New York Military Academy - Shrapnel Yearbook (Cornwall on Hudson, NY)

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laik W' . w J' rr 1-li L+ All construction work was completed by January 1, 1912, and the entire new plant was placed in service. Offi- cial dedication of the buildings took place in June of that year, and the Academy acknowledged its debt to those who had come to its assistance during the time of its greatest crisis. Chief among these were Fred Booth and Charles Curie, jr. Elected to the board of trustees in 1910, these men gave generous financial aid as well as untiring per- sonal attention to the affairs of the school through the en- suing years. Beginning the school year 1912-13 with a record en- rollment of 186 cadets marked the beginning also of a new way of life at the Academy. Arrangements of the bar- racks in the old building had been such that the corps lived in more or less the atmosphere of a large family existing under one roof. The new barracks made a decided change in this direction. The sectional character of the barracks brought the cadets into smaller units under the constant supervision of one or more members of the faculty. This meant that each group developed a special feeling for its own members and closer ties to the faculty members. The results have been universally beneficial, both from the standpoint of schol- astic and military attainment and from that of the develop- ment of school spirit. It took a disaster as great as the fire of 1910 to effect any major change in the cadet uniform which had been established originally by Colonel Wright. Most of the corps' personal property having been destroyed in the fire, it was found necessary to equip the boys quickly, and for this reason the olive drab of the regular army was adopted. The battalion was outfitted with ready-made uniforms from government stores for the rest of the year and simi- lar uniforms, although tailor-made, were standard equip- ment until the fall of 1912. At that time the uniforms which are still in use were established as regulation. Gray was adopted as the color for service uniforms, and blue for dress. The close-fitting high-collared jacket, long trousers with black stripe, and modern cap made up the most attractive dress ever allotted to the cadets. In 1912, the Academy welcomed back to its halls, as a member of the faculty, one of its first students, Lieutenant Colonel H. A. C. de Rubio, U. S. A., Retired. Following graduation from the Academy, de Rubio spent several years in travel and then returned to this country to enter the army during the war with Spain. He served for some time, retired, and continued to travel. Al- ways interested in horses, he made a study of equitation in many countries and then hit upon the idea of introduc- ing his hobby at N.Y.M.A. The plan was cordially received by school authorities and de Rubio served as director of equitation, without compensation, for two years. De Rubio not only arranged for the necessary mounts and aroused the enthusiasm of a considerable number of the cadets, but actually designed the special uniforms him- self. The colors of the service and dress uniforms were naturally the same as those of the infantry, but he drew his inspiration for the cut from the dress of a famous regiment of German dragoons. Three companies of infantry having already been estab- lished, the cavalry unit was christened Troop D. Michael Daly became its first cadet captain, with Percy Kittle and William Dwyer as his lieutenants. For some mysterious reason, lost in the haze of the Academy's early history, St. Patrick's Day, March 17, had always been the occasion for student pranks of all sorts but this practice was abandoned in 1913 in favor of a flag rush between A and B companies on the athletic field. The climax of this titanic struggle is described in the following fashion in the 1913 Slorapnel, inaugural edition of that publication : Company B won the flag, its usually sleepy but this time very much awake representative and Lieutenant, fjohn CJ Cade, slipping out of the turmoil and running a marathon the length of the field. We would print his photo, taken at this historic moment, but for the fact that when he emerged from the crowd with the flag he was in a condition 'not fit for publication'. This initial issue of The Shrapnel, incidentally, set a standard which subsequent graduating classes have had to work hard to equal. Consisting of 160 pages of text and pictures, exclusive of advertising, it contained not only a complete record of the school year but a fairly compre- hensive history of the Academy up to that time. Douglas Wahl was the first editor-in-chief, Percy Kit- tle, '13, and Larue McCarty, '13, acted as associate editors. The art department was taken care of by George Gies, '13, and Edwin Sibert, '14, Paul Mehlin, '13, was business manager. Mehlin was also a leader in the establishment of a fourth fraternity chapter on the campus. With the assist- ance of john Blackford, '10, he formed a group which was chartered as Alpha Gamma Chapter, Delta Sigma Nu. This was the last fraternity to establish a chapter at the Acad- emy. Further evidence of the public confidence awakened by completion of the Academy's extensive building pro- gram was seen in the next three years as enrollment con- tinued to increase. The registration totaled 200 in 1914, and 230 in the following year. In the spring of 1914, the Academy marked the twenty- fifth anniversary of its founding with numerous special programs. Most active in this observance was the Alumni Page Twenty-fue

