KinSource - Tale of the Week - A Varsity Rescue

KinSource

Minnesota Tales

The Minneapolis Journal, October 1, 1902, p. 6

A VARSITY RESCUE

Indignant Students Finally Resent Repeated Arrests of Cyclists Upon the Campus.

To-day's Prisoner Rescued by a Crowd and the Policeman Shipped by Trolley.

The park policeman who has so greatly exasperated the university students of late by trying to prevent them from riding their bicycles on the walks within the grounds met his Waterloo this morning. Bets are being freely wagered among the students that he will not have the temerity to undertake to exercise his authority again in the university domain.

When the policeman tried to arrest a student in front of the medical building, the "medics" formed a flying wedge and came to their comrade's assistance. They were speedily reinforced by 200 engineers and academics just issuing from chapel.

The officer could not possibly have chosen a more inopportune moment to make an arrest. The students were disposed to be fair about it, and gave him a chance to explain. He declared that the park board had jurisdiction over the university grounds. That was enough. They would hear no more. Satisfied that his position was not well taken, they proceeded to move him.

After he had been hustled off the campus, having first been forced to release his prisoner, some one suggested that he be put aboard a car and sent home. Without asking his address, he was thrust aboard an interurban car bound for St. Paul, the car gates being broken in the scramble. He was forced to remain on the car until it was out of sight. The students then went quietly to their classes.

"This is the first time in the history of the university that an officer has actually been forced off the grounds. It is believed that this fact and the attendant circumstances will be duly noted by President Northrop at chapel to-morrow.

Superintendent Berry Won't Yield.

Superintendent of Parks W. M. Berry was highly indignant.

"The officer was acting entirely within line of his duty," declared Mr. Barry, "and the university students who assaulted him have laid themselves open to prosecution for resisting an officer. I cannot say just now whether the park board will insist upon arrests, but we shall certainly seek satisfaction from the university authorities.

"The students may not be aware that the driveway running through the university grounds is a part of the Minneapolis park system, and is subject to the care and protection of our special police appointed for that purpose.

"It is a violation of the park ordinance to ride a bicycle upon the sidewalk paralleling this drive, and if one officer isn't enough we will detail enough men to see that this ordinance is properly enforced. The policeman who was pushed off of the campus this morning will be sent back to-morrow with reinforcements. We will have three officers from now on and if need be I will detail the whole force there."

A battle royal between the students who are thoroughly worked up over the affair, regarding it as gross infringement on their personal liberty, and a platoon of park police now seems imminent. The weapons have not been selected, but it will probably be clubs versus canes. In that event it will be necessary to declare the campus under martial law.

The Minneapolis Journal, October 2, 1902, p. 1

"U" STUDENTS IN HOT REBELLION

This Morning They Ejected Three Park Policemen From the "U" Sacred Precincts.

The Officers Flourished Revolvers, but the Crowd Was Good Natured and Went Ahead.

Plain Clothes Man Trying to Turn in Call, Is Tied Up With Garden Hose.

Hot rebellion at the varsity! It is town and gown with a vengeance!

Three policemen this morning shared the fate of their hapless associate who was yesterday hustled from the campus by indignant students and unceremoniously boosted upon an Interurban car. This was because he insisted upon arresting a cycling student who rode upon the walks bordering the parkway that runs through the parkway.

This morning while the board of regents looked on from the windows of a near-by building, three burly park guardians, M. B. Shelley, Charles Anderson and Charles Swanson, appeared on the campus. A fourth officer, E. Anderson, in plain clothes, hovered about the edges. The students recognized the increase in the police detail as a challenge and promptly took it up. The uniformed men were hustled and jostled by a good natured mob and pressed inch by inch from the campus. They made a demonstration with revolvers, but the students knew there was no danger of shooting and merely hooted. The officers' hats were smashed and finally they were landed on a street car and sailed away discomfited.

Meantime the plain clothes man made a rush for a patrol box to call the police. He was discovered and promptly tied to a tree by a laughing crowd, which used a garden hose for the purpose.

The affair was over just as soon as the bell for chapel struck, and the students made their way to chapel to hear what President Northrop would have to say, stopping on the way to pay for the hose which the plain clothes man had cut up in his efforts to free himself.

President Northrop's Advice.

President Northrop, after chapel exercises, said:

"It is a great deal easier to get into trouble than it is to get out, and the students are not to interfere with the police. The park board has the technical right to do as it has done, and the students must not take the affair into their own hands nor enter into a dispute with any officer. The board of regents, now in session, requests me to say that they will not tolerate it. Students are citizens, and should be citizens of the highest type, and not encourage public disfavor. The public in general is prejudiced against student disorders and we do not desire such comment as was lately given the University of California. Six hundred athletic young men bantering one lonely policeman is not the best exhibition of manly courage, and I hope these disorders will not continue."

Regents' Request.

The university regents witnessed the affair from the window of the president's office, and although they prohibited any further disorder, they will meet with Superintendent Berry this afternoon and ask that the park board relinquish its dominion over the campus drives, since they are on state property and are used almost exclusively by the students.

Superintendent Berry's Position.

According to Park Superintendent Berry, the park board controls the eighty-foot driveway through the campus. Every year the board has maintained this thoroughfare, planting flower and foliage beds and until this year, giving sprinkling service.

"Our idea has been to put the university on a footing with other state institutions in the way of outdoor improvements," said the superintendent. "At the other institutions the grounds are beautifully kept, but in spite of all we have been able to do, we have never been able to induce the university students to follow the paths nor to respect the flower beds. This year there was an extra man available on the park police force, and he was detailed to the campus. The ordinance regarding cycling on the walks is plain, but we have not attempted at any time to enforce it to the letter. When the roadway was in bad shape the cyclists had the liberty of the walks, but at other times we have asked them to keep off. That has made a great deal of trouble, for it was necessary for us to warn not only many students but three professors and instructors as well, and there has been a good deal of feeling, though we were well within our rights.

"Now that there has been this trouble, I am personally in favor of canceling all relations between the park board and the university. The regents are organized so they could assume responsibility for the parkway on the campus, and it would not be necessary for us to police any part of the tract. So long as our officers are regarded as intruders by students we cannot hope to enforce park ordinances there without friction."

President Folwell Acts.

President Folwell of the park board authorizes The Journal to say that he thinks himself justified under the circumstances in presuming that the board will approve the action outlined below.

A petition signed mostly by professors and instructors of the medical college and officers of the state board of health, has been handed to him. This petition alleges that for seven years the signers, some or all, have ridden their wheels on the sidewalk in front of the laboratory buildings and they put in a claim not to be deprived of this privelege.

A large body of the students, mostly of the medical and engineering departments, are under the mistaken impression that the park superintendent has no jurisdication on any part of the campus, and they have become unduly excited.

Upon the request of the president of the board the park superintendent will suspend further attempts to enforce the ordinance until the next regular meeting of the board which will take place Oct. 6 at 8 p. m., at which time all persons interested can attend and be heard. Meantime let all cool off.