1905-06 Volume 30 No 1–5 - Phi Delta Theta Scroll Archive

THE SCROLL. 217all of those present for the initiation until the committees leftthe lodge to find the candidates, which was about fifteen minutesbefore his son's dead body was found, and perhaps fiveminutes after the engine killed him. This seems to prove acomplete alibi for members of the fraternity. Mr. Piersonfurther said:All the candidates for admission into the AKE fraternity on the nightmy son was killed were tied with ropes and blindfolded.. There was probablya score of young men blindfolded and led by ropes in or near Gambierthat evening; I saw five in that condition. In regard to the rope, cotton andbandages that were found near the bridge, part of which were bloodv, Iwould say that, to my personal knowledge, a freshman named Jones, whileblindfolded, ran into two different men, with the result that his nose bledprofusely for fully fifteen minutes. This blood could not help being smearedon some of those articles. And when the fraternity men who had the candidatesin charge heard of my boy's death, the ropes were cut from them, thebandages removed from their eyes, and more or less of the stuff throwndown by the bridge where it was found.My boy fell asleep on the bridge. He could sleep through a fire and heIiad not slept for two days. The train rumbling down upon him, awakenedhim. Blinking, confused, only half awake, he half arose from the tracksand that is how he met his end. I do not for a moment blame the collegeauthorities or the fraternity, and I look upon the affair as an accident.It has been said that a special train had been secured by the authoritiesof Gambier to take away the body of my boy before the coroner could lookinto the case. I secured the train myself, and had no thought whatever ofthe coroner. The only idea in my mind was of taking the boy to his motheras quickly as possible.The convention of A K E, assetiibled at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel. New York, November 8-10, investigated theoccurrence, and, by a unanimous vote, adopted a resolutionwhich "absolutely absolves the chapter from any responsibilitywhatever for the accident."Mr. Pierson was present when the inquest was held atMount Vernon, the county site, and gave his testimony. Thecounty prosecuting attorney ordered that no one be admittedexcept the coroner and witnesses. As usual in such inquiries,the rules of evidence were not observed, and witnesses werenot cross examined. One of the witnesses, the fireman of theengine which ran over young Pierson, testified that neither henor the engineer knew of the accident until they reachedMount Vernon, where they found the shreds of an overcoaton the engine pilot. The verdict of the coroner, filed onNovember 11, was as follows:I, W. W. Scarbrough, as coroner of Knox county, O., duly subpoenaedand caused to be examined thirty-three witnesses whose testimony was allreduced to writing and filed with the papers in the case.The testimony establishes beyond a question of doubt that Stewart L.Pierson was lying about twenty feet west of the abutment between the rails