The indignation meeting of the citizens over the modification of the
building program, as well as the similarly expressed support given the
students in the fraternity struggle of 1850, were mentioned in the first
chapter, and evidence a more cordial entente than is suggested by a
serio-comic squabble in 1856 between the students and the Teutonic
element in the town, long known as the "Dutch War." The original
trouble appears to have started in this case with the students, though
it was probably the outgrowth of old animosities between them and the
rougher and foreign elements in the town. For, despite vigorous efforts
on the part of the President and Faculty to enforce the law against the
sale of liquor to undergraduates, many student difficulties were to be
traced to popular downtown resorts maintained largely by the German
inhabitants. On this occasion the trouble started at "Hangsterfer's," in
an altercation between two students, who were making themselves
unpleasant, and the proprietor of the place. The next night the students
returned in force and demanded free drinks, and, upon their being
refused, precipitated a general melee in which clubs were used and even
knives were drawn. In the end, the unfortunate owners were chased to the
outskirts of town by the uproarious students.
Bad feeling followed this episode and one night six uninvited students
broke into a ball at "Binders's," where they surreptitiously helped
themselves to the refreshments--presumably liquid. One of them was
captured and only released after planks had been brought to batter down
the brick walls of the building and a squad of medical students, armed
with muskets, had arrived on the scene. Warrants were sworn out for the
six the next day, but the officers were foiled by exchanges of clothing,
by the culprits never eating in the same place twice, by their
substituting for one another in recitations with the tacit approval,
apparently, of their instructors, and by concealment in the Observatory,
or, in the case of three of them, in a Regent's house. Finally two
students were sent down to the scene of the battle to buy liquor, and
with this as evidence, a sufficient case against the proprietor was
secured to induce him to withdraw his complaints. This ended the "war."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account