Delta Kappa Epsilon - University of Alabama

Sighs of Psi 7 FROM THE HISTORIAN its significance also once featured prominently in Psi initiation rituals, but prohibitions on the public discussion of Psi mystics preclude further discussion of such in this article. However, Psi alumni beyond a certain age will clearly recall the tree stump and its place in their DKE initiation. The story told of the tree stump in my day said that, after the 1865 torching of the University campus, the men of Psi, having nowhere else to meet, held their chapter meetings at a certain tree stump located deep in the Alabama woods. The flaw in this story is that we now know that there was no Psi chapter in existence to meet at that time. As noted above, the last student member of the chapter graduated in 1859, and, between the burning of the campus in 1865 and its re-opening in 1870, it appears that the only Deke who remained actively associated with the University for any significant period was Brother William Wyman. Since the Psi chapter crest does date from the 1880's however, there is obviously a true and important old story surrounding the tree stump. However, the tale of it signifying a chapter meeting place in the aftermath of the war doesn't stand up to scrutiny. A "Duel" Another DKE legend set in the Interregnum period, which seems to have taken hold in more recent years and which is thought by some to have been the basis for the origin of the Undertakers Ball, involves a duel that supposedly took place between a Deke and a member of another fraternity at the University in the 1800's, in which the Deke was killed. In this telling, Undertakers is said to have originated as a commemoration of the death of this departed brother. This legend seems to be prevalent among the younger element of the Psi chapter. But is there any truth to it? Psi House Corporation President Brock Jones '84 recently pointed me to an interesting entry on the website of the Alabama chapter of Sigma Chi fraternity, which may serve as a basis for this legend. The pertinent parts of this website entry state: Within one year of the [Alabama Sigma Chi] chapter's founding [in 1876], a disagreement arose between two members of Sigma Chi and Delta Kappa Epsilon. On February 28, 1877, two students, Kibble J. Harrison (ΣΧ) and William W. Alston (ΔKE), walked to opposite ends of the second story veranda of Woods Hall to settle their dispute…. Harrison challenged Alston to a duel to settle the matter, and Alston accepted the challenge…. As the two students reached the end of the Woods Hall veranda, Harrison drew his pistol and fired one shot. Alston returned the shot but then slumped over the veranda banister and fell to the ground of the quadrangle below, where he lay dead. Harrison was promptly brought to trial for the murder of Alston, but he was acquitted…. As a result of the illegal duel, University officials, already suspicious of Greek organizations, mandated the disbanding and removal of all fraternities on campus…. This account of the subject "duel," which was apparently more of an outright murder than a duel, is based on an actual historical event, but it contains a number of serious factual errors. (For an authoritative account of this shooting, see History of the University of Alabama, pages 499 et seq.). First and foremost, William W. Alston was most certainly NOT a Deke. His name does not appear in any Psi records, nor is he listed in the 1890 DKE Catalogue, which is 1698 pages long and considered quite authoritative, as being a member of any other DKE chapter. It's not even clear whether Alston's nemesis, Harrison, had a legitimate claim to being a Sigma Chi. Recall that the University's ban on fraternities commenced in 1856, and continued until 1885. So, this 1878 (not 1877) "duel" had nothing to do with the ban on fraternities, which had then been in place for 22 years. There is some indication that there may have been some clandestine "secret societies" in existence at Alabama during the period of this "duel," and that Alston and Harrison may have been members of rival such groups. Sigma Chi may or may not have been one such group, but DKE certainly was not. Note also that the term "secret society" could mean anything from a nationally recognized fraternity to a homegrown group of students banding together as such. Bottom line: The exact date of the origin of Undertakers is uncertain, but it was of much later, 20th Century, origin, and had nothing to do with the Alston-Harrison shooting of 1878. From the foregoing, we see that, while the Psi Chapter was completely inactive from 1859-1885, there was at least one DKE alumnus, and usually more, present at the University, in various capacities, throughout the entire Interregnum period, except for the period immediately after the burning of the campus in 1865 and again from 1868 to 1870, when William Wyman refused to serve as Professor to disassociate himself from perceived illicit attempts to re-open the University. This article is of course only a brief summary of the events covered and the Psi alumni named, but, as usual, newsletter space limitations preclude me from doing full justice to the subject matter. The definitive word on the old ante-bellum Psi Chapter and its re-chartering in 1885 consists of three related articles, totaling 22 pages, published together in the DKE Quarterly in 1886, entitled "The Psi Chapter," "The Revival of Psi" and "The Status of the Chapter." These articles can now be found on our chapter website at uadke.org, under "From the Historian." We are also left with some lingering questions as we close. What is the true story behind the tree stump on the Psi crest? And when and how exactly did the Undertakers Ball originate? Stay tuned. In the Bonds, T. Semmes Favrot '82 New Orleans, La. Alumni Historian sfavrot@cox.net 1. See 1890 DKE Catalogue. 2. Our dictionary defines "interregnum" as "a period when normal government is suspended, especially between successive reigns or regimes; an interval or pause; from Latin, inter- 'between' + regnum 'reign.'" 3. For further details, see Chapter XIII of History of the University of Alabama, Volume One- 1818-1902 by James B. Sellers, and Searching for Freedom After the Civil War, by Ward Hubbs. Be forewarned, however, that this latter book is not for the faint of heart. 4. For more on Lewis, see Sighs of Psi, Fall 2012. 5. See Sighs of Psi, Spring 2011. The Psi Chapter crest. The Latin motto underneath means, "We practice virtue."

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