PAGE SIXTEEN THE MICHIGAN DAILY SATURDAY, AUG. 15, 1936 The Romantic Legend Of Herman Stenbach And OldMill Li ves On G 3 Old Ann Arbor Mill Elicited Much Interest Tells OldLove Tale Anecdote Told In Detroit -News-Tribune In 1916; Paper Now Defunct By Marshall D. Shulman If ever, on your long Sunday walks along the high bank of the Huron River, you've stopped to look back, and seen the spires of the churches and the law club, and the hospital, just visible among the trees and the hills, and the feeling has struck you that Ann Arbor is a village in the German hills, then perhaps you will be readier to give credence to this legend of the old mill. Fraternity pledges on their Hell Week quests have found the old mill, but not -without difficulty, for it stands 'decaying among the under- brush out West Huron Street at Ar- bana Drive. So moving is the romantic legend old German settlers tell their children about the old mill, one finds himself impelled to believe in it implicity. Last spring, when the members of the West Side Woman's Club wanted to reconstruct the mill as a city mem- orial, they gave wide publication to the old legend, which thus gained the acceptance of truth. For their ma- terial, the members went back to an old newspaper clipping from the now defunct Detroit News-Tribune of 1916, in which the author tells of a "quaint old Ann Arbor windmill built as a sacred temple to an unanswered love." So runs the legend: More than 100 years have passed since Herman, the son of Baron Sten- bach, lived in Stuttgart, Germany. The baron was an officer in the king's service, possessing a great estate which lay among the towering hills which surround Stuttgart. Herman was in love with Gabrielle, the beautiful daughter of a French banker of the town, whose estate lay next to that of Baron Stenbach. The two families, drawn together by the love of Herman and Gabrielle, were fast friends for many years, until the entrance of the Germans into the Napoleonic wars. This led to an estrangement be- tween the German baron and the French banker, and through the first bitter years of the war the breach between the families grew wider. Loyality to his king demanded that the baron withold his consent to the marriage of his son with Gabrielle, whereupon Herman refused to fight against Napoleon and was disinherit- ed and disowned by his father. Then there came a. summons for Herman to appear before the general of the army, and believing that some trumped-up charge had been made against him. Herman fled to hiding in the friendly hills about Stuttgart. High up on a hill overlooking the city, on the estate of Gabrielle's fath- er, there stood a windmill. It was here, in the shadow of this old mill that Gabrielle and Herman met night after night. Each evening Gabrielle would steal away from her father's house and climbing the creaking steps of the mill, await her lover on the balcony to which the circular stair- way led. And here, in the shadow of the windmill, and with its moans and creaks rendering the sound of their voices inaudible to any chance pas- sers-by, the two lovers met and told their secrets, secure in the friendly watchfulness of the old mill, which seemed to them the one benign ally which had not been estranged by the terrible war which swept about them. And finally, it was to the old wind- mill that Herman fled to escape the soldiers who came for him, and for three days he lay beneath the floor of the mill, sustained by the food which Gabrielle was able to carry to him. At length the soldiers gave up the hunt and went away, and in the eve- ning when the long shadows of the great Stuttgart hills cast their friend- ly curtain over the windmill, Ga- brielle climbed the steps to the bal- cony where Herman awaited for her their last meeting. Plan For Future Long into the night they sat.on the balcony of the old mill and planned their lovers' plans, and the friendly creaking of the mill wheel seemed to them a good omen. Their plans led far into the future, when Herman should cross the seas to America, and some day come back for her. Bewitched by the enchantment of their love, so closely bound up with the old windmill of her father's, they sat on and on, building their castles which were to become so much more than air in the happy days when they should go to their new home in Amer- The Legendary Windmill 20 Years Ago Are They WildMen?