Old Print Article: “Two Of Poly’s Freshmen Kidnapped By Sophs, Small Riot This Afternoon,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle (1902)

October 28, 2010 in Old Print Articles, Urban Studies | Permalink

Old Polytechnic: kidnappings, beatings, riots, etc.

Freshmen and sophomores at Polytechnic Institute in Brooklyn had a Christmas tradition, right around 1900, of kidnapping and beating the snot out of one another–and the police and press seemed to find it amusing. This school desperately needed to go co-ed and fast. In the December 18, 1902 edition of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, that year’s “festivities” were detailed. An excerpt:

“Two Poly freshmen were pounced upon by a crowd of sophs at the Polytechnic Institute on Livingston street this morning and before their classmates could come to their assistance they were kidnapped.

Tonight these freshmen will be made to sit in a corner and eat bread and milk at the Arena, in Thirty-second street, Manhattan, where the sophs will hold their annual Christmas dinner. They will also be made to sing and do other stunts for the entertainment of the class of 1905.

The kidnapping of these freshmen led to a general mix up of the sophomores and freshmen this afternoon at the institute. The fight started in the building but members of the faculty interfered and ordered the boys to the street.

Polytechnic's Electrostatic Laboratory, site of scientific discovery and brazen kidnappings.

A minute later all the available freshmen were being walloped in the street by the sophs. The fighting became so rough that policemen were summoned and stopped it.

When the policemen arrived three of the freshmen were tied up, and the sophs claim they would have been kidnapped had not the cops interfered.

‘Go on down there in the alley and have it out, boys,’ advised one of the cops, and a dozen eager sophs signified their willingness to accept this advice, but the freshmen claimed they were outnumbered.

‘Wait until to-morrow,’ said a florid, cheeked and red haired freshman, with a mashed hat and disheveled necktie. ‘We’ll kidnap the entire class of ’05 when our men get together.’

The sophs gave the defeated leader the laugh. The cops and the crowd, including some of the Packer girls, joined in the twitting of the routed army of freshmen, and seemed to enjoy the scrap immensely.

‘It’s a shame to stop this, boys,’ said the policemen. ‘Clarke’s men don’t sweep the asphalt half as clean as you boys.'”

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