The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1901-01-15
WHEN HE WAS A CADET.

w MIG al SAailC iAiiiS uOCs iiOt
approve Of brutal hazing, still from the
standpoint Of one who was a cadet at
West Point when "deviling" which il
the real academy term for the process
reached it's height and who later as ar
officer Of the school could view the sit
uation from the position of a superior,
he Is not inclined to condemn the sys-
TEN In its entirety nor does he look
| forward with any confidence to future
from which all hazing shall be rigor-
ously excluded.
while old graduates are, of course,
opposed to anything that approaches
brutality he said in discussing the
inquiry tina. is now being made at the
military academy, still we cannot but
see that hazing has been a factor, in
spite of certain roughness in devel-
oping endurance, self-restraint ana con-
| trol--or to put it comprehensively 1t
| has contributed much to the 'leveling'
which is one Of the features Of life at
the Point-the most democratic place in
| the land"
'Then General King went on to tell
of hazing as he had personally expert
enced it.
Il suppose that there never has been
such hazlng at the Point as there was
during the period Of the Civil War;" he
said. Graduates generally acknowl-
edged that, and as 1 entered in 1862 l
came in for my full share. The plebes,
who correspond to the freshmen at col
lege, you understand, were completely
at the mercy of the older cadets,
though most of the hazlng was done
by the third years boys-the year
lings, as they were called. The plebes
reached the academy about the first Of
June and the discipline they were i'm
mediately subjected to was something
to remember a lifetime. They were
drilled three times a day and 'deviled'
which is the expressive West Point
term for hazing-about three times that
number Our class was about sixty
five strong, when we went into camp in
the summer of '62 and among our num-
Der were some volunteers from the
ranks. | among them. Because of the
fact that we had seen some actual ser.
vice it was deemed essential that our
taking down process should be thor
ough one, and we escaped none of the
usual forms Of 'deyiling,' and the
generals eyes twinkled in reniinis-
cent way.
There's a fundamental principle I'M
DERIVING the whole hazing system" he
went on. The general idea il to bring
all cadets down to a common level at
the start of their academy life and 1t is
always the rule that sons of wealthy or
wall-known parents suffer the most
This is particularly true Of the sons Of
men who stand high in the service. 1t
was along in the SOS that che southern
states began to send a goo1 many boys
to the Point, and perhaps that IL why
lazirg fouri9hed so In those days. The |
academy is tho1 oughly democratic and |
the cadets do everything for themselves !
short of backing their own boots, and :
they would be required 10 10 thai If 1t
VI eve not for tie fact tn ut the dorDj-
Tor es would suffer more than it is
worth to keep someone to do it for
them. But all the rest of personal ser
vice they perform for themselves, and |
when southern cadets arrived
accompanied by body servants they had
TO run the gauntlet.
1.-THE devlling was generally done by
the yearllngs, though occasionally the
older cadets did not disdain to take a
land in tormenting sons of distinguish
I'd sires, particularly If the latter were
n any way connected with the acad-
envy. 'Deviling' took on different forms.
Yanking' was the most popular amuse-
nent during the day in camp. PlebeS
Is well as the older cadets slept on the
wooden floors Of their tents, with one
blanket under them and another over
hem. Any number of times during the
hight skilled hands would seize the
EDGE of the under blanket and slide il,
olebe and all, into the company street.
f the plebe was slow in gathering up
lis belongings and returning tohis SUM
oers he would be given another slide
md sometimes he would land In the
ieep and dewy ditch at Fort Clinton.
I was astonishing to note the dexter |
ty with which a plebe could be surely |
md safely landed in it's black mud |
)ne night, as result of some sole
'ism possibly because of too much
talking back, / made flying trip clear ,
,Cross the plain to Execution hollow
where in the old days they used to shoot
prisoners. And / remember distinctly
hat one of the most active partici-
,ants in that affair was a Wisconsin
10Y, who had been the head of his class
he winter before who is now high in
he artillery service and one of my
iearest friends little thing like that
idnt' affect our friendship. Did we
AXE it good naturally? OF course
,here wouldn't have been any sense in
loing anything else.
Tossing in blankets was sometimes :
ndulged in riding the rail very rare 2
y, smoking out was a form that was g
sed for the correction of very fast r
lebes-that is the youngsters who r
ad too good an opinion of them 7
elves. 1t was a process attended with t
n inevitable leveling, which was the '
ling aimed after in all the deIiiing.
out was just what it's name @
nplies, The plebe to be smoked out n
'as imprisoned in his tent on some c
Amy day when there was no danger O
drill. Then every opening was care is
lilly battened down, the plebe made \
,st TO the corner farthest from the flap, (,
nd between thirty and forty year d
ngs would take possession of his quar- o
ers and armed with pipes and TOBACCO Il
ould see how long it would take to Fl
lake him ill. When they felt queer fl
they made their escape to t.
lie open air, but there was no such c