Case Western Reserve University - Lux / Differential Yearbook (Cleveland, OH)

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streaks of dawn were in the sky. It was a feverish business, this freeing of a race from bondage! l'resident Storrs delivered a powerful ad- dress at Tallmage before the .Xnti-Slavery society on May 8, 1833. lt was his last work, for the over-exertion prostrated him, and he t went back to Massachusetts, to die a few months afterward. .-X gentle Quaker poet sat at his desk in a little New lingland town and wrote: The news of his death was a heavy blow to all of us -and to him who had passed on indited the poem that begins- 'l'hon has fallen in thine armor, 'l'hou martyr of the l.ord-- Xtith thy last breath Crying 'Onwardl' .-Xnd thy hand upon thy sword l Not only by .lohn Greenleaf lYhittier, but hy the staunch little Liberator was a ,X H f Wifi -K' H .l 'l champion missed, and a laudatorv article was .,.' . f - 71 . . . ' . P -f'fl 'V 7857 SM printed in the then nationally known journal. lilresident Storr's death cast a pall over the college that was not relieved by the rumors of schism between the faculty and the trustees on the great controversial issue. lt was indeed a trying task that faced the new president, George li. l'ieree, upon his assumption of otlice in 183-l. 'lihe question of tinances rose again, and continued to agitate those responsible for the maintenance of the institution along with that of slavery, which broke out more fiercely than ever, motives, characters, and actions being publicly and privately impugned. 'I'he administration of l'resident llieree is at once the brightest and the dark- est in the history of the college. llright because of the free manner in which these really extraordinary. but poorly paid men gave back freely out of their poverty for the upbuilding of the college. llark, when pledges failed and prop- erty depreciated, when boom bubbles burst, and panic spread over the land in that catastrophic year of ISS7. llow the stalwart president managed to struggle through tliose gloomy years when the college was bemired in the Slough of Uespond is a tale of rare heroism and devotion to duty. Xtorn with his task, in 1855 he resigned. President llitcheoek came of a distinguished literary family. lle himself was an excellent manager, and sue- , W. ceeded in collecting the wel- come sum of 32001300 in old and new pledges, and in can- celling the old debt of 325000, the last of it being paid in IS6-l. llad not the storm that had been gathering ever since the founding of the col- lege suddenly burst in all its fury in the spring of '61, there is no telling how much farther he might have taken the college. lcnlfuix:-Ihr cffzlnun' nj .rlrrrlcnl lift' tu the .vct'cuIn'.r. to

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Pi,tkin's Latin address, the First ominous rum- blings of a storm that was to rend the nation almost asunder were reverberating in the halls of Congress. In 1829 XVillia'm Lloyd Garrison came out for unconditional aboli- tion, and began, in 1821, to pound home his arguments from the editorial chair of the Liberator.', For a time he aroused the whole nation. A student from XN'estern Reserve by the name of Bigelow interviewed Garrison and brought back a package of literature and copies of the Liberator to distribute among his fellows. President Storrs and Professors XV right and Green at once became staunch defenders of the Garrison doctrines, greatly influencing the community. At the next Com- mencement Amos P. Hawley, '34, delivered a colloquy called The Recaptured Slave. The question of lminediate Abolition tar. Col- onization became a very prominent one among the students, and a strong Anti-Slavery soci- ety was fornled which was continued for years. At no time was there any pro-slavery sentiment anywhere in Hudson. The trustees, being of necessity con- servative men, were more in favor of Colonization as offering the remedy that seemed less likely to turn the social order upside down. They were afraid the violent discussions would anfect the college, as indeed, they afterwards did. The students began to go out over the country giving public lectures on slav- ery. During the year 1832-3 discussions at home and lectures on the subject abroad appear to have been the chief occupation of many of them, seriously inter- fering with the regular curriculum. The debates on the subject were the more acrimonious because both Colonizationists and Abolitionists seem to have had the inspiration to exasperate each other to the utmost. All efforts to stem the tide were unavailing. And for good reasons! .Iohn Brown, the man credited by Victor Hugo with precipitating the Civil XYar, was a resident of Hudson, and once when his hay- wagon tipped over on a steep hill near the college a whole family of black people Cflrrol Cullvr Pl'l'.Vl.lfl'lI1-, 1871-.1886 had been revealed to the astounded eyes of the pop 'l y . ju , , , - . 1 , A Q 'Q'-iglll' ' 1. 'JN ,f 1 I ' f' Y N I .1 'V - 1 K I lf I pm, J X N 6 QR W ffl 6 4 f ' 44 j y ' ll I I X if f f Z 7 I 1 ' 71 9 I fc, f if i ll- Q ff ff f -t f ,gl f, ,f' . , 4 f. 2 it fl I f 1 x X X I . ' 0g,'w'- 'N' 1, In, 1862 tin' .rfndvui body vulixfrd I0 0 man. is ' ulace. Scores of them passed through Hudson in the night and were hidden in John Brown's secret cave until they could start again for Canada. The students ab- sorbed l3rown's doctrines from himself, and no doubt se- cured a little practical experi- ence at the same time in the business of the underground railway. Every night the lit societies were audible until the last candle had gut- tered and gone out and faint

