A proctor’s victimized Ford
On the night of May 15, 25 freshmen from Dod and Witherspoon halls converged on Brown, extinguishing its lights, exploding toilet paper-wrapped firecrackers in its entries, and breaking 15 of its windows. This provoked a spirited counterattack that broke five windows in Dod but failed to prevent Dod occupants from continuing their assault on Brown by “firing rotten oranges out of a second-story window with a super-slingshot and shouting ribald comments over a loudspeaker,” The Daily Princetonian reported.
In the confusion, an enterprising if reckless student commandeered Director of Security H. Walter Dodwell’s gleaming Dodge Dart. A chase worthy of the Keystone Cops ensued. According to the Prince, the fugitive “smashed through the barricade at the pagoda by the New New Quad [now the site of Butler College], made a skidding left by the parking lot pagoda and raced down Faculty Road to Washington Road. As the chase continued onto Route 1, the thief ran three red lights, accelerated up to speeds of 90 miles per hour, and then returned down Alexander Road to ditch the car and disappear into the woods.”
In hindsight, Dodwell got off lightly. Just a few months later, Proctor Vincent DiPane Jr. left his new Ford station wagon unattended while he dealt with an issue in Little Hall. On exiting the dormitory, he saw his car being pushed down the hill, and though the perpetrators fled, the vehicle continued its descent until it collided with Dillon Gym, severely damaging the fender, grill, and bumper.
Truly, as W.S. Gilbert put it, “A policeman’s lot is not a happy one!”
John S. Weeren is founding director of Princeton Writes and a former assistant University archivist.
The Latest
See all
Related News
A Father’s Death Leads to a Healing Mother-Son Road Trip Across Croatia
Silence speaks loudly for Darren Joe ’02 during a three-week trip down the Croatian coast
Water Polo Scoring Leader Roko Pozaric ’25 Elevates Princeton’s Goals
Remembering Landon Y. Jones ’66, Editor, Author, and Inveterate ‘Ripper’
Friends paid tribute Nov. 15 at a memorial service in the Princeton University Chapel
1 Response
Jay Paris ’71
7 Years AgoThe 1968 Spring Riot
Published online November 30, 2016
Regarding the Brown Hall riot of 1968 (“That Was Then,” May 11), the culprit of the stolen-car heist was a close rowing mate who is now deceased, his death roundly attributed to intensity – of lived experience, ambition, and alcohol. His dubious deeds continued well beyond our freshman year and became Class of 1971 apocrypha by the time we received our degrees. Included in his pranks were nailing a member of the Class of 1970 into his dorm room with plywood after depositing a dead skunk inside that he had lit on fire; and once staging a fake marriage in the University Chapel to convince his thesis adviser that he needed a two-week extension to finish (actually start and finish) his senior thesis because his bride (faux) was pregnant; and other sundry pranks that had become the bane of Dean Neil Rudenstine ’56’s existence.
As to the stolen car, his intended target was actually the vehicle of the giant proctor, Axel Peterson (back row of the published photo), with whom Steve vowed to avenge for forcing him to stop drinking beer in Firestone Library. After pilfering the car, Steve said that he had crashed the vehicle into a maple tree nearby. We were sure that he was making it up until we read the account in The Daily Princetonian. And so it went, Steve on the edge of expulsion until he graduated. He then became a successful banker and a major Princeton Reunions contributor before dying of liver failure 15 years ago.