Historian of the Strange [Robert Damon Schneck]
20 July 2019
It sounds like the beginning of an urban legend, but
it happened. No one was indicted and the only result was passing more
anti-hazing laws and shutting down the Kenyon College chapter of Delta Kappa
Epsilon. ("The Herald-Ledger", Russellville, Kentucky, 10 Nov 1905.)
[“Stuart L. Pierson…was killed by a train…while waiting
to be initiated into the Delta Kappa Epsilon society of Kenyon college….Pierson
was tied to the railroad by fellow students and left to test his nerve.”]
The complete Testimony
before the Coroner in regard to the death of Stuart L. Pierson which occurred at
Gambier, Ohio, Saturday evening, October 26th, 1905, along with the coroner’s
finding (“Stuart Pierson was either tied fast to the railroad track or railroad
ties…and while so tied…was run over by an engine”) and various dissenting
opinions, can be found here.
An overview of the case (Mark Ellis, “Death on the Tracks,” Kenyon College Alumni Bulletin, vol. 33,
no. 3, Spring/Summer 2011) can be found here.
Included in the testimony of Dr. William
Foster Pierce, President of Kenyon College, is a rumor about a fraternity
pledge tied near a railroad track and temporarily forgotten (p. 102).
Legends of pledges tied to railways tracks and dying
of fright are common (Simon Bronner, Campus
Traditions, 318). Here’s an example posted to the Snopes message board in
2002:
Comment: I heard of this many years ago and have no
doubt that it is only a "legend". However, I have never found anyone
else who has heard of it.
This involves a college hazing ritual. A pledging
student is told that his bravery and trust of his fellow "brothers"
is being tested. The pledge will be tied to a train track and left until the
train is closing in. The brothers will then untie the pledge who must jump up
and run to avoid being crushed by the train. The pledge is lead blindfolded
until the proper location on the train track is found. He is tied down to the
track and all wait for the scheduled train. Soon enough, the ground begins to
shake and it is obvious a train is approaching. As the locomotive closes in, a
brother suggests that it is close enough and to untie the pledge. The more senior members insist they must
wait. This just increases the fear in the pledging brother. As the train is
nearly on them, the senior brother screams to the others to untie the pledge. The
brothers begin to untie the rope, then stop. They shout that the rope is tied
too tightly and can not be removed! Other brothers are yelling and clearly
everyone is in a full panic. The ground is shaking and the sound of the train
horn is deafening. What the pledge does not know is that there is a parallel
set of train tracks and that the train is NOT on the set of tracks where the
pledge is tied. As it is obvious to the pledge that he is about to die, his
"brothers" scream in a state of faked panic! Once the train goes by,
the brothers go to untie their new member. However, he is dead from fright.
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