The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1905-11-16
INQUIRY PROVES The
STUDENT WAS tied
Stuart Pierson Was Bound te
Track; Frat Members Re
sponsibIe for His Death.
NINE D. X. E.'S INVOLVED
Evidence turned Over to County Pros,
echtor by Coroner. Who Mill Push
Charges of M~anslauehter
Against Kenyon Boys.

Mt. Vernon, O.. Nov. 15.-Stuart Il
iPierson, the Kenyon college student
who was killed by a train on the night
of Octobei, t2S, While being initiated into
the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity,
was declared by Coroner Scarborough.
either to have been tied to the track,
or bound in such a manner that he.
could not free himself from his perilous
position, and while lying helpless to
have been run over by the engine.
The coroner says in his findings that
because the body was taken out of the
county before he could see it, the bridge
where the death occurred scrubbed and
washed, and all evidence otherwise de-
stroyed, he was compelled to rely upon
the testimony of witnesses, and under
the peculiar circumstances of the case
1T is impossible for him to determine the
names of the persons responsible for
Persons death. He accordingly sub
m1ts his findings for action by the pros
ecuting attorney, Who will lay the case
before the KnoX county grand jury,
which convenes in Mt. Vernon today.
D. K. Els May Be Indicted.
1t is probable that indictments for
manslaughter will be brought against
members of the d. X. e. fraternity,
I'LL lldl IlCISOt1 IlGl QGatn
while being initiated into their society,
but declare he was only, sent to the
bridge as a preliminary step in initial
ton, was not bound or tied in any,
manner, and that death by accident
was caused by the boys own negligence
or carlessneSS, or some other cause for
which the fraternity is not to blame.
The active members of Lambda chap.
ter, d. *. e. fraternity, of Kenyon col.
lege, are: E. r. Tschan, La Grange, III;
p. A. Duncan, Clarksburg, w. Va; AL
fred K. Taylor, Quincy, ILL.,; e. York,
Akron, O.; j. H. Starr, Richmond, md;
G. Conover, Utica, O.: w. c.. Russell,
Mt. Vernon, O..
In addition to these, two alumnus
ent on the night of the tragedy. They
were N. L.. Pierson of Cincinnati, father.
of the young man killed, and Herbert
Brown, of GAINESVILLE, O..
The %coroner's Investigations covered
a period of more than a week and in
Guided the examination of thirty-three
witnesses, among them being President
Pierce and DR.. Reeves, secretary of the
faculty, and all the active members of
the D. K. q. chapter. Preliminary to
the inquiry he went to Cincinnati to
view the body. His findings also said:
Carefully Destroys Evidence.
The theory the coroner deduces from
the evidence is hat young Pierson in
the ordeal of initiation was bound, laid,
on the bridge rack in a lonely place at
night n left there alone after being
assured with great solemnity that he
was to remain there until a train
ground him to pieces. That the mem
bers of the committee then retired into
the woods, expecting to return in a
short time n long before the arrival
of the train and remove the candidate
Ir &c -~~sJtH-N I,,f I1Js-,-~- t1.~a l-c--.
they could set back an engine running
wild passed and killed the student.
The coroner did not hear of the death
until the next day and then in a
roundabout way. but finally DR.. Work.
man of Gambler called him up on the
telephone and told him that a college
boy had been killed by accident and
the body a been shipped away.
When the coroner arrived he found
that the corpse had been taken at 4
o'clock thGt morning on a special train
to Cincinnati. All fragments of the
body were removed carefully from the
bridge when he got there Sunday noon,
and even the blood stains lac been
washed from the ties and rails.
College President Talks.
President Pierce was at his hous.
when the c%oroner's verdict was read to
him.. He said he was not surprised, as
the attitude of the coroner a been
such that no other sort Of verdict could
have been expected.
The fraternity,' he said, "has made
it the custom to send their candidates
out to lonely places to await the COM
ing of various committees appointed TO
take care of each particular initiate.
"Pierson could not nave been bound
to the track because no one went with
him to do it. The fraternity members
remained in their lodge, a mile deep in
the woods, while the candidates went
away to their stations.
Says No One Is to Blame.
young Pierson was sent to the
bridge. In some way unknown he got
in front of the train. He was tired out
and might have fallen asleep. 1 do not.
know, but at any rate the awful acct
dent occurred, for which no one was to-
blame" ,
D o not think it was reprehensi7
BILE of the fraternity to send Pierson to
a place so hazardous that he lost his
life 2" the president was asked. ,
That place to which PierSon was sent
was not hazardous" declared the pres7
fdent. He was not told to stand on.
the bridge but on the abutment at the
end of the bridge, which is quite wide.
1t is exactly the place that young men
might select as a meeting place if they
were oOinp fSbipg"