Who Stole the President's Wine? BY HOWARD BROMBERG

Ir. Buriun'1 "Dtm ul {ko Slu for lthJ I

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was the smallest of crimes. Not ing, as they did, the well-known domr even a crime, really, no more than rules against liquor and tobacco. capturing the Axe is a crime. The But the contraband goods were heist of wine, whiskey, and cigars from the Encina Hall quarters of from a dormitory suite was a stu­ jamin Harrison, the 23rd president Itdent stunt , a college prank, plain and sim­ and Stanford's first p ple. Certainly, the stolen goods wouldn't sor of law. They were also a gift from be mi ssed. And, besides, they shouldn't Stanford, widow of the University' have been there in the first place, violat- founder, Leland Stanford. The di sa

44 / J UNE 1 991 left th e campus in an uproar in the Harrison had even more success as a in the well-appointed guest suite in · of 1894. The school was embar­ teacher than as a hunter. Although he has Encina Hall, the men's dormitory. Jane the newspapers, delighted, and gone down in hi story as a minor president Stanford graciously stocked the suite's · n, humiliated. who is best remembered as the grandson pantry with fine wines, whiskey, and lkspite the franti c efforts of Stanford of (Old Tippeca­ cigars. It was of course inap­ · and, possibl y, private detectives, noe), Benjamin Harrison was a scholarly propriate for Harrison's daughter and two rulprits were never found. The theft man, an eloquent orator, and a fervid pa­ grandchildren to stay in the men's hall, Harrison's suite entered Stanford triot. His mission in coming to Stanford and the former president decided to as an unsolved mystery. As late as was not only to teach the students about house them in the Hotel Vendome, San Ray Lyman Wilbur, who had re- the law, but to instruct them, he said, "in Jose's finest hotel. as Uni versity president and who had the ri ghts and duties of good citizenship." The decision to place Harrison in the an Encina resident at the ti me of the Harrison offered fresh insights into the men's dormitory was imprudent not only said the incident lacked a proper Constitution. He challenged the traditional because it separated Harrison from his ement. view of the Constitution as the product of family, but also because Encina Hall was "lbere never has been a straightfor­ sudden genius of the Founding Fathers. something of a battleground in the clearing up of just what happened," Instead, he argued that it had been slowly Uni versity's first years. Encina provided rwrote. "lt was never found by the " perfected" over centuries of development. rooms for 400 men and was modeled after · ersity authorities and no one has His lectures, innovative as well as infor­ the Stanfords' favorite Swi ss hotel. confessed openly that he took part in mative, were a great success. Newspapers But with the rooms of hundreds of taking it away or in consuming it." throughout the country reported the lec­ yourig men strung along lengthy and very Perhaps no one has ever confessed tures in great detail and with favorable re­ social corridors, mischief was always y." but there is a document in the vi ews. afoot and Encina Hall full y justified its · ersity archives, one of thousands of But not every aspect of Harrison's stay ni ckname of "The Madhouse." Rooms · iscences and anecdotes sent in by a at Stanford went smoothly. The difficulties were trashed, freshmen and passers-by alumnus, that purports lo solve the had begun on June 21 , 1893, when Senator were assaulted, and, on one occasion, a · t Encina mystery. Stanford died. Stanford had used hi s po­ donkey was smuggled into the dorm. Af­ litical finesse to recruit Harrison, but he ter some residents released the brakes he disappearance of the wine, whis­ left behind a University