Hide Article Text (OCR)
Old Teacher PersuadedColonel Young to TakeWest Point ExaeacDr. J. T. Whitson, Principal of Grammar School Which Graduated Colonel Young, saw Announcement of Tests in the Paper and Advised Young to Try it Out. Talk of Studying for Priest-■ hood Probably a Mistake.To the Editor:I notice ar^rtlcle in the AFRO-AMERICAN ofses'the issue of March 22nd sLat^ how Col. Charlesi-VR(atJcEnJwanfti*sytonciirt)aYoung came to enter West Point Military Academy,I have heard a great many reports about Col. Young's early history, none of which were altogether correct. I wish to set you right with regard to the West Point part.During the time that I was principal of the r. colored public school of Ripley. Ohio. Young wase a pupil of mine for two years. I fitted him upo ( for the high school, which he attended for two years and graduated wHh honors. He should have had the valedictory but his color kept him out of it. and it was given to a white boy. This same boy tried for the cadetship in the examination with Young, but fell far behind in the contest.After Young graduated from the Ripley high | tschool, he taught school one year unde.- me. Dur- j cing the children’s recesses he would generally gcome to my room tcychat with me. p• One morning I noticed an advertisement in • cthe Riplev daily paper which stated that the j o United States Contn-essman from that district y | said that therfe would be a test examination for o ; the cadetship to West Point Military Academy.- I and that all boys who wished to be examined r ■ should appear at Hillsboro. Ohio, at a certain t j date. ;it , When Young came down to my room at recess.3 j I told him about 1t, and urged him to enter the contest. He asked what advantage it would bet!i)ASIt,Fuevhto him. I told him that if he would excel he rwould get the appointment as a cadet to the Academy, at the government's exnonse for four years, or until he graduated. After graduating he would be commissioned os a second lieutenant in the regular army, and would be In line for promotion on up to general He wanted to know what the examination would consist of. I told him only of the common school branches. He decided then he would trv it.His mother at first opposed it. She said she did not want her son to be studying to be a soldier. However, after some persuasion she consented to let him take the examination.The day before the examination, his father, who owned a horse and buggy, took him to HilLs-boro. The next day he appeared at the court house when the examination n*as held. As a result of the examination he stood second best. A boyv71Utilt;fTfCVM«jVVbv the name of Strobridge had the highest mark. ctb/ceThere were 27 boys examined —two of whom were colored.The following Sentembcr. 1883. young Stro-bridge set out for West Point to enter the academy. In the preliminary examination held at | c West Point the latter part of Dec-ember of the , j same year young Strobridee failed, and was sent j , . home. Young being the alternate, the next September. I£84, he set out for West Point to enter the academy.In the usual examination held the latter part of December at West Point he passed, standing 22nd out of a hundred examined. Thirty failed and were sent home. This is what he uTOte to me after the examination.As to his studying for the nrlcsthood. that is news to me. I gave un the school at its close in June 1882 to studv medicine. Mr. Young continued to tench through the year 1883. He must have taken the notion to studv for the priesthood during his last vear of teaching, and when he heard that ypung Strobridge had failed in the examination, he changed his mind and decided to enter the academy.He certainly had no such idea during the time I was teaching in Ripley. I am a Roman Catholic mvself. and was the onlv one at that time in Riplev. Surely if he had had any idea of that sort, he would have said something to me about* it. I never heard him say anything about Catholics whatever. I never saw or heard of his entering a Catholic church during the five years I taught in Ripley.(DR.) J. T. WHITSON.D39 Schoonmaker Ave., Monessen. Pa.
Newspaper Details
Baltimore Afro American
Baltimore, Maryland, US
Sat, Apr 05, 1930
Page 6
Full Page
Clipped by
State L.
PA, USA 11 Apr 2023
Other Publications Near Baltimore, Maryland
Baltimore Sun
Baltimore Daily Exchange
Baltimore Der Deutsche Correspondent
Baltimore Commercial Journal And Lyfords Price Current
Baltimore American Republican And Daily Clipper