_Nol 'Merely Honors Men By Thomas E. Groehn When spring comes to Ann Arbor it brings with it not only the showers and resulting flowers, but a group of University of Michigan students, gone temporarily berserk, whom the Uni- versity and its undergraduates proud- ly point out as "honors men." Indian braves, forest bards, dunces on skates, Egyptians, and fire-wor- shippers-shouting madly, and run- ning across the walks and lawns of the ordinarily peaceful campus, make their appearance in May. Why that month nobody has ever troubled to find out, but at any rate they are not really mad, they are merely dressed up in the grotesque cos- tumes of their various tribal orders and are "riding" for new members. Five honor societies exist on the campus to honor Michigan men who have distinguished themselves in ac- tivities: Michigamua, Druids, Sphinx, Vulcans, and Triangles. Their his- tory and traditions are interesting and the initiation ceremonies color- ful. Each year these honor societies choose from among the 8,000 or more undergraduates in the University, men whom they believe will carry out not only the aims and purposes of their individual societies, but also the tradition of Michigan--something, it has been said, which no university or college can well do without. Michigamua Oldest Michigamua, oldest ,and most fa- mous among the campus honor so- cieties, came into being in the fall of 1900 in order to study philosophy under the famous Prof. Robert Mark Wenley. It is said that because those who wrote the most under Wenley seemed to get the highest grades, the group was originally called the "hot air" club. The Indian motif came two years later. The Michigamua tribe, from which the state took its name, was not a very large one, though well- known in this region. Charter mem- bers took upon themselves Indian names, all bearing upon the particular feat or activity in which the Tribe member was engaged. To put it in the words of the "fighting braves" of Michigamua, each name "nust catchem plenty signif." Some of the names applied to the various members are "Pontiac" Fred Dewey, "Raven Locks" Hollister, "King" Phil Bursley, "Billy Bowlegs" Temple. Listed in the directors of the Tribe are also some Michigan mtn who today are leaders in their fields. Among these are "Great Scalper" Yost, H. C. L. Jackson, well- known Detroit columnist, "Three Thunder" Kipke, "Warrior Builder" Chuck Hoyt, "There He Goes" Chaun- cey S. Boucher, "Big Ten" Ralph Aigler, "Wally Neugance" Emory Thomason, at one, time the highest paid business executive of any news- paper, and at present the owner of the Chicago Daily Times and Tampa Tribune, and "Friendly Chief" Morti- mer E. Cooley. Michigamua is the one honor so- ciety on the Michigan campus that is known from coast to coast and ranks along with Yale's Skull and Cross- bones. Called "Tribe" "Tribe," as it is more familiarily called, initiates its young palefaces in a public ceremony in which the "fighting braves," of last year's mem- bers, assume the Indian headdress and red war paint (brick dust), and bring the supplicant initiates into the wisdom of Indian lore in an impres- sive ceremony, the location of which is the Tappan oak in front of the General Library. In this initiation the "palefaces" are made to do much to prove that they will 'tight like hell for Mich- igan and Michigamua." Part of the torture consists of maki.ng the in- itiates "duck walk" across the campus and up seven flights of stairs in the Michigan Union. At one time the annual "Tribe" party used to be one of the most im- portant functions of the year. It .raditional A liiclhigaii r('ndezvous in 1910. Itsnmotif'is aen from the Druids -bards of the forests taken from German Re,,ends of the middle ages. Its chapter roon in the Michigan Union is decorated appropriately (as is a room devoted to Michigamua) and features a cave-like hole with trees and rocks lending atmosphere. At the weekly Druids' meetings, members are t;)ggt'd in medieval hooded robes, and assemble under the direction of the "arch-druid." Druids' initiates assemble around the Druid rock in front of Angell Hall and crawl about with planks tied to their backs, rendering homage be- fore the bon-lire. Each year incom- Michigamua, Druids, Sphinx On Annual 'Ride' on the balcony of the old mill of Suttgart. On many other nights, after Her- man went away to America, Gabrielle climbed to the old trysting place and searched the heavens for the star Vega. But it never brought to her the happiness they had planned. Arrives In America Herman arrived in America with- out money and without friends. He struggled along for ten years, by which time he had become rather well known as a builder of houses. In the year 1835 he received news of Gabrielle's death. A few years later he appeared in Ann Arbor and formed a fast friendship with the owner of a large estate on the edge of the Ger- man settlement. When this owner desired a windmill to pump water to his house Herman Stenbach was put in charge of its construction. He made of it an exact model of the old Stuttgart mill, re- producing the balcony high up on the sides of the tower where he had pledged his troth to Gabrielle on that last summer night before he left Ger- many. But there was one detail in which this mill differed from the Stuttgart original. When Herman built his mill, he made no doorway to the bal- cony. But the owner never under- stood