Princeton University - Nassau Herald Yearbook (Princeton, NJ)

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HZ.5f07jf of Ike Class of ,96. 27 iron in the library to a tombstone in the Westminster of America. Now there is a certain sign in the Trenton railway station which has been like the golden fleece of the ancient myth to generations of Freshmen. Many have endeavored to win it, but all in one way or another have failed. Williams determined to be the jason who should bear the prize away. He gathered a band of 'gallant Argonauts and set forth to Trenton on his perilous emprise. They entered the station and while Alford attracted the attention of the ticket-agent with solicitous inquiries as to the fare to Cranbury, and while Jesse Jones bought a lot of papers from the Union News man, Williams succeeded in swiping the coveted sign and hiding it under his coat undetected. So far so good, but when they went downstairs to take the train for Princeton they found to their 'dismay that they would have to wait half an hour before they could get away. Charlie had inserted the sign up his back under his overcoat and, in consequence, was forced to assume a very martial stiffness and strut as he walked. By the time the train for Princeton was nearly due, the station officials had dis- covered the loss of the sign and at once suspecting them Princeton doods, hurried down to investigate. Of course our boys denied all knowledge of it and they might have escaped scot-free had not a keen-eyed sandwich boy noticed Charlie's peculiar gait. ff Well, he said, 'fmebbe yous ain't got that, but yous swallowed an ironin'-board, anyways. So our jason was discovered and slept that night in durance vile, Before he was released the presidents of several railroads were compelled to interest themselves actively in the case. Another diversion which afforded us a welcome topic of conversation at this time, was the f' Fresh fire which occurred in early March. Since our failure to hold a parade on the night of February 21st, Gordon Johnston had been chaiing under the thought that something must be done. He and Jimmie Small

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26 Histofgf of Zhe Class of '96. said that his speech, The Untold Millions, created a very favorable impression. After this we threw around billet-doux containing the following remarks anent the attributes and actions of '95: T '95. You Easy Fruits! You lost the Rush to '96! You were afraid of '96 in Football! You Paint-Slingers ! You class of Cribbers! Take off your hats to '96 ! You Tutti-Frutti Freaks! Thus did we pour out the vials of our wrath upon them, Such was our parting word with the ,Sophomores as such, and so ended our enmity with '95. Thereafter they were regarded by us, and we by them, only as college mates and friends and fellow-Princetonians always. On the afternoon of the 22d the Winter Sports were held in the gymnasium, and in the gymnastic team exhibition Beef Turner and Charlie Browne easily distinguished them- selves. That night Gordon Pierce upheld the honor of our class in elegant shape, in the '76 Prize Debate. When the excitement attendant on Washington's Birthday had died away, our fellows resorted to various schemes to while away the intervals between polling and sleeping, during those long winter days when there is really very little to do except to talk over past hazings and to plan how we would act when our turn came. Many things were devised by way of relief from efmui, but Charlie Williams' small affair in Trenton was one of the most interesting, at least to Charlie. You see, it is gener- ally about this time that the average Freshman is attacked by the sign-stealing fever, and Charlie Williams was taken with it in a very virulent form-he 'fswiped everything from a book-

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28 HZkf07j! QI fha Class of '96. concocted a mysterious scheme. One night about twenty bold spirits were ordered to gather with the utmost secrecy in Gordon's room on Chambers Street, and there the plan was unfolded. Each man was to provide himself with a supply of combustibles and one week from that night, when the bell in Old North should toll the witching hour of two A.M., was to sally forth from some convenient hiding-place, pile his fuel around the cannon, light it, whoop things up for a moment and then be gone as quickly as he came. Such was the programme and the air of deep dark mystery about it lent a weird fascina- tion which commended it to all. The twenty conspirators throbbed with excitement for a week and slyly gathered wood, oil and tar. The fateful night arrived-scarce had the slow, sad, solemn strokes bespoke the hour, when the cannon was surrounded by a throng of busy figures, rapidly piling up the wood. In another moment it was ablaze, but, alas, in another the proctors were on hand, armed with long poles. In vain our firebugs attempted to rekindle the flames, the proctors beat them out, and it was only when Tommy Galt and some others brought up a burning tar-barrel that they were able to get things going and made the welkin ring with triumphant shouts. Baseball now usurped all other interests, even distracting our attention from Livy Westcott's Horace or Freddie Wilson's Graphics. The whack of the bat and the whizz of the merry grounder might have been heard at any hour of the day, aye, even of the night, among some of the more enthusi- astic who used to practise by moonlight in front of Wither- spoon. CFact D Only one of our class made the Varsity nine- that was Arthur Gunster. But he was equal to three or four and became that season what he has been ever since, one of the very best third basemen in the country and the coolest player on any diamond. In the early spring Ninety-Six held a class-meeting for the