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llut for the nonce all forward activity rested. and every effort was directed toward the linal grim solution on the lield of hattle of the knotty problem students had contested so long and earnestly through the years in their campus lyceums. On the wings of the wind came rushing to Hudson and the Nort'1 the crackling news from llarper's lierry, and many an alumnus heard with a peculiar inter- est, and strange memories of the idealism in it seamed face stamped with a rugged single- ness of purpose. 'l'hen Sumter was tired upon. ln a few days, in the city of t'leveland. hlue platoons were swinging down liuclid ave- nue for the front. to the shrilling of lifes and the long roll of drums, their hayonets glitter- ing hright in the morning sun. 'l'hey were singing as they marched, and the deep surge of the chorus echoed and re-echoed all over the North, as other marching voices caught it up: C'1mrlv.r Ifrunkliu Tlzteiny l'1't'.virlt'1lI INOU-l921 lohn llrown's hodv lies a-mould'ring in the grave, llut his soul goes marching on ! Ill XYAR-'l'l M IES .-XNIJ .-Xl' I lull Une hundred and forty-six alumni served in the armies and navies of the United States during the Civil Xtar, a remarkably high percentage considering the relative size of the entire hody. lleavy drains were also made upon the student hody. 'l'he students had at once formed and drilled themselves into a military company. and in 1862, after the defeat of Ilanlas in the Shenandoah Val- ley. and in response to President l.incoln's call for volunteers, they offered their services to Ciov. Tod. .-Xs Co. ll., 85th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, they marched away lirst for Columbus and thence to the front at Yiclcshurg, and for the first time in almost forty years a strange silence dwelt in the halls of t'ie college during ,.c 0 will t ,X 'E' 'egg itil ' 'll ll,,i QT' H' z. X Mg -I J in-'IYU l 1 2' g.l...a..X..kL V I.l1.E!iTTF lTu-.7 - - '-.L.......u- r I ' ' ' - 53 ' 'b , 9 , Swv i I It W XJ ' , XA J Qin 1 i xl if ' ,U K 1 ' Kt,,.t:,,,Fl-131 M a n , g - IX , i ,Vpv ,jg -i5y:ll5.,t-my 'tl r,l, t5ltQ.5Kw..Q,, gf, 1 -U' tltfsft --v lr- i' 'I'-,hit L 1, ,nfl - ' V , 1' itll- rvlilli'-llllgi ,- '-if.-lla Q t NH- li? . ,it 'W ' 'lfarfll i l tl 1 Q 1 1 '- A ll' .gli - I-. 1i', if1l l X ' . , qi ' , W ' ' M . sl yu ' . :W 321, yum,- f' f ,- - ',.. -E-my ' The Old Ford llmm'.vlt'mi 17 term-time. Though the war seriouslv allccted the forward move- ment. it did not hftlt it entire- ly. 'l'he college had alreadv passed too many crises to he discouraged. lfnon the resignation of Pres. lliteheock in 1871, Pro- fessor Carrol Cutler reluc- tantly accepted the responsi- hility. ln an editorial of Dec. 15, 1877. the Cleveland Her-