Virginia Free Press

College Prank of Moncure D. Conway.

The Authors of the Practical Joke on Dr. Jesse T. Peck.

Dr. Jesse T. Peck was president of Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, in 1848, and was made the victim of a practical joke about that time, which was widely published and regarded as the very essence of college mischief. The authors of the joke can, at this late day, be made known, for the first time without subjecting them to censure. Dr. Jesse T. Peck (Bishop Peck now) was a very large man, dignified in his manner and bearing, and a peculiar faculty for rolling his r's in conversation, which made his speech very impressive.

At Dickinson College, in that year, were Moncure D. Conway, now famous in this country and in England for his high literary attainments, his vigorous, brilliant intellect and his strong minded views on all religious and scientific topics. His name is familiar to every lover of literature, and his letters to the Cincinnati Commercial are one of the most interesting features of that paper. Mr. Conway (or as his fellow students styled him then, Monc Conway) was not regarded as a brilliant student, but was rather noted for his literary predilections. He appreciated good humor, and enjoyed the practical jokes for which college students have always had a weakness.

In the same junior class was Marcus J. Parrott, who afterward became a prominent man in the Free-Soil party of "Bleeding Kansas," and whose name for years was connected with the politics of the West. This was the same Marcus J. Parrott who some years ago, while at the Langham Hotel, in London, dispatched to the Grand Hotel in Paris to reserve apartments for him. On his arrival there great was his astonishment to find that one of the grandest suits of apartments in the hotel had been reserved for him, while he was greeted with the greatest display of respect by mine host and his staff.

This extraordinary attention to a simple American sovereign was caused by a ludicrous misconception of Mr. Parrott's name. The dispatch conveyed to the landlord the impression that the grand apartments were for the Marquis de Parrott, a distinguished foreign nobleman. How Marcus J. Parrott, the private citizen, undeceived the landlord, and selected more humble apartments, it is not necessary to relate.

Dickinson College was sustained at the time we referred to by the Methodist Conferences of Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Maryland, and the Annual Conference was to be held at Staunton, Va., in March, 1848. Dr. Peck, as was customary, made his arrangements to attend the Conference, and also to witness the inauguration of President Tyler in Washington.

The students were aware of the fact, and one evening Moncure D. Conway, Marcus J. Parrott, and E. A. Maginness, then a freshman from New Albany (now the portly manager of the Louisville Industrial Exposition) sat down to play a game of euchre. The President's visit to Staunton was commented upon, and, in the mischievous spirit of studenthood a practical joke was projected, which, after mutual suggestions from each of the three, assumed complete shape.

Conway could imitate Dr. Peck's handwriting, and pen and ink being procured, he wrote a letter to the superintendent of the insane asylum at Staunton, Va., in which he stated that a very respectable citizen of Carlisle, Penn., named Hugh Blair, was subject to temporary aberration of mind, during which he imagined himself to be Dr. Jesse T. Peck, President of Dickinson College. Then followed a description of the unfortunate Hugh Blair, which description was an elaborate picture of Dr. Peck himself. As Mr. Hugh Blair had been absent some days, his friends were becoming alarmed, and the supposition was that as Dr. Peck would reach Staunton to attend Conference on a certain day, Mr. Hugh Blair had gone there, under his delusion, and would be on the same train. Would the superintendent be so kind as to watch the train, and if the gentleman described came, to take him to the Asylum without exciting his fears, and retain him there till his friends could call for him, when all expenses would be paid and they would be ever grateful, &c.

The letter was sent, and the trio waited for the sequel.

Dr. Peck, in all his imposing dignity reached Staunton on the day expected. On stepping from the train he was accosted by a polite gentleman with:

"Is this Dr. Peck?"

"Yes, sir; I am Dr. Peck, president of Dickinson College," was the dignified reply.

"Glad to see you, sir. Will you step into my carriage, Dr. Peck?" said the affable gentleman.

Dr. Peck supposing it to be an attention which was being paid to the president of Dickinson College, complied, and was driven to the asylum, his companion chatting pleasantly on the way. He had not been inside the institution long before he discovered its character, and naturally desired to know why he had been brought there.

The superintendent assured him that he would not be harmed; that he would simply be required to remain at the institution until his friends came after him.

Dr. Peck became indignant and demanded to be released. He declared himself to be "Dr. Jesse T. Peck, president of Dickinson College," but as this exactly corresponded with the description given of the unfortunate Hugh Blair and his peculiar delusion, the superintendent smiled blandly, and begged the Doctor not to excite himself.

Finally Dr. Peck's protestations were so violent that the superintendent, to pacify the supposed monomaniac, acceded to his request to send for some of his Conference friends to identify him. They came, in wonder and surprise, and the Doctor was recognized by his astonished friends and released with profuse apologies from the superintendent, who could only, in palliation for his error, produce his letter assuming to be from Dr. Peck regarding the unfortunate Hugh Blair.

Dr. Peck felt very much hurt over the cruel joke, the pleasure of his visit to the Conference was spoiled, and on his return to the college the entire Faculty—among which were Professor Beard, now of the Smithsonian Institute, Professor Allen, now of Girard College, and Dr. Tiffany, now pastor of the Methodist Memorial church of Washington—instituted an investigation to discover the authors of a prank which, in its audacity, rivalled the students of Charles O'Malley's day; but all their efforts were in vain. The students kept their secret well, and now, for the first time, those who remember the incident will learn the author's names.

Even the learned and honored Moncure D. Conway, may smile when he recalls it; Marcus J. Parrott certainly would if he was alive. Mr. Conway's only surviving companion of that memorable college prank is the same and dignified gentleman who manages the affairs of the Louisville Industrial Exposition.