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Page 2
THE BATTALION
THURSDAY, NOV. 13, 1975
Ross changes Ag image
By DON MIDDLETON
and
JOHN ADAMS
This is the final installment on the
story of Ross and Coke. The amount
of information available on the lives
of these two men, especially Ross,
would fill many books. Come to
think of it, many books have been
filled, along with magazines, news
papers, and file after file in the Uni
versity Archives.
In regard to the A&M College of
Texas, Lawrence S. Ross was, at the
time of his invitation to become
President of the college. Governor
of Texas. The young institution was
in dire straits. The Texas legislature
was pouring thousands of dollars
into the school, but the place didn’t
seem to progress beyond the dubi
ous role of a hang-out for hell-
raisers.
Partly through the efforts of
Richard Coke during his tenure as
Governor, A&M was saved from
being closed on more than one occa
sion. It was Coke, you may recall,
who signed the original legislation
creating the college in 1873.
In 1883, the Board of Directors of
the college abolished the office of
President and created instead the
role of Chairman of the Faculty.
During the next seven years this
move proved to be a serious blun
der, adding to the school’s troubles
rather than helping solve them.
It seems as though the faculty
members had difficulty deciding
who actually rated the title of
chairman. Disputes over seniority
eventually led to bickering and re
ndered the office of Chairman of the
Faculty ineffective.
In an effort to correct the mistake
the members of the 1890 Board rees
tablished the Presidency and sent a
letter to Governor Ross asking him
to fill the position. Ross accepted
without hesitation.
At the time some believed that
Ross had padded the Board with
friends who were more than glad to
offer him the Presidency, but this
rumor was never substantiated.
An early photo of the
statue of Lawrence Sulli
van Ross. The once-
smooth bronze has been
roughened and pock
marked by years of paint
ing and polishing. Cour
tesy University Archives.
Regardless of how he came to
hold the office, Ross undoubtedly
saved the school from extinction.
When his term as governor was up
in 1891, he came to A&M with the
single idea of making the school a
viable institution of higher learning.
Ross was loved and respected by
everyone at the school, but he was
stern and unbending in his goal of
cleaning up A&M. He once flatly
refused admission to a young man
who came to his office seeking to
enroll. When a professor who was
present at the interview asked him
why, he replied “Couldn’t you see
that the boy was a gambler?’
During Ross administration the
college grew and prospered. The
legislature continued to give the col
lege enormous sums of money, but
they were now beginning to see
signs that the money was being put
to good use.
Five major buildings, including a
plush home for the President, were
built while Ross was in charge. He
instituted a system by which stu
dents were assigned grades as a
measurement of progress in their
classwork. And in general he lent an
air of dignity and respectability to an
otherwise crude and unmannerly
student body.
When Lawrence Sullivan Ross
died on Jan. 3, 1898, the entire na
tion mourned his passing. But no
one suffered more than the students
and teachers at the college he had so
masterfully brought from the brink
of disaster.
The cause of his death was listed
as pneumonia when it was listed at
all. Oddly, very few accounts of
Ross life mention the events lead
ing to his death.
In 1929 the Houston Chronicle
published a story that contradicted
the accepted account of Sully’s
death.
The article was based on an inter
view with Clint Padgitt, a
businessman in Ross’s hometown of
Waco, and it read in part: ”. . .
probably less than a dozen people in
Texas know that Ross died from ac
cidental poisoning, his death usu
ally attributed to pneumoni-
a. . . .
The story went on to say that the
former governor was hunting with
friends in the woods near the A&M
campus when his death occured.
The party had brought along two
barrels of flour, one of which con
tained rat poison to kill the rats that
infested the area.
A servant who was along to do the
cooking for the group presumedly
used flour from the wrong barrel in
preparing an evening s meal. Ross,
the first to eat that night, observed
that the food tasted odd and warned
the others not to take any. He im
mediately fell ill and died soon after.
Again, the story is uncorrobo
rated, but the Houston Chronicle
placed enough credence in it to
print it.
In 1919, officials of the college un
veiled a statue of L.S. Ross done by
Italian sculptor Pompeo Coppini. It
was originally planned to have a
similar statue of Richard Coke
placed across the mall facing Ross,
but the plan was never carried out.
A grandson of Ross, Lawrence
Sullivan Ross Clarke, enrolled in
the college in 1917. Years later re
ports circulated that as a fish, Clarke
had been forced to hold an umbrella
over the statue of his grandfather
whenever it rained. That would
have been two years before the
statue was erected.
Sometimes the quest for the truth
is a hard road to climb. Next week
— Aggie Bonfire.
'START GETTING THEIR NAMES,VASQUEZ/'
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HARDBACK BOOKS and less
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and much more.
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3200 TEXAS AVE.
Across from El Chico
822-7600
‘O’ca/S'ff
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FOR GUYS & GALS
OPEN 9:00-8:00 Mon., Tues., Thurs.
9:00-5:30 Wed., Fri., Sat.
ACROSS FROM A&M
Located in the new 707 Texas Complex
846-6933
The body of Lawrence S. Ross lies in State
attended by two A&M cadets and former
governors Culbertson, Roberts, Ireland
and Sawyers. Courtesy University Arch
ives.
Cbe Battalion
Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the editor or
of the writer of the article and are not necessarily those of the
university administration or the Board of Regents. The Battal
ion is a non-profit, self-supporting enterprise operated by stu
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MEMBER
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\
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APPLICATIONS FOR MEETING ROOMS IN THE
UNIVERSITY CENTER COMPLEX FOR REC
OGNIZED STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS, CLUBS,
AND GOVERNING BODIES WILL BE ACCEPTED
FOR THE 1976 SPRING SEMESTER (JAN.
2-MAY 14) IN THE SCHEDULING OFFICE, 2ND
FLOOR, RUDDER TOWER BEGINNING AT 8:00
A.M. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1975. APPLI
CATION FORMS MAY BE OBTAINED IN THE
SCHEDULING OFFICE. REQUESTS WILL BE
CONFIRMED BEFORE THE END OF THE FALL
SEMESTER.
Hui rotnr
Texas A&M University
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