this lack of foresight in his friend, and passers-by often wondered Rowdyis By Marshall D. Shulman Forty students on a greased tele- graph pole, struggling to keep out of the reach of barrel staves swinging beneath . . . A mob of rioting stu- dents ripping the piano of a local theatre apart, leaving the theatre in ruins . . . The "laws" and the "lits" battling to the finish in the grimy mud that was Stat Street. These are the memories of Ann Arbor of a half century ago, called forth by the sight of many an old grad slapping another oi the back and starting a story "Do you rernem- ber the time . .." These are the memories of a man who has seen classes since '99 pass in one end and out the other from the 'State Street doorway of his shop- Myron E. Slater -who has sold books to students for the last 35 years. Those were the days when State Street was a two-way dirt drive, when seniors wore high plug hats, when the cigar store had a wooden Indian in front, recalls Mr. Slater, who well re- members the cigar store because his present store is on exactly the same spot now. Among the more dramatic episodes in the spotty history of Michigan's undergraduates is the memorable time when students demolished the old Star' Theatre, which stood on Washington street between Main and at the quaint old mill with its bal- cony so unattainable. The wander- ing Herman built many other struc- tures during his stay in Ann Arbor, and some of them still remain, quaint old landmarks which cause the older settlers to harken back to the days when they were first lured into the beautiful valley of the Huron, beck- oned on by the great hills which reminded them of their homes in the Fatherland. Herman left for the South less than a year after the completion of the mill, and word came back to the owner that he had died in a little house which he had built for himself in Mobile, Ala. But still the old wind- mill stands on the hill, so like the Stuttgart mills that Herman loved so well. And though the wheel is almost gone, the mill stands, its doorless balcony a tribute to the beautiful Gabrielle, and dreams which never came true. Thus runs the legend, as it was printed in the old Detroit paper of 19 years ago. CROSS IN ENGLAND One of the most recent of the Uni- versity's faculty members to depart for a European jaunt is Professor Arthur L. Cross of the History De- partment. He sailed on the Queen Mary on July 29 and is spending sev- .pu'elbuJ ul sgaam 'lexa ords, when members of Sphinx car- ried .45 revolvers with which they startled the citizenry, but someone objected. And then also in those good old days" there used to be an overhead water release on one of the campus drives, under which the Sphinx wagon would drive in order to assure the initiates a thorough dampening. If any of the initiates suggested that they were cold, oblig- ing members would paddle the soles of their feet to insure better circula- tion. On one part of the ceremonial ride, the members of Sphinx run up the steps of Angell Hall and assemble under a bronze Sphinx head in the foyer of the building to sing their traditional song. Feud Formerly Existed A constant feud used to exist be- tween Triangles, junior honorary en- gineering society and Sphinx. It used to occur that when Sphinx wanted to drive their wagon-load of initiates through the engineering arch-way, the Triangles would be having their initiation there and would rather naturally object. Unable to stop the inroad of Sphinx, members of Tri- angles, about five years ago, poured hot water on them as they passed under the arch from windows above. Triangles formed more than 20 years ago, has a program of regular lectures at its meetings intended to present broadening material outside the field of engineering. In accord with its philosophy of cleanliness of the soul, Triangles has in its initiation a regular scrubbing of the Engineering Arch. Initiates must also crawl around in the steam laboratories with the same idea of purification by heat in mind. Of more than general interest on' the University campus is the regular Triangle skating contest in front of the General Library. Initiates in dunce caps and carrying pails of water, and some of whom have been given no opportunity to learn to skate, are tested for speed and en- durance. Outstanding seniors in the engi- neering college are honored by mem- bership in Vulcans, which was found- ed in 1904. Meeting every two weeks, Vulcans also attempts to present a broadening program to its members. Around Huge Fire The informal part of the initiation of Vulcans is conducted around a huge fire in front of the engineering clock tower and the initiates, stripped to the waist and blackened, crawl about the fire, blowing on it and pounding on an anvil. Three years ago, the society, which like all of the others, "rides" for its men at night, disturbed the populace of Ann Arbor to such an extent