Campus culture is constantly evolving at the University of
Kentucky. The early students at A&M
College were often criticized for their often overly boisterous pranks. In a particularly infamous period before
organized athletic programs and recognized campus groups the local newspapers
identified the mischief as: “The State
College Trouble,” “State College, Another Ruction,” “On a Tear,” “Student
Racket,” “State College Rumpus,” and “Cadets on Rampage."
At a time when the public was still willing to believe the
hazing stories that came from the campus, the “Disappearance of Willis Smith”
became the subject of public interest.
On the night of September 22, 1908, W. E. Smith, a freshman, was
reported to have left his room to attend a meeting of his class at the Old
Dormitory, but never reached his destination.
When he had not appeared by the next day, his brother became alarmed and
appealed to the university and city authorities. Having been the victims of so many pranks on
the part of the students, the police and the faculty at first refused to take
the matter seriously.
Accepting the general opinion that the boy was being held
prisoner by hazers, university officials appealed to the students to release
him. When Willis still did not appear,
the case became a state-wide sensation.
There were many theories and clues but all proved false.
Early in October, his brother, L. E. Smith, reported that he
found in his box a penciled note signed, “Black Hand,” which warned that he
“had better stop this investigation.”
Detective Chief Malcolm Brown took this as virtual proof that the
missing youth, perhaps injured by hazers, was being kept in confinement by
students.
Other clues had to be investigated; a report that a body had
been discovered burning on the city dump, caused a momentary furor until it was
proved otherwise. A small boy told a
story of overhearing a student’s conversation that Smith had been bound,
gagged, and locked in a freight car, although railroad officials attempted to
discount the story, it received wide credence, and Smith “discovered” at widely
separated points.
A man found in a boxcar attracted attention until he was
able to establish his identity as a foreigner who had never even heard of State
University, Lexington, Kentucky. A strange
young man turned up in Decatur, IL, where a letter to Willis Smith was also
found, caused much speculation. A
stranger at Wyandotte Station near Lexington brought attention closer to home,
but again the trail was false. A picture
which was thought to resemble the missing freshman was discovered in the band
of a hat found floating down the Ohio River near Louisville and this discovery
convinced many people that at last the lad’s fate had been brought to light.
The failure to find a solution to the mystery led to many
theories, from the youth having met with foul play, to gory stories of his
demise, to information from a séance, where it was learned the boy had been
killed as the result of hazing on the campus and that his body had been thrown
in an abandoned well. At this point the
spiritualist made arrangements to come to Lexington to locate the well. While President Patterson worried for fear
many students would fail to return after Christmas, Willis Smith walked into
his sister’s home at Owensboro.
His reappearance could not have been better timed, and great
was the relief felt by all friends of the university. The ridiculous affair was not yet closed,
however, for the errant youth now told a hair-raising tale of being kidnapped,
drugged, transported over a long distance by freight car and horse, and held
for days in an isolated mountain cave in Wisconsin from which he had finally
managed to escape. His sunburned face and work-hardened hands gave the lie to this
story.
However, and after consultation with his brother, he
concocted another. According to the
“Second series of Wandering Weary Willie’s Novels,” as the student newspaper
phrased it; he had left Lexington when a fraternity threatened to haze him,
knowing that “if they tried that somebody would get killed.” The students branded this story as false, and
Smith’s story was generally doubted.
Each year until their graduation, the members of Smith’s
class observed with appropriate ceremonies the anniversary of his
disappearance, flying the flag at half-mast and constructing in front of the
Main Building a grave over which was shed many a mocking tear.
At first glance, this 1923 photo in Abe Thompson’s scrapbook (1984ua004) may appear to record the funeral of a V.I.P. being given a military salute. It is, in fact, a mock funeral for Sewanee University, whose football team was beaten by the University of Kentucky 7-0 in a 1923 match. The tombstone reads “Here lies Sewanee – Died October [?], 1923 – Chewed up by the Wildcats – Died a miserable death”.
Posts
