The class of 1910, as represented by Fink, President, and the appointed guardian, decided to stir up a little excitement by bringing Sabrina into Amherst and showing her to the public at the Williams game, during the 1910 Junior Prom week. This was in May, 1909. Every detail was carefully worked out and every possible emergency prepared for. The week before the Prom, Hal Greene, '12, brought his big seven seater Royal Tourist up to College and rode around with Juniors and Freshmen so that the machine might not, on the appointed day, excite too much
suspicion. On Monday night, May 24th, at about midnight, the Royal Tourist, with Fink, Francis, Henry and Shoop, '10, and Corwin and Greene, '12, with the latter at the wheel, sped rapidly down the river road to Read's cottage and brought Sabrina, covered with burlap, back into Amherst about two o'clock in the morning. The town was quiet, and no one saw the big machine as it passed noiselessly down Pleasant Street to the home of John Henry, '10, on North Pleasant Street. Here, with bated breath, the men tenderly carried Sabrina into the cellar of the house and left her in an out-of-the-way corner until the next day.
That afternoon, which was Tuesday, word was passed round to all the Juniors, that is, the class of 1910, to leave quietly that night after fraternity meetings and come by twos or threes to Henry's barn.
When all had gone, the sextette above mentioned, trembling from fear lest the odd classmen might discover Sabrina's presence before they got away, made all haste to get Sabrina into the tonneau of the big Royal Tourist and take her quickly from Henry's barn to the cellar of the home of Mr. Toole, a farmer living way out on the North Road, on the way to Sunderland. There Sabrina was left until the next day at noon. This was Wednesday, the day of the Prom Game with Williams. By two o'clock the college had marched in procession behind the band to Pratt Field and as soon as the coast was clear the big machine, this time containing Francis, Fink, and Shoop, '10, and Madden, Corwin, and Greene, '12, stole from the precincts of the town of Amherst to the farmhouse on the North Road. Sabrina was carefully placed in the tonneau and the stunt of lifting her high in the air while the machine was going at a good speed was practised on the way in. A supply of clubs lay in the bottom of the car, ready for instant defense, and the machine started for Amherst.
Every detail had been arranged for at the field. Two parties of men were detailed to watch each gate, the plan being to run Sabrina onto the field and off again during one of the innings of the game. One man was detailed to smash the telephone in the grandstand. Two others were detailed to follow the machine in motor cycles as it left the field, and to head off possible pursuers. Two others were instructed to put all odd
classmen's motor cycles out of business, and a number of others were told to tackle any of the crowd that might make a quick start to head off the machine. Each man had been told that the machine would swing in on the field at exactly 4:05, immediately after the Northampton car had gone out. Avery, '10, was to have a second machine just outside the fence to follow in the wake of the big car, to block pursuit or to carry the statue if anything should happen to the Royal Tourist. New locks and chains were secured with which to fasten the gates after the machine had left the field, to hinder possible pursuit by other autos. At the underpass on Northampton Road preparations had been made to block the road if necessary.
Meanwhile, the
Royal Tourist had disappeared down the Hamp hill at sixty miles an
hour, with Avery's car following in the rear, and Bedford and Ladd on
motor bikes following in a whirl of dust.
At the crossroads
in Hadley the machine stopped for a moment, the occupants finding
that they were not pursued, and Avery's car was instructed to proceed
on over to Hamp "to throw off suspicion, while Bedford and Ladd
rode back to Amherst. The men guarding Sabrina proceeded in their
machine on down the river road and secreted Sabrina in the cellar of
a jewelry store on High Street, in Holyoke, Mass. The affair had been
a complete success, and the six men who had been in the machine all
the time were weak with the nervous excitement of that thrilling
hour. Pursuit had been very scattered and proved futile. The odd
classmen had been thrown completely off the track.
There was just one
time on that eventful day when it looked as if plans were going to be
seriously upset. It seems that Sanderson, a tradesman in town, lives
opposite Henry's house on Pleasant Street, and the night before, as
he was sitting on his veranda, he had noticed the gathering of the
class in Henry's barn and later saw Sabrina taken away in a machine.
A vivid imagination had led him next day to say to an Amherst man who
had dropped into his store, "I hear you are going to have
Sabrina at the game to-day." This was at 1.30. As luck would
have it, this Amherst man happened to be a Junior and a Sabrina man,
and as soon as he left the store he hunted up one of the men who had
charge of Sabrina and told him what Sanderson had said. Filled with
alarm, this individual hastened to Sanderson's store and told him to
keep still and say nothing until after the game at least. Sanderson
acquiesced willingly, and this danger was safely passed.