administration on a train car standing near the hall and key, and cigars brought a controver­ that lacked experi ence in handling some­ sent it hurtling towards the town of ial conclusion to what had been one one of Harrison's stature. Meanwhile, Wil­ Mayfi eld, Leland Stanford considered ord Uni versity's greatest triumphs. liam Randolph Hearst Jr. had taken over closing the dormitory, but was dissuaded J81>1. Benjamin Harrison was a profes­ the Examiner and was spur­ by his wi fe. i the Uni versity, the fi rst form er U.S. ring circulation with a new style of jour­ Donkeys weren't the only contraband · nt to teach at a college. Harrison nalism. Sensationalisti c and aggressive, smuggled into Encina. The University recruited by Senator Leland Stanford, the newspaper relished exposing the fa­ had forbidden liquor and tobacco in the lured his personal fri end and political mous and powerful. dorm, but the prohibition was largely ig­ ~ Californi a with the phenomenal sal­ Mistakes by the school's administration nored. Stanford men would revel all ni ght J 10,000 lo leach one course. For the and revelations in the Examiner would in the nearby taverns of Menlo Park and -old Uni versity, landing Harrison plague Harrison from the inception of his Mayfield, and later sneak alcohol back to t unimagi nable prestige and cred- relationship with the University. In De­ their rooms. The doors of the dorm were cember 1892, a Uni versity official had locked at 11 p.m., but late arrivals would For Hanrison, the professorial appoint­ leaked Senator Stanford's secret negotia­ simply crawl through the first-floor win­ meant a dignifi ed and lucrative sec­ tions with Harrison to a probing Examiner dows. career in an age when former presi­ reporter. The Examiner blazoned the job The students had, however, enough were not given . (The result offer in the next day's headlines, to respect for the former president lo refrain · po~ cy could be tragic, as in the Harrison's embarrassment. The adminis­ from any pranks during hi s stay-although ciUlysses S. Grant, who wrote hi s tration failed to bar stenographers from a few daring students did venture to call ·rs on his deathbed to rescue hi s transcribing Harrison's lectures, despite upon Harrison in his suite and were re­ · from financial ruin.) hi s specifi c request; the Examiner printed ceived warmly. It was only after Harrison The arrangement also offered Harrison's first lectures ve rbatim. " Do not concluded his course and departed for · n the chance to enjoy the hospi­ steal what belongs to ex-presidents!" on April 16 that trouble Califomia climate and recuperate Harrison demanded of the Examiner. De­ began. an unhappy term in the , spite hi s admonition, he was able to slop Days after Harrison returned to Indi­ · had ended with hi s loss to Grover the unauthorized publications only by ana, the liquor and cigars in his Encina din the election of 1892. During copyrighting hi s future lectures. But th e suite were discovered mi ssing. The Uni­ !lay at Stanford in March and April of most embarrassing incident of all would ve rsity investi gated, but failed to find the Harrison found time to hobnob with arise onl y at the end of Harrison's tenure. thieves or the missing $33.60 worth of contraband. The student newspaper, the and University clubs, tour the soda eland Stanford had invited Harri son Palo Alto Daily, warned the culprits to · of Napa Valley, and hunt the and hi s family to reside in the come forward, as they would inev itably t wild game in California. Adept LStanford home during their stay at be found out: They didn't and they agun, Harrison shot 60 geese in one the University. After Stanford died, the weren't. Another newspaper cited rumors administrati on decided to house Harrison that skilled detectives were hunting for

