Shakespeare
hits page 1
The leading "story" in the
first issue of The Battalion, pub
lished Oct. 1,1893, was an essay
on Shakespeare's interpretation
of King Lear.
A feature on life in the U.S.
Army composed a prominent
ortion of six issues of The Batta-
on.
One early issue had a helpful
entry concerning the art of
growing hair. It read: 'To make
hair grow, and to prevent its
being gray: Bay rum, 1 quart;
table salt, half a teacup; castor
oil, one drachm; tincture of
cantharides, one drachm. This
tonic is very stimulative and not
oily enough to be disagreeable."
The Battalion replaced the
College Journal, a literary maga
zine published by the Austin Li
terary Society, and the Callio-
pean Literary Society.
Camping out on campus
Problems with student housing
have plagued Texas A&M since
its beginning. Students were
housed in the upper floors of
both the school Buildings and
even in the administrative
offices. Those students who
lived in these dwellings had to
do their own woodcutting and
draw their own water.
The housing problems sub
sided only to crop up again in
No snitching
after
snatching
The first march to the Brazos
was held after a bombing inci
dent on campus. A large num
ber of railroad torpedoes were
snatched by freshmen from
trains that would stop in College
Station.
After a sufficient number of
the explosives were taken, they
were dropped from the upper
levels or the dorms and ex
ploded on the ground.
The stunt worked so well that
the authorities couldn't find the
culprits. Since no one would
confess or point to who did it,
the cadets were marched to the
Brazos River in the rain.
The lieutenant in charge of
the march was so confident of an
1908 after a large increase in stu
dent enrollment. The school
was forced to temporarily house
300 students in large tents. Each
tent had two students assigned
to it and many students prefer
red the tents to the dorm rooms
in both summer and winter.
The housing problem was
solved by the construction of
Milner and Legett Halls in 1913.
early confession that he set out
in a new pair of boots. The
cadets had to borrow a horse for
him before the march was;
finished.
Daddy's girls
dutifully date
deprived boys
Not all of the students on the
early campus were male. The
"Campus Girls" as they were
known were daughters of fa
culty.
The three females on campus
in 1903 were so popular that
their pictures and a brief history
of their lives were included in
the yearbook, accompanied by
the quote," The campus girls
have made the pleasures of
cadet life all the brighter."
Sophie Hutson, who was one
of the courtesy students, stu
died engineering from 1880 to
1884 here. Though she said her
grades were good, she said that
they would have been better if
she had not had to make all of
her own clothing and had so
many boys to date.
Wanna
dance?
Plagued by a lack of female
companionship, Texas A&M
students held "stag" dances in
the 1890s and early 1900s.
The "girls" were identified by
handkerchieves tied to their
arms.
Other notable events of that
time included the organization
of a "Fat Man's Club" and a
"Bowlegged Men's Club."
Cadets frequently staged con
tests between "fighting taran
tulas."
This sport apparently ceased
abruptly one night when two
"champions" got out of their
box in a dormitory room and
were never found again.
Outhouses
not safe
during
Bonfire
building
Aggie bonfires of the 1920s
and 1930s were made of com
munity trash, tree limbs, boxes,
lumber scraps and debris.
Among favorite materials for
use in the bonfires were un
tended, unwatched and, hope
fully, unoccupied outhouses.
On the morning after the 1935
bonfire, the Commandant of
Cadets, Frank G. Anderson, re
ported that an irate farmer came
to his office to say that some
cadets had carried off his log
bam, "lock, stock and barrel."
He demanded payment for
his bam.
The following year the Aggies
had their first log — and their
first "legal" — bonfire.
Halftime
violence
Football and competitive
school spirit reached an intense
height during the 1920s, demon
strated by a riot that attracted
statewide attention at a football
game between Baylor Universi
ty and Texas A&M in 1926.
During the halftime show, a
cadet mistakenly assumed that
an automobile being driven
around the field was to be used
in a derogatory demonstration
against Texas A&M, as had been
done the previous year.
The cadet attacked the car of
Baylor co-eds and began to
"rock" it.
Baylor students rushed to
drive the student away; Texas
A&M students rushed to protect
him.
During the riot that followed,
a cadet was killed.
Angry cadets decided to
march on Baylor University and
level it to the ground with their
cannon.
Administrators feared cadets
would commandeer a train and
"attack" Baylor, but the cadets
were dissuaded from their plot.
Athletic relations between
Texas A&M and Baylor were
suspended until 1931.
Forbidden
territory
Recreation in the 1880s con
sisted of keg-rollings, hauling
kegs of beer in from Bryan and
hiding them away in the woods
for secret and prohibited beer-
busts, free-for-all brawls, wreck
ing outhouses, hiding liquor in
dormitory rooms for an occa
sional nip and swiping poultry
from the backyards of profes
sors' homes.
As late as 1900, students were
required to have special permis
sion from the College president
to go to Bryan because of its 14 or
15 saloons (an average of two
per block), its public drunken
ness, open gambling and
brawls.
Don't blame it on Mary
During the early years of the
Corps of Cadets it was a necessi
ty for cadets to have well-
creased pants. Since most of the
students could only afford one
good pair, they had to use a
charcoal heated iron to press
them for inspections.
Because most students feared
being "rammed," they did not
want the messy charcoal in their
rooms. They instead got char
coal from the filters of cisterns.
In 1907 the school was closed
a month before finals because of
a typhoid outbreak. The cadets
had taken so much charcoal that
the water was no longer safe.
Contributing writers: Bonnie Langford, Lauri Reese, Angel Stokes
Creative contributors: Peter Rocha, Dave Scott
Artist: Scott McCullar