The last call was
to be made from the hat factory, by the C. V. R. R. and then, if the
coast was clear, the machines were to make a dash for Hitchcock Hall.
If between the last call and the time the machines reached the hall
any trouble arose, red lights were to be fired by the men on guard at
the banquet, so that the machines might sail by without stopping,
simply holding Sabrina to the view of the banqueters from the
tonneau. If there was no danger from the odd classmen, the machines
were to stop and Sabrina was to be taken into the doorway of the
banquet room and a flashlight taken of the scene. Everything worked
as planned. The 7.30 call was made from a small house in Hadley, and
Fink reported everything quiet. The machines then came into Amherst
by Northampton Road, and the East Hadley Road, and making a long
detour around "D. K. E." Hill, arrived at the hat factory
about 8.20. Shoop telephoned Fink while the lights were being lighted
on the machines and everything made ready for the final dash. At 8.25
Fink reported everything quiet at the banquet, though '99 was having
its dinner on the lawn just across the Common at Davis' Corner. It
was decided to make a dash for it immediately. Quickly the machines
sped up the oval by Walker Hall and down by Hitchcock Hall.
Everything was quiet and the machines stopped long enough for Sabrina
to be taken up to the. door, and amid tremendous cheering a
flashlight was taken of her, silhouetted in the doorway. She was
there but an instant, and then strong arms put Sabrina back into a
machine, and with '94 men running wildly across the Common and
shouting triumphantly at '99, as they banqueted totally ignorant of
what was being done under their very noses, the two machines went at
full speed down South Pleasant Street and around by Blake Field and
out on Northampton Road again. Clark and Bedford had been doing good
work on their motor cycles, and found that the odd classmen had
blockaded the Northampton Road in front of Chi Psi with ropes and
spiked planks.
The machines had
hardly left the '94 banquet when several '11 men came running up with
spiked planks to lay in front of the autos, but they were just a
minute too late. The machines were by this time speeding fifty miles
an hour down Northampton Road with Sabrina safely in keeping.
The last crossroad
had been passed, so there was nothing to do but take a chance and go
ahead. The glare was so bright that little could be distinguished
until within less than a quarter of a mile of the underpass, when a
light separated itself from the general glare and approached in the
form of a machine. The men guarding Sabrina grasped their clubs,
prepared for a general onslaught, --- but the approaching machine
passed quietly. It was one of those that had been broken down. In
quick succession the three other autos passed in the same way, and
the big glare which had frightened the men was no more. It was indeed
a remarkable coincidence that those four machines which had been
broken down at that place should have all started up at just the time
when the two machines with Sabrina were returning. The men in the
machines heaved a great sigh of relief as they shot unmolested
through the underpass. They proceeded on, turned off at the River
Road, and left Sabrina that night in Holyoke, in the cellar of the
jewelry store on High Street.
At Amherst,
meanwhile, "the news spread like wildfire, and the many odd
classmen, graduate and undergraduate, began to plan with profound
thought how they would capture the Goddess. By midnight they were
riding wildly in automobiles throughout the surrounding country,
trying to find Sabrina, but they found not even a trace of her."
And once more, the even classmen, cleverly outwitting the men of the
odd classes, had brought Sabrina before their very eyes and escaped
with her untouched.
On March 4th, 1908, Read, '08, turned Sabrina over to the class of 1910
at their Sophomore banquet, held at the Hotel Astor, New York City, Max Shoop acting as guardian for '10. Sabrina in all her glory was kissed and toasted by the banqueters with more than usual fervor. She
was then quickly taken out into the darkness --- and eventually to the little cabin on the Connecticut River, north of Holyoke, where she remained until the spring of 1909.
No further information was given except that nothing was to be said to any other persons whatsoever. About ten o'clock that night the above-mentioned men gathered in Henry's cellar and after careful consultation over all details carried Sabrina into the adjoining barn. At 10:30 that night, the class of 1910 gathered by candle light in this little barn on North Pleasant Street and gazed on the radiant form of Sabrina while a "flashlight" was taken. Then in awed silence every man in turn kissed the Goddess and passed quietly out into the darkness, with a parting injunction from the guardian to say absolutely nothing to other people of the night's doings until Sabrina was at a safe distance. It had been a complete surprise to practically the entire class, and the suppressed whispers and
pleased, anxious faces showed that they realized their privilege in the fact that Sabrina had not been in Amherst for fifteen years.
