Students Arrested with Beer

Five young men were arrested on the morning of Wednesday, February 7, 1923, after their car skidded into a water hydrant at 2:00 a.m. and officers found three cases of beer in the car. The young men said they were students at the University of Michigan, and gave their names as, Ronald Selway of Seattle, Washington, James Hoover of Debols, Pa., Max Van Sandt from Oklahoma City, Okla.: Sheldon Brown from Dubols, Pa.: Lawrence Howe of Clearfield, Pa.. Two of the students said they were seniors and expected to graduate in June. The other three students were freshmen. All of the young men were members of a fraternity at the University, and one was a member of the Michiganensian. That afternoon the five were arraigned before Justice Stadtmiller on a charge of unlawfully transporting and having in their possession 63 pints of beer. “According to the story told Justice Stadtmiller, the boys had gone to Wyandotte where they purchased drinks. Two of them, both freshmen, became intoxicated, but the other three were not. One of the boys, Ronald Selway, a senior from Seattle, Washington, took all responsibility for having the booze in the car, stating that he purchased it for the Sigma Alpha Epsilon house, 1408 Washtenaw Avenue, the inference being that possibly it was for J-Hop consumption. He declared that he did not tell the rest of the boys that he had secured the liquor, or that it was in the machine, and that they accordingly knew nothing of its presence. The boys corroborated his story. Selway himself does not drink, he told officers, and he was not drunk when arrested,” reported The Daily Ypsilanti Press of Thursday, February 8, 1923. The five waived examination and were bound over to the March term of the circuit court. Bail was set at $2,000, which none were able to give. All were taken to the jail at Ann Arbor.