The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1905-11-07
OFTEN TIED ON TRACKS,
Kenyon College Fraternity Practices
Exposed by Public Prosecutor.

Exposed by Public Prosecutor.
MOUNT VERNON, O., Nov. T.
Paul Barber, a Zeta Alpha freshman
has according to Prosecuting Attorney
Stillwell, given the most important
testimony so far secured in the Sc
cret inquest into the death of young
Stuart Pierson, the Kenyon college
student who was killed by an engine
on the railroad track at Gambler last
Saturday night.
Barber, it is said, testified that ne
lay bound and blindfolded on the
track not 200 yards from the spot
where Pierson was mangled to death,
waiting for his two initiators. who,
he says, We're Jacob Ewalt and J. B.
Park. This, Barber declared, hap
pened about an hour before Persons
life was crushed out.
I'VE have conclusively established"
said Prosecutor Stillwell today, that
it is a custom at the college to tie
candidates to the tracks in the initia-
ton ceremonies. We have positive
evidence from BARRIERS lips and other
wise that he was so tied. We know
that special train for the removal Of
the body was ordered before tn cum
dertaker was sent for. We know Of
the activity before daylight that
morning to remove every trace of
blood and clothing. President Pierce
will be called upon to explain these
things in connection with his state
was not tied. We are near to a solu-
ton of the mystery.
PROSTATE on Track.
Today's testimony developed the
fact that the boy was lying PROSTATE
when the engine struck him, also that
he may have been tied to the track
by another iniating party whicn had
bound it's victim to the tracks. The
identity of this party is now being in
vestigated.
The witnesses examined were Pres
ident Pierce of Kenyon college, Henry
Beam, a student and w. H. Stump,
roundhouse employee, who cleaned
the engine after it's arrival at Mount
Vernon. The previous evidence that
it was the custom of the fraternity
men to tie to the tracks candidates
for initiation was cOrrOborated in to-
days testimony.
President Pierce's examination last
ed over two hours and was severe. He
declared that his reason for ordering
a special train for the removal of the
body, even before the undertaken was
summoned, was purely the wishes of
his father. He said he saw the marks
on the body described as rope-marks,
but believed them to be only part Of
the injuries inflicted by the locomotive.
Hazed a Week Before.
A week before his death Pierson
was compelled by the fraternity men
to crawl the length of the village goad-
ed behind by men with sticks and
clubs, and that this treatment de-
veloped deep assesses on his knees.
The bandages which DR.. Workman
placed about the sores We're on the
body when it was found.
Bloody Rope Found.
Buried beneath a culvert 200 feet
Kenyon college student was ground
to death by a train, the authorities
have found a wad of absorbent cot
ton. also saturated with blood.
County Prosecutor Stllwell ex-
presses the firm belief that the boy
was cfloroformed, the cotton saturated
bound across his face, and that then
he was tied across the tracks as
part of his initiation into a college
fraternity. The authorities believe
that the cotton was removed later and
the boy left stupefied.
On these grounds the prosecutor will
carry the case to the grand jury on
Nov 49, Prosecutor Stillwell said
today that several persons are under
in connection with the
case, in the firm belief that the boy
was chlorofOrmed that they may be
taken into custody before the cOnclu-
sion of the inquest.