At
the appointed hour everything at the field was in readiness, and the
men in their positions. At exactly 4 P.M., the big machine, with
Sabrina covered with heavy robes in the tonneau, drove into town,
down Pleasant Street and around the Common, daringly exultant over
the secret it held. As soon as the Hamp car had left, the Royal
Tourist ran down Amity Street and out Lincoln Avenue, and swung into
the "Hamp Road" very near the field. It was five minutes
after four and the watchers who met the machine said it was the fifth
inning with Amherst in the field. This was the most propitious time
and the machine with the six excited men, their hearts literally in
their mouths, sped onto the field and around the track. This
certainly was bearding the lion in his den. Little did those intent
stands, as they casually noticed the big machine coming onto the
field, realize its precious burden. Not even the class of 1910, who
had seen Sabrina the night before, knew that she was to appear before
them on the field. No suspicions had yet been aroused, and the
machine quietly took its place alongside the last of the long line of
autos in front of the tennis courts. There happened to be some odd
classmen in the next car. They, however, noticed nothing strange in
the pile of blankets in the tonneau of the Royal Tourist, and they
waved a merry recognition. Before Greene found it necessary to stop
his engines to avoid suspicion, a pop fly closed the inning, and the
big car with Sabrina started with a jump for the diamond and bore
down the second base line at about thirty miles an hour before the
astounded multitude. The baseball men rapidly fell away from in front
of the machine. Absolute silence reigned, for the people thought that
the occupants of the machine must be drunk. At the moment the car
passed over the first base, the men in the back quickly lifted
Sabrina high above their heads to the gaze of the many people
gathered in the stands. For a few seconds nothing broke the stillness
but the chug chug of the two motor bikes which, according to
instructions, shot out from near the bleachers and followed the
receding car in which Sabrina was still raised exultingly on high.
After a moment's dazed paralysis a wild cheer broke from the many
Sabrina men in the stands and a strenuous time ensued as some of the
odd classmen tried to follow the machine, and some of them with motor
bikes were swearing because they could not get them to go. Every man
in the scheme had done his duty faithfully, and as the gates were
quickly shut and locked after the flying car, pursuit was practically
useless. It was some time before the game was resumed, but when it
was Amherst took hold with such a will that McClure, our Sabrina
pitcher, won a no-hit 2 to 0 victory over Williams. It was a big day
all around.
It
was some time before the excitement of that afternoon's episode died
out, though it spent considerable of its force in a fight up town
after the game. Only a few days after this, Fink, President of 1910,
received a letter from the class of '94 written the day before the
appearance of Sabrina on Pratt Field, asking if the Juniors could not
bring the Goddess to '94's reunion banquet in Amherst at Commencement
time. Fink and Shoop talked it over and believed it rather a risky
proposition on top of the Prom episode; but realizing the debt that
all Sabrina men owe to '94 for having secured Sabrina for them from
'93, it was decided to make a try for it, and if possible bring
Sabrina to their banquet. All care and secrecy was used in
preparation. The odd classmen were suspicious, however, that some
such thing might take place, and several of the men in '10,
particularly the two above mentioned, were watched all the time.
However, every detail had been arranged for, and at the appointed
time, Monday, June 28th, two machines, which had been rented in
Springfield, left the rear of the jewelry store in Holyoke with
Sabrina and the following men, Francis, Seligman and Shoop, '10,
Corwin, Broughton and Johns, '12. The machines proceeded up the river
road into Hadley. Fink had been detailed with a number of men to
remain in Amherst to keep the coast clear and see that no excitement
was aroused. They were to watch particularly Hitchcock Hall, where
the '94 banquet was to be held. Arrangements had been made for Shoop
to call Fink at 7.30, at 8.00 and at 8.25 P. M., at different points
along the line, so that at any one of these points, if the odd
classmen were gathering for trouble in Amherst, the machines might
turn and flee immediately with their precious burden.
Coming
into Amherst, at the B. & M. underpass on Northampton Road, the
fellows with Sabrina had noticed four machines apparently broken down
at that one place, and in one of these machines were a couple of odd
classmen. It looked a little suspicious that four machines should be
broken down at the same time and so close together. But little was
thought of it until, as they were flying from Amherst, their machines
neared the underpass. The startled men saw a great light just over a
small rise in front of them. The thought immediately flashed into
their minds that they had been trapped and that the odd classmen had
blocked the underpass and built big bonfires all around it. In the
excitement, one of the men looked back and mistook a couple of
arclights for a machine following them.
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