S T ANFO RD / 45 the thjeves. U true, they had no more suc­ and alarm over Harrison's "private pendent confirmation of Rice's ac cess than anyone else. stock." there seems little reason to doubt The theft remained unsolved, and, as Harrison was humiliated. He had story. Indeed, there is evidence that Stanford registrar Orrin Elliott con­ come to to help mold Elliott, the former registrar and a I cluded, that was how the incident should th e character of the students. It was a role authority on Stanford history, came have ended. The admjnistration certainly well-suited to his religious devotion and know and believe th e version told agreed that it would embarrass Mrs. moral fervor. In his first lecture, he had Ri ce. In his 1937 history of Stanford, Stanford to reveal that the wine and whis­ told the students that he hoped that Elliott blames the theft on "a couple key had been her gift, given that the "whatever impulses I may kindle in your students" who shared the goods wi~ Stanfords had opposed alcohol on cam­ hearts shall be true and elevating." Now congenial group of Hall men." pus; and this information was suppressed. he stood accused of debauching th e stu­ Code and Grosh were fraternity as But University officials did not want the dent body with alcohol. as Encina men, and their actions may theft to go unpunished. Stanford's president, David Starr Jor­ simply been the frat-house heroics In a decision that was as unwise as it dan, and his secretary immediately wrote which Encina men were renowned. was unfair, the University demanded that to Harrison, fixing blame on the "chroni c may have also been a political motive the residents of Encina Hall pay for the ki ckers" among the students and the th e theft. Code and Grosh were ex stolen goods out of th e Hall Breakage "animus" of the Examiner. It is unlikely popular students, the quarterback Fund, which had been set up to indem­ that Jordan mollified Harrison. It was the right end respectively of Stanford's nify the dormitory against broken furni­ administration that had insisted on wring­ football team (which had pulled off a ture. The demand provoked outrage from ing damages from the students, thereby ning 14-10 upset against Cal in thefi the residents. One student wrote to th e bringing attention to th e theft. Further, · Big Game). They may have felt that Daily on April 26 and pointed out that school officials had hidden the fact that were striking a blow for all of the stu th e funds were collected only to "replace the liquor had been a gift, leavi ng the im­ by taking the wine. After all, the broken furniture belonging to the Univer­ pression that Harrison himself had se­ University's stringent rules agai nst sity. Now are wines and cigars University creted a large stash of alcohol in his suite were hardly popular in the wine-soak furruture? The entrance of such 'furni ­ for his hort stay. (It must have especially Bay Area. The president's liquor cac ture' into the hall is prohibited." galled Harrison because, sy mpatheti c to censed the student body, abrading its The editor of the Daily, who wa later the emergi ng temperance movement, he sense of fairness, as is apparent from to play an even larger role in th e contro­ had not even tasted the liquor.) A mea­ uproar that followed the University's versy, caUed the proposal "absurd." In a sure of Harrison's anger can perhaps be mand for reimbursement. Daily editorial on April 25, he wrote that seen by this: Although he was a fastidious Whatever the motives for the the "the strictest rules that are in force were correspondent who answered letters consequences were as far-reachingas broken by a distinguished guest; nei ther promptly, there is no record that he ever they were unforeseeable. Benjamin wine nor cigars are permitted to enter responded to Jordan's letter. Harrison never returned to Stanford. Encina, and now it is proposed to make Other factors, such as the death of the students th ere an insurance company ut th e story does not end there, at Stanford and th e toll that preparing for the redemption of contraband goods . . least according lo an extraordinary lectures look on the weary Harrison, .. U rules are broken that person must BStanford alumnus named Archie tated hi s decision not lo return. But bear the consequences." Rice. Ri ce was a resident of Encina Hall theft must have struck the proud H Eventually, under duress and under at the same time as Harrison. He was also as one final indignity. He had come protest, the students handed over $28.55. the editor of the Daily, the author of the Stanford with the loftiest of intentio Charles Lathrop, th e University treasurer, April 25 article on the rules at Encina, help train the students in virtue. His grudgingly accepted the partial payment, and a confidant of President Jordan. forts had been followed with enthusi writing, "U this is the best you can do, During hi s lifetime, Ri ce sent thousands throughout th e country. But at the c we will have to accept same .. . " And so of pages of facts, opinions, reminis­ clusion of hi s course, his enti re stay' ended the controversy on campus. cences, and stories about Stanford's first Encina had been made lo read like a But not elsewhere. As a result of the classes lo the University. Jn one of these month bender in a saloon hall. student letters and editorials in the documents, Rice purports to solve the In th e seven years that remained Daily, the Examiner learned of the heist. mystery. him, Harrison did not abandon his Still smarting over its public scolding for According to Ri ce, in 1928, 34 years promoting patriotism, especially int the "th eft" of Harrison's lectures, the after th e incident, he was reminiscing younger generati on. He wrote popular Examiner seized its chance for revenge. with a former classmate, Tommy Code. ticles and best-selling books on Am On May 5, the delighted newspaper Code made a dramatic confession. He can government and democracy. His struck. The Examiner labeled Harrison and a fe llow student, Milton Grosh, had i ngs were lectures, of sorts, but issued the "slave of the Demon Rum." The pa­ committed the theft. They were strolling from his study in Indianapoli s, far a per also said that th e former president, past Harrison's room when they spotted from campus life, and far away from to "much amazement and some sur­ the basket of wine and cigars. Grosh mischief of Encina Hall. El prise," left behind in the dormitory " pl a­ crept into the room through an open win­ Howard Bromberg is a lawyer and Jo toons of empty bottles." Newspapers dow and passed th e loot lo Code, standing structor in legal writing and research whois around the country, especially Demo­ outside. The goods were th en shared wi th working on a history of the Stanford Law for its 1993 Centennial. He has also written about 50 residents of Encina Hall. crati c Party ones, picked up the story of in-depth article on Harrison's lectures and "Harrison's tipple." Soon letters were ar­ Code and Grosh were never formally as the law School 's first professor fo r the~ riving at th e University expressing shock charged. Yet, although th ere is no inde- 199 1 iswe of Stanford Lawyer.

48 / J UNE 1991