The Flagpole Mystery at Whitman College
A red and green sweater displayed as an effigy on the conservatory flagpole has students speculating on freshman-sophomore rivalries and campus politics.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Much comment was excited at Whitman college this morning over an object discovered at the top of the flag-pole over the conservatory. Investigation showed it to be a red and green sweater stretched over a wooden cross. Nobody seemed to know what it was for. Green is the sophomore color and red the freshman, so it was suggested that perhaps these fierce rivals had finally agreed that both their colors should float together for once. A more likely solution seemed to be that it was to represent a certain academy student who had helped to split the academy vote yesterday in the election for vice-president, which had resulted in the election of a college man. The lads feel pretty wroth at this fellow and it is claimed that the object hanging from the flagpole represents the politician in effigy.
“It is claimed that the object hanging from the flagpole represents the politician in effigy.”
Campus politics and public pranks have been a staple of student life at Whitman College for over a century. This incident captures the transition of the institution and the enduring intensity of student body elections.
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