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Cane Spree

{{short description|Princeton college tradition}}

Cane Spree is an annual autumn tradition at The College of New Jersey (referred to then as Princeton College and now known as Princeton University) which began during the Gilded Age—the period just after the Civil War, or the mid-to-late 1860s.  Cane Spree began as a riot between classes, turned into an annual event with each class designating a candidate for the wrestling, and ultimately shedded its violence altogether to become a regular intramural multi-sport event held on the campus. The tradition endures today.

File:Cane-spree-1877-scibners-magazine.png

History

In the Gilded-Age of the 1860s, fashionable and elegant gentlemen carried walking sticks (canes).  At Princeton College, sophomores were offended by seeing underclassmen carrying canes and would attack freshmen students found carrying canes in a sort of hazing ritual.

File:Princeton1881-at-graduation.png

What eventually became known as Cane Spree began as an actual riot on Nassau Street in Princeton, New Jersey where sophomores "provoked by freshmen flaunting their canes"{{Cite web|title=Cane Spree {{!}} Princetoniana|url=https://princetoniana.princeton.edu/traditions/current/cane-spree|access-date=2021-01-06|website=princetoniana.princeton.edu}} attacked the freshmen, and relieving them of their canes in the process.{{Cite web|date=2016-01-21|title=From Princeton's vault: The lost art of autograph canes|url=https://paw.princeton.edu/article/princeton%E2%80%99s-vault-lost-art-autograph-canes|access-date=2021-01-06|website=Princeton Alumni Weekly|language=en}} Later, Cane Spree (in its modified, non-violent form) became a common form of hazing on campus, ultimately becoming what was considered the "first intramural sport" at the college. In 1868, sophomores officially proclaimed a ban on all freshmen, prohibiting them from carrying canes on campus. Any freshman found carrying a cane was subject to attack from sophomores, their canes taken in the process.

The rules of Cane Spree were simple—there were no rules—except for a rule against biting.{{Cite web|title=Harrington DeGoyler Green Letters {{!}} Princeton University Library Special Collections|url=https://library.princeton.edu/special-collections/collections/harrington-degoyler-green-letters|access-date=2021-01-06|website=library.princeton.edu}} Cane Spree was described by Harrington DeGoyler Green as that [...Cane Spree would] "weld the class together and put some spirit in it." This was important because class identity and bonding is an important virtue at Princeton University.{{Cite web|last=Dominique|first=Simone|date=2016-11-16|title=What It's Like to Help One of the World's Richest Universities Get Richer|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/11/how-to-raise-22-billion/507812/|access-date=2021-01-06|website=The Atlantic|language=en}} The 1868 Cane Spree inspired a song called "Siege of Canes."Cane Spree to Start Monday; History Dates From Clashes of Sixties. The Daily Princetonian.  Saturday, September 29, 1934. Volume LIX, No. 99; Page 1{{Cite web|last=Armstrong|first=April C.|date=2020-10-26|title=This Week in Princeton History for October 26-November 1|url=https://blogs.princeton.edu/mudd/2020/10/this-week-in-princeton-history-for-october-26-november-1-2/|access-date=2021-01-06|website=Mudd Manuscript Library Blog|language=en-US}}

Sometime in the 1870s the Princeton University administration attempted to implement controls to minimize the violence, however random attacks continued. On September 15, 1870, James McCosh (President of Princeton College) interrupted a brawl between sophomores and freshmen and shouted "Disperse, young men, or the bailiffs will be after you."{{Cite web|title=September 2020|url=https://blogs.princeton.edu/mudd/2020/09/|access-date=2021-01-06|website=Mudd Manuscript Library Blog|language=en-US}} By 1891, Cane Spree was formally abolished, but the class fighting continued informally. Between the 1880s and early 1900s as Cane Spree became an officially organized event; prominent newspapers would carry news of the winners, losers as well as details of what privileges the losers must relinquish.{{Cite news|date=1917-02-13|title=COLUMBIA CUBS DEFEATED.; Lose Cane Sprees to Sophomores and Also Lose Smoking Privilege. (Published 1917)|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1917/02/13/archives/columbia-cubs-defeated-lose-cane-sprees-to-sophomores-and-also-lose.html|access-date=2021-01-06|issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite news|date=1895-11-04|title=PRINCETON BOYS PLEASED.; The Revival of the Old Midnight Cane Spree. (Published 1895)|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1895/11/04/archives/princeton-boys-pleased-the-revival-of-the-old-midnight-cane-spree.html|access-date=2021-01-06|issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite news|date=1888-10-26|title=HONORS WERE EASY.; THE CANE SPREE OF THE PRINCETON STUDENTS. (Published 1888)|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1888/10/26/archives/honors-were-easy-the-cane-spree-of-the-princeton-students.html|access-date=2021-01-06|issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite news|date=1905-11-29|title=CANE SPREE AT PRINCETON.; Sophomores Defeat the Freshmen for First Time in Many Years. (Published 1905)|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1905/11/29/archives/cane-spree-at-princeton-sophomores-defeat-the-freshmen-for-first.html|access-date=2021-01-06|issn=0362-4331}} Throughout the years, it was said that winning a cane in Cane Spree was "the honor of a lifetime".{{Cite web|title=Download Princeton Stories free in PDF & EPUB format|url=https://freeditorial.com/en/books/princeton-stories|access-date=2021-01-06|website=Princeton Stories - Download book - PDF EPUB - Freeditorial|language=en}}

Cane Spree was reported in the New York Times, Scribner's Magazine,{{Cite web|title=Frist Campus Center Iconography|url=https://www.princeton.edu/frist/iconography/p97.shtml|access-date=2021-01-06|website=www.princeton.edu}} as well as local and university publications.

While it has changed significantly since its origins in the 1860s, Cane Spree is a tradition that endures today, taking place in Princeton's football stadium in early October as a friendly and fun multi-sport battle for supremacy between the freshmen and sophomore classes.

Canes

The canes (walking sticks) carried by students were intricately carved and decorated by the class members themselves who etched their autograph or decorative mark onto the cane.  Many of the markings detail the intended profession or area of study of the engraver. Canes were passed around for each carved name to be added then returned to their owner.

{{Gallery|title=Hand-carved walking stick from Princeton College class of 1881 student|align=center|File:1881 Engraved Walking Stick full length.jpg|alt1=carved walking stick|Full-length view of top portiion|File:1881 Engraved Walking Stick.jpg|alt2=carved walking stick|Side view, 3/4 length|File:Princeton University Class of 1881 Walking Stick.jpg|alt3=carved walking stick|Top front view|File:Side view engraved walking stick.jpg|alt4=carved walking stick|Side view|File:Close up of engraved walking stick, 1881.jpg|alt5=carved walking stick|Close up view of engraved names}}

= Notable names =

File:Princeton_Class_of_1881_-_25_Years_Later.png

Several of the names carved on the Princeton College class of 1881[http://www.morganohiolibrary.com/CollegeofNewJersey.html Student Name Index Project]. College of New Jersey, Princeton University. Richard Parker organ Databases of the American Antiquarian Society. cane pictured above are members of prominent Gilded Age families and/or went on to become notable historical figures:

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References

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Category:Princeton, New Jersey

Category:Princeton University-related lists

Category:Hazing

Category:Gilded Age

Category:University folklore