt. Schoeffel's COM
pany. in common with others, simply re-
fused 10 rise and face the fire again. They
buried their noses in the rice roots and lay
low. Ii was critical moment.
Athlete BROTHERS to the Rescue.
Then down the line, like pair of aveng-
ing furies, strobe two giant figures. The
West Point athlete again his meJtle
t1rsing them rOundly for towards, Capt.
Frank SchGeffe and his brother Bernard,
one after another. lifted those scared re-
cruts bodily, as an irate parent lifts a
naughty child for punishment. and. swing
Ing them to their feet = though they were
mere pigmies. the officers planted them