In this week’s installment of our recurring series, Paul Pry insults New Jersey, student journalists interview the “sphinx of Watergate,” and more.

February 14, 1835—Anne Royall’s Paul Pry takes Princeton to task for attempting to raise $100,000 in support of expanding its influence into the American west and abroad: “These men cannot and dare not say this College is intended to disseminate knowledge—if so, why have they not improved the people of their own State?—they being decidedly the most ignorant people in the Union, excepting one. … Let those hypocrites deny if they dare, that the ignorance of the people of New Jersey is proverbial.” Royall believes Princeton is plotting to destroy Catholics.

February 17, 1981—G. Gordon Liddy (the “sphinx of Watergate”) tells three student reporters with the Daily Princetonian that killing people is not necessarily immoral, and explains the plans he had to kill journalist Jack Anderson. He still believes this would have been justifiable.

February 18, 1911—The Princetonian complains of inadequate walking paths for pedestrians on campus, asserting, “Another spot on the lower campus which now makes an excellent habitat for mud turtles is between Dod and Edwards.” They suggest the construction of boardwalks.

February 19, 1930—Theodore Whitefield Hunt, Class of 1865, celebrates his 86^th birthday. “I am beginning to feel a little old,” he says.

For the previous installment in this series, click here.

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