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I L SVT Yi 'Ll-E MAIN BUILDING OF ACADEMY AT TIME OF THE FIRE- 1910 Hard work and excitement while the fire was at its height had kept the cadets and their ofiicers impervious to the biting cold and wet snow which had begun to fall dur- ing the night, but the reaction attendant upon the final collapse of the building brought realization of chilled bodies, weary muscles and depressed minds. Few of the cadets had saved more than the clothes they wore, and it was necessary to find shelter for them at once. Bard Hall was crowded to the roof and the overflow was taken care of by townspeople of Cornwall, who gen- erously opened their doors to the temporarily homeless youngsters. The corps ate breakfast in shifts in Bard Hall and settled down to await developments. Meanwhile the responsible heads of the Academy sat in grim conclave to decide the fate of the school. Faced by catastrophe beyond their wildest imagining, they knew that it lay in their hands to say whether or not the school should try to survive. It was a hard decision to make but, shortly before noon of that day, they made it. The decision was Yes. Then came work and more work. The Elmer House and Palmer House, both vacant, were leased in their entirety, and a portion of the Grand View House was also taken over. A large force of men was recruited to make the buildings habitable and the corps moved in, three days later, comfortably if not sumptuously domiciled for the remainder of the school year. Having cared for the cadets, school authorities next turned their attention to the problem of permanent re- organization. It was finally decided to incorporate the New York Military Academy Realty Company. This company purchased Colonel Wright's interests in the prop- erty, approved plans for four new buildings, and, in April, 1910, broke ground for the first of these structures. General Davis was in complete charge of the elaborate program of reconstruction. Indeed, the Academy's physi- cal plant, as it stands today, is a memorial to the creative and building ability of this great administrator. The ofiicial cornerstone-laying ceremony took place on june 9 in combination with the commencement exercises, which were held outdoors for the first time in the history of the Academy. Brigadier General William Verbeck, presi- dent of the Manlius School, Major General Franklin Bell and Senator john B. Rose, of the Class of 1892, were among the speakers. It is interesting to note that the name of Sibert was once again in the spotlight at commencement. William Olin Sibert, discoverer of the fire, was valedictorian of his class, while his brother, Harold W., was named Head Boy for the year. Between them they garnered most of the honors in the gift of the Academy. The Academy re-opened in October, 1910, but the buildings were still incomplete, and the cadets were forced to endure considerable discomfort for the greater part of the year. Construction was continued in the spring of 1911, however, and when, at Commencement Exercises in the new gymnasium in june, it was announced that the total registration was 104 cadets, the outlook for the future was bright indeed. Page Twenty-four

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N.Y.M.A.lS 25th ANNIVERSARY Alumni Group at the 1914 Commencement Exercises at Cornwall. Association. Cord Meyer, '98, one of the founders of the Association and its first president, was returned to the presidency in this year, and it was under his guidance that the alumni program was carried out. A Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Dinner, held at Murray's restaurant in New York, was attended by several hundred old boys . Plans for participation in the commencement exercises were made at this time, with the result that the alumni delegation occupied a special train to Cornwall in June. The group was so large that the entire Grand View Hotel was reserved as alumni headquarters during the com- mencement week-end. In the fall of 1914 the corps departed from the Acad- emy for the first time, except for furloughs, in its history. The date was October 17 and the occasion was the football game with Manual Training High School at Brooklyn, N. Y. The steamer Homer Ramsdell was chartered for the trip and the whole school, including a chef and his as- sistants, set sail down the Hudson. Luncheon was served just before landing at the foot of Fulton Street, Brook- lyn, and the corps then entrained for the field on a string of trolley cars. The score: N.Y.M.A.-20, Manual Training-0. Territorial expansion on a large scale took place at the Academy in September, 1915, when the 375-acre Tall- man farm was purchased by the school. This large tract lies directly west of the campus. Its acquisition insured more than enough property for future expansion of almost any sort. Football continued to dominate Cornwall sports activi- ties. The record of the 1914 team, seven victories and one defeat, was bettered by the 1915 eleven, Captain Hoxie An- derson, '16, leading his eleven through the season with only one tie to mar an otherwise perfect record. N.Y.M.A. scored 278 points to 19 for its opponents. The tie was a 6-6 struggle with Cullum Hall of West Point. s.--.-...m.-ff .. ,nf Y .-.-.-,Y-Hex.-.. aww., - .fzmf afar i:........., ..-H..-..X.......- an-... Y, . ......-. ..--.af-f Q-, . Y . ,-..,..-.-...s-s1.,:?fwff:: , - .. - .. ...-fs-,Y Y ..--- ---- - . -1 --.fm-J-.e..-......-..-rs., ' ' ' W' 'H WTY' 'WW ' ' ' Y' Yi N . - ' H .--. - ,,1 '-,1-', '.- '. . -a .. , ' ,. . ,'. Page Twenty-six