| Show AT x L 17 wa T T 49 POI poil CADETS CURO TO 70 PRACTICE OF or ft k na 1 it tilly T MO AT IT tf I 1 I 1 I 1 1 r 5 0 0 4 k NY I 1 mf 4 41 afi 2 or WAR the recent case of hazing at the west point military academy haa has again drawn the attention of ho the public to the fact that the practice still prevails among the cadets despite the carust and determined efforts of the officials of the academy to ataop it out it Is a disease of long standing dating back for a century and no doubt the germs of the disorder so saturate the grounds and buildings that it will perhaps take another generation to fully destroy the vitality of the hazing microbe and completely eradicate tho the disease the recent outcropping of hazing haa has apen in spite SON of the voluntary agreement on the part of the corps of cadets in 1901 to quit the practice and in direct violation of the draski passed by congress in the same ear but as we have said a century of seed Is still producing its fruitage there are original documents in ex istance to in prove that hazing began in the earli earl life of the institution for lo stance away back in 1814 gen ham itam sey wrote that the new cadets sweep out the rooms and shovel the snow but there Is no hazing from this rather innocent beginning developed tle its practices that resulted in the cadet episode of a few days ago when col scott the superintend ent at west point in obedience to the mandate of congress as expressed in the law on hazing sent to their homes eight cadets who had been conal convicted eted of hazing there to await the action of the secretary of war who guzder the regulations as prescribed by congress R had no alternative but to summarily expel the offender offenders that the hazing which began with th the ludicrous acts that characterized it before the civil war ar grew into the tortures that caused the congressional investigation of 1901 la Is a matter of history hi etory in the cadet days of lee grant and sheridan and the other great martial figures in american his tory the glebes of course had bad their stunts to do but those acts were as mild as can be when corn com pared with the modern was of duing things that were laid bare in the in gen john at schofield Is on an record as having told the cadet corps when he was superintendent at west point that it tho acts that the young men ui of th C day were guilty of had occurred before the war there would have been bloodshed lefore such anch things would have hare been submitted so 0 other older officers have bae tl t talked l hed the same way and they tell how according to u the adl fradl alon on ulysses S 8 grant albert ll bert flee ee phil sheridan and stonewall jackson ud used to brace themselves as plebes walking about the plains with I ith chin drawn in and shoulders thrown back but they drink tabasco neither did they do sauce eagles till they fell from exhaustion as did young douglas macarthur and pegram of virginia the latter it aon son c of the confederate beer of of the a same name of course in the history of point west hazing the case hat that stands out above all others was the bezing of oung young oscar 13 booz of pennsylvania the rigors of which to treatment hie his fam flim lly fly v ert before the congressional r brating committee in I 1 and wore swore w w ill tit e the of the chwat that a caused that poor young ft M lows death when booz died the cause of dea death veas as given as ag throat tuberculosis ai on december 11 eight day dars after hit hi death the matter was brought tp u fa 14 congress and after the warmest act of debate the congressional committe com mitt was appointed to investigate chadi coadi tlona at west point tho the father of cadet dooz booz toll the brooke board that his son had refused to hia his dying day to disclose the names of the cadets who bad ed him with such relentlessness relentless nes that 1 the boy was finally compelled to lead in his resignation as a cadet he lie said aid that his eon son told him in addition to the tabasco treatment that one of 0 the things they did to him at west point was to pull the bedclothes off of bla him at night and then pour melted wax OB bis his bare body hia his mother testified that her rier eon son wrote her that the cadeki dl AL point wre brutes and bri but lies but the boards that investigated bid their hands full getting the cadets to talk as Is shown on every page of the records of the proceedings cadet attel ote cadet would admit having been sut sub ejected to the melted wax treatment and other innocent tortures but thoy th were loath to tell the name of th ti i young man who melted the vax wax and ud 1 did the pouring pou rings 1 I put my finger in the sauce said one cadet witness and was told to lick it IL I 1 made an awful aft L and licked the wrong finger 1 I officiated at vi 0 rat funeral ah another cadet cadel what Is a rat funeral asked a member of the investigating board A rather simple little affair aa a the cadet with a smile aad and it do anybody any harm ne rt waa was caught and killed and we were ord ordered ered to give him a funeral the rodent was placed in a little box talt looked like a coffin and thi this box ws placed on a table and surrounded by 1 tur ur lighted candles then thon a whit whits arranged to look like a shroud waa was placed over the box and the 0 a ceremonies began we read a few extracts from the black book boo the cadet name of the book of reg regula eions then we placed flower flowers on an til 01 casket there was a song or two and then the rat waa was taken away to be burled the cadets admitted that they were compelled to crow like rooster roosters that they had to climb the ridge pol pole braco brace exer exercise else oce fellow admitting admi tun that he stood on his head in a batar tub full of water and adding that it did not hurt him the also made public for the first te what a cadet has to do to qualify fl 0 the cadets put pat it for the mess bad here Is how a explained dials room qualifying first we were given a large alib dh full of prunes the exact number of willa which h was 85 8 and we were required regu require ired to eat all rill of them at one sit sitting tig we were given n bowl of ma molasses a told to swallow that after which TO tried to cat eat pit alx lx slices of dr bi baw 4 the molasses teat test sometimes took all lor three trials befaro we could acco accomplish it young phil sheridan had to ride around tho the campus on oil a broomstick broom the exercise alne intended to demild raw those tuat saw him that he was A of the comman commander cler made famous w Sheri dans ride ulysses 1 S 3 0 ad used to get up lip and shout 4 will fight it out along thee these lines if it 1 all summer while hile J M globson JI Il 10 jr brother of the w naval commander mi B to tell over and over again aa the story of his brothers bt bi others exploit at of course there were singing speak P ing bracing and exercising galore be 1 sided aldea all this of 0 the officers who ate growa up i blace stace the civil var vear all tell of I 1 beir experiences as but it Is I 1 latr ad j eune to note that almost to it as they bavo have forgot forgotten top about the tell things had to do |
