The Chanute times. [volume] (Chanute, Kan.) 1897-1913, 1905-11-10
COLLEGE MURDERS

into one of the college fraternities is
one of the most remarkable and
deplorable tragedies of the kind on
record. Confused accounts of what
happened have been gwen out, but
there are mysterious gaps in the
stories. and the connected details
will not be known until the legal
investigation takes place few days
hence. A peculiar complication in
the case Is that the father of the
youth killed is a member of the
same fraternity, and, though resid-
ing in another part of the state,
was visitor in the vicinity of the
college on. the night of the killing.
The body was first found by the
collegians in charge of the Initiat-
ion, and. their failure to notify the
coroner until the next day is much
commented on. The concealment
Of a bloody rope and wad of cotton
In a culvert several hundred feet
from tile place where the youth was
struck is another proof that impor-
tant facts are withheld. 1t is denied
by the fellow students implicated
that the youth was tied to the track
but one wrist and one ankle were
badly torn, as if he had exerted all
his physical strength to break loose.
He was manifestly struck by
train, and blow ON the head proved
fatal.
One unexpected witness has ap
peared, a railroad workman. who
saw the party moving along in the
darkness, leading youth by rope
around his neck. The victims
hands were tied behind him. Trains
are few on the railroad track that
figures in the horror, and the sche-
dule of the regular night train is
known to everybody il the neigh
borhood. But it was Saturday night
and an extra train was run several
hours earlier. 1t is atrocious that,
under any circumstances, railroad
tracks should be used to "test the
nerve" of any human being. Dan
ger always exists there for tres
passers, and In Europe all who
venture on the right of way without
warrant are punished. The initia-
ton of the college fraternity at
Kenyon seems to have been taken
from dime novels and the rankest
blood and = thuuder melodrama.
Rope, chlorofoem and a pistol car
ried in basket were among the
articles employed in the cruel and
idiotie rite. Either the victim was
tied to the track or required to re-
main upon it until called. He was
chloroformed or else induced to
believe he would be. The peril of
the freshman was the spice of the
proceeding to those who conducted
it. They thought they could time
it all to nicely, giving the new
man a maximum fright, with just
er oueh of security to save him from
deadly injury. Extreme mental
terror, fainting, loss of self-control
or a few bodily scratches were not
TO count
AS often happens, the practical
joke went great deal further than
was expected. Practical jokes are
double-edged, and it is wise to avoid
them on priaciple. Their purpose
is to make 4 butt of other, and the
pleasure derived is proportional to
the discomfort or embarrassment
produced. The college fraternity
stained with this terrible murder,
aud probably similar organizations,
has an initiation intended to give
full play to a low, cruel, practical
Joking taste. No doubt the sensa-
tional s'fun" had been intensified
until it resulted in grinding a pin
toned freshman to pieces on a rail-
road track. Colleges. are slow to
apply the one remedy that will stop
hazing and other self-indulgent
brutalities that are devised to "test
the nerve, and that remedy is ex-
pulsion. Students do not 20 to-
colleges to be expelled, If they can
help it. The Kenyon tragedy has
passed beyond the purblind, in-