with their anvil-pounding that the local "bobbies" were summoned and the boisterous fellows were placed in the "bastille" temporarily.. Later in the initiation ceremony of the society, the legend of Prometheus is reenacted in a remote room in the basement of the engineering building. There is the picture of men's honor societies at the University.gThese so- cieties carry on at Michigan one of the greatest assets it can possess- tradition. The boys initiated into the societies, for the most part, are defi- nitely "good Michigan men." They are the alumni who come back for the big games, they are also the al- umni who frequently help the Uni- versity materially with financial as- sistance. They feel closer to Michi- gan than the average undergraduate, no doubt, because they have done things on the campus. Botanical Gardens, 51 Acres Of Fertile Land, Located Hre Among the valued possessions 4 the University is its Botanical Garden, a plot of fertile land consisting of 51 acres, which offers facilities for all phases of botanical instruction and research concerned with growing plants. Among the equipment which be- longs to the Botanical Gardens are seven greenhouses, a two-story brick laboratory; and ample work rooms. The entire tract has been piped for water. An important feature of the green- houses, it has been pointed out, is the provision of several separate rooms for individual research problems, each equipped with automatic heat control and independent ventilation. A collection of growing plants for teaching and exhibition purposes is now being developed on a wide scale. It includes more than 2,000 species and varieties, including some of the more important economic and orna- mental species of the tropics and a representative collection of hardy perennials, shrubs and trees. POTTER GOES TO WEST would start as a steak roast early in the afternoon and the dinner would be served by the "young bucks." At the present time, the annual Michigamua party is known as the "Peace Paddle," and each "young buck" paddles a "fighting brave" and his "squaw" of the moment up the Huron River where, in a secluded and "Indianish" territory, much amber "fire water" and sandwiches are con- sumed. From All Colleges Members of Michigamua come from all colleges of the University and are chosen on the basis of their rec- ords in their activities, but more im- portantly as to their character. Druids, senior honor society, which honors only literary college students, found its inception in Joe Parker's ing members are responsible for giv- ing the historic rock a bath. The Egyptian theme runs through the ceremonials of Sphinx, junior honorary literary society, which was founded more than three decades ago. Sphinx For Juniors Intended solely to pay homage to distinguished and promising juniors, Sphinx originally had the job of con- ducting a tag day to pay the expenses of the Varsity Band, assisted in the enforcement of campus traditions, and helped to entertain visiting ath- letes. ,j Old members wear red robes in the initiation ceremonies, and ini- tiates, stripped to the waist and well covered with venetian red, are tied to a board, and loaded on to a hay wagon for a ride through the city. There was a time, according to rec- im Of Dad's Era Now In Decadent Past Way The University Campus Looked Way Back When Students in those days had to go down to the postoflice to get their mail each day, and each day there was a riot all over again just l4efore the distribution bega . Many cf the old alunni back in town will remember "Old Doe" Nag- ley, thinks Mr. Siateir. He was fa- mous among student s for his job, which was to carry the cadavers in lhe medical school downstairs to the oicklin vat. In thlol;e days, the med- ical labor atory was located about where the new enaineerig building now stands. Fraternities in tho'e days were feeble frame st ruetures, made over from r.nomlg houses and private res- idences, and only a small percentage of the more affluent Students were members, aceording to Mr. Slater. The album from which Mr. Slater secured the old pictuies of the cam- pus was collected by his grandmother, Mrs. Martha Sheehan, who was the donor of the rock which stands on the northwest. corner of the campus as a memorial to the class of 1862. It was hauled, according to a news- paper report, from the backyard of Mrs. Sheehan's home by a team of 16 white horses, and was installed in its present location in an im- pressive ceremony in which President Tappan participated. A distinguished Republican was Dr. Marion LeRoy Burton. resident _ _ __ _ _ , . r But revenge was not ing in com- ing. The student, his dignity offend- ed, told his story to the rest of the This really marked the beginning of a riot. The policemen, some stout a - nflstac i- a,,~irartt a "But the settlement was bitter,"1 reminisces Mr. Slater. "Members of the student body circulated among I .