Buffalo Courier October 18, 1901

STUDENTS HAVE A WILD NIGHT

The afternoon and evening the University of  Buffalo provided a series of brilliant coups, in which each member of the rollicking, yelling mob of students insisted in taking a star’s part. From the time of the finish of the ball game, of which an account will be found in another page of The Courier, until the slogan "All aboard for the down-town Midway" sounded the signal for homegoing at 11 o’clock at night, there wasn’t an idle minute.

No very formal celebration of the victory over Oberlin took place; there wasn’t a thing that could be called formal after the close of the morning exercises. Just as soon as he well could, every Varsity man, freshman, senior or alumnus, got him a girl if he could find one and hied him to the Midway, there to see, or perhaps take part in the great spieler’s contest.

That spieler’s contest is conceded to be the greatest thing of its kind that the Midway has seen, Railway Day not excepted. For a time the veteran members of the Spieler’s Association looked on in amazement, and then joined in the rounds of applause that greeted the student novices.

The contest was not decided on points, because there were so many points developed of a startling nature, that to try and enumerate them would in itself have been a week’s task. It was finally decided, however, and announced by Marshal Darling, that the most effective work had been done by Claude Johnson, sophomore medic, who conducted the bally-hoo for Around the World. Crittenden, a freshmen Medic, was proclaimed a close second.

The spieler’s contest over supper was taken at the Guard’s Restaurant of the Bailey Catering Company. Immediately afterward everyone got ready for the great nightshirt parade on the Midway.

The parade formed at Bostock’s in the south Midway. At its head was Marshall Darlington and Capt. Hasse of the football team, on Bostock’s biggest camel. Following were students on more camels, students on elephants and on zebras, and finally a howling, screaming, tooting, clashing line of ghastly figures on foot.

In all there were perhaps 500 boys in line. All were dressed in nightshirts, at least, while many had adopted remarkable combinations of costume in addition. Some had skeletons painted on the back of their night robes; others were adorned with skull and crossbones; still others wore gaudy, frilled pantalets, nightcape and wigs.

Girls were at a premium. Hundreds of them were in line, romping with the students. Woe be to the pretty girl who had no a fast hold on her escort. She was swept away and carried off by covetous rollickers who in turn had to fight their claim with some other crowd.

Led by the marshal, gorgeous in blue and white, with a multi-colored headgear, and his assistant, George E. Matt, a medic freshman, distinguished by skull and crossbones and a Turkish fez, the boys romped into concession after concession, where they were for the most part well treated and entertained with the best that the show afforded.

Only in one instance was anything like a serious clash approached. This was at the Beautiful Orient about 10 o’clock, and for the moment it appeared as if a tragedy were to end the night.

While the marshals were arranging with the gatemen as to the terms on which the students were to be admitted, the boys behind became impatient and began to crowd forward, thus pressing those in front up against the Turkish guards at the gate. The Turks were not in the best mood anyway, for the students offered every argument to gain entrance except money, of which there seemed to be a remarkable absence. Rendered furious, in addition by the jostling to which they were thus submitted, two of the Orientals drew their native swords and appeared about to use them on the row of yelling white-robed boys nearest them.

The impending tragedy, if so it might be called, was quickly averted by the prompt action of Exposition Guard F.J. Kelly, who, with upraised club, dashed at the Turks and threatened them with sudden annihilation unless they sheathed their murderous weapons.

With this command the Orientals finally compiled, but not without many loudvoiced objections, and angry gesticulations. Just at this moment the word came to admit the students to the concession and the whole mob surged in with wild cheers for Kelly. In another moment the whole incident had been forgotten in the mad racing of donkeys and camels from one end of the long Oriental street to the other.