News: Stevens Point College
Contact: Crystal Wendt
Email: crystal@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

----Sources: Scrap book one: by Elsa Lange Hardrath & Dorthaleen Edwards Hardrath

Contributed by Halbert "Bud" Hardrath

SOILDERS SUBDUE DEER AFTER IT ENTERS COLLEGE DISPNESARY

Dies Later of Injury, Fright in East Side Yard

Straying from its wooded haunts, an eight-point, 160 pound buck paid a visit Thursday afternoon to Central State Teachers College that cost it its life.

Plunging through the lower section of a small basement window on the north side of the main building, the deer pranced down the corridor and through an open doorway into the dispensary where pandemonium immediately broke loose.

TACKLED BY SOLDIERS

There, in the usual quiet of the medical quarters a battle took place with two soldiers of the 97th College Training detachment, aircrew, tackling the deer bare handed and finally subduing it. Roped and released outside, it scampered across the campus toward Nelson hall, only to collapse on South Michigan Avenue, died apparently from injury and fright.

Corporal Oscar Lewis of El Paso, Tex., who is reported to have the first to tackle the big buck, looked up from his typewriter when the strange, unwelcome visitor dashed into the dispensary. Others who shared his astonishment were Aviation Student James Galloway of Mississippi City, Miss., Miss Helen Hansen, civilian nurse with the 97th, two civilian students and Miss Mary Neuberger, college nurse who came out of the one of the partitioned off treatment rooms.

FORCED DOWN ON FLOOR

Corporal Lewis grabbed the buck by the horns and Galloway, who had been receiving treatment on a cot from Miss Hansen, jumped up and also grasped its antlers. They quickly, forced the animal down upon the slippery floor, but it bellowed and kicked and was far from subdued.

Then it kicked Lewis twice in the leg. "That made me mad so I pinned it’s heard down under the cot," he said. He is on slight stature but showed cow-punching ability and clung to his quarry.

Versions differ slightly as to exactly what transpired, but a rope was brought and tied to one of the deer’s hind legs, with two of the men in the room holding onto it. Then Corporal Jim Yocom of Milledgeville, Ill., supervised the tying of all four of the deer’s legs, and it was carried outside and released.

TRIES TO MAKE ESCAPE

Immediately after entering the dispensary the buck lowered its head and butted into a wall, apparently attempting to escape through a window. Bottles of medicine fell from shelves as the room shook. The deer backed up and tried it again, Miss Hansen said.

"It was like a bull in a ‘bull in a china shop’ for a few minutes," remarked Miss Hansen afterward.

The only "casualties" aside from the subsequent death of the deer were bruises on Corporal Lewis’ leg. But it was perhaps the strangest sight ever to be witnessed at this college-army post.

Faculty members and other students arrived at the dispensary during the excitement, which it was estimated lasted about 15 minutes.

Afterward it was declared that the soldiers who went after the deer in the dispensary did so at considerable personal risk as a cornered, frightened buck could easily injure them seriously. The fact the floor was smooth prevented the buck from keeping or retaining a good footing, it was pointed out.

The window through which the deer plunged was only two feet high and three wide. The buck landed four feet below on the concretes corridor floor. President William C. Hansen conjectured that it might have been attracted to the vicinity of the window by Christmas trees which has been discarded nearby, and that it might have seen its reflection in the glass window and became confused.

Deer hunting faculty members, including Raymond M. Rightsell and Fred J. Schmeeckle, received some good natured "kidding" about traveling "200 miles" during the recent deer season, when waiting would have brought a fine buck practically to their doorstep.

WORDEN POLICE CALLED

The deer collapsed about 6 o’clock in the Martin Wroblewski yard at 718 South Michigan avenue. Frank Hornberg, conservation warden, and police were called. They decided to let it rest for a time, to see if it would recover and leave. Officers returned at 7 o’clock and found the deer had died a few minutes earlier.

Examination of the deer when it was dressed out disclosed that it has suffered internal injuries and it was concluded that the animal died from injury and fright. Schmeeckle, who has studied deer herds in the north, said that aside from injury, excitement and exhaustion may easily cause the death of the deer.

CAME FROM NORTH

The deer had come into the city from north of Stanley street and Highway 66 and was observed about 4 o’clock browsing on dry grass in years in the 1000 blocks of Portage street. It was reported to have been chased by dogs and driven into town by fright. It was were suffered by the deer when concluded that internal injuries were suffered by the deer when it crashed through the window into the college basement corridor.

The buck was rather small in proportion to the size of its horns and dressed out at about 110 pounds. The usable portion of the meat was authorized sold by Hornberg to Leo Gwidt.

* * * Notes in margin -- The Navy V5 program service men came to the Stevens Point College Campus in the spring of 1943. The incident involving the deer took place the following winter. I was in the infirmary to see the nurse when the deer entered and helped subdue the deer under the bed, take it outside and release it.

Bud Hardrath.