In this week’s installment of our recurring series, locals take note of the Gold Rush, the Emperor of Japan honors an alum, and more.

March 8, 1882—The Chicago Tribune reports that rumors are circulating that James McCosh will be forced out and replaced by John Hall after losing his temper in chapel when several members of the senior class showed up dressed up and prepared to do impersonations for their senior orations. The Tribune quotes an anonymous member of the Class of 1882:

There were thirteen of them, and they concluded to imitate Oscar Wilde in dress, floral decoration, and manner. You can imagine the disgust of the President when he saw a senior in such a rig. Well, the speaking was postponed by order of the Faculty, and Dr. McCosh was more than angry. He was fairly white with rage.

March 9, 1849—Locals take note that two Princetonians have set out for California with the Kit Carson Association, presumably in search of gold.

March 11, 1969—51 members of the Association of Black Collegians stage a sit-in at New South for more than 11 hours. Their goals include “registration of disgust” for Robert Goheen’s approach to divestment from South Africa. Administrators note that they have not harmed the building. “They did a better job of cleaning up the place than the janitors. We found absolutely nothing disturbed.”

March 13, 1905—On the 90^th birthday of Dr. James Curtis Hepburn, Class of 1832, the Emperor of Japan presents Hepburn with the decoration of the Third Class of the Order of the Rising Sun. He is the second non-Japanese person ever to be thus honored. Hepburn operated a medical clinic in Yokohama. He published a Japanese-English dictionary and developed the transliteration system known as “Hepburn romanization,” the most widely-used transliteration system for romanizing Japanese.

For the previous installment in this series, click here.

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