by April C. Armstrong *14

In this week’s installment of our recurring series, an alum promises not to break parole, scientists find Colorado residents shocking, and more.

July 20, 1776—Jonathan Odell (Class of 1754), a Loyalist captured by Continental forces, must sign a promise not to break parole before being set free. Odell writes, “I will not carry on any political Correspondence Whatever on the Subject of the Dispute Between Great Britain and the United States of North America, neither will I furnish any Provision or give Any Intelligence to the Enemies of the State.”

July 22, 1877—Members of the Princeton Scientific Expedition are shocked by the culture in Breckenridge, Colorado,

the most fiendish place we ever wish to see. We were forced to spend the morning and afternoon in the company of men whose language was vile, and whose actions were tinged with a shade of crime that shocked and hurt our senses; never did anything so bestial and so unworthy even a mention by manly lips happen before our eyes.

July 25, 2001—Li Shaomin *88 returns to the United States to reunite with his wife and daughter and to meet with members of Congress who helped secure his release from detention by Chinese security forces. He has been away for five months after his conviction on charges of espionage.

July 26, 1903—Joseph Hosack, a rising senior at Princeton University, sets out in a canoe on Muskoka Lake with his cousin and a student from Johns Hopkins. The three will never return, though their paddles and a coat will be found. They are presumed to have drowned. Members of the Class of 1904 will wear mourning badges for the first month of the academic year in memory of their lost peer, one of six students of the Class of 1904 who will have died before their graduation.

Did you read the previous installment in this series?

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