Of Dekes and differences

In the fall of 1854 a disagreement arose in Kappa Chapter of Delta Kappa Epsilon (Deke) at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.  this chapter consisted of 12 members.  six of them, led by Whitelaw Reid (later to become famous as a war correspondent, owner of the New York Tribune, and US Ambassador to Great Brittain) supported one of the members for Poet in the Erodeliphian Literary Society.

Four of the other six members, James Parks Caldwell, Isaac M. Jordan, Benjamin Piatt Runkle, and Franklin Howard Scobey, refused to vote for the brother as they knew him to have no poetic abilities.  they were in favor of another man for that office, who was not a Deke.  Thomas Cowan Bell and Daniel William Cooper were not members of Erodelphian, but gave their unqualified support to the four.

So the chapter of 12 was evenly divided in a difference of opinion.  Ordinarily this would have been decided one way or the other and immediately forgotted.  but both sides refused to budge.  what had started out as a minor matter became a major one.  During the ensuing months , they found more and more things on which to disagree, with the breach  constantly widening.

In February 1855 came a dramatic dinner meeting in two adjoining second-floor rooms of a village bakery just across High Street from the Public square in oxford.  The "recalcitrant six," as they had become known, were hosts for the occasion.  they were on hand early and nervously awaited developments. 

Very much to the suprise of the six, only two men came up the stairway and appeared in the doorway.  These two men were Whitelaw Reid, president of Kappa Chapter of Delta Kappa Epsilon, and Minor Millikin, a recent alumnus who lived in the neighboring town Hamilton.  reid presented Millikin to the six and told them that what was about to be said had the weight of alumni authority behind it.  Millikin lost no time: "My name is Minor Millikin.  I come from Hamilton.  I am a man of few words:"

Then he took the position of judge and passed on all the matters in dispute.  Needless to say (as he had heard only one side of the whole series of events) his verdict in every instance ws against Runkle, Scobey, Caldwell, and Jordan.  In other words...he found them guilty. 

Next, Millikin unfolded a plan he and Reid has cooked up by which "Justice" could be satisifed with the formal expulsion of the leaders in the rebellion, (undoubtedly Runkle and Scobey) after which the others, having been properly chastised, could remain in the chapter.  Reid, however had not counted on the almost fanatical zeal the six men seated in from of him had for their cause.

It was at this dramatic moment that Runkle stepped forward, pulled off his Deke pin, tossed it upon the table and said, or probably shouted, "I didn't join this fraternity to be anyone's tool.  And that, sir," addressing Millikin, "is my answer!"

Runkle stalked out of the room, followed by his five colleagues.  the Six descended the stairs and went out onto the peaceful streets of Oxford.

The final meeting of the 12 actives members of Delta Kappa Epsilon was held in Reid's room in the "Old Southeast" building several days after the events just narrated.  After a strenuous effort, led by Reid, for the expulsion of the troublesome members, with six against six on all vital issues, the meeting broke up in considerable disorder. 

The Reid party was in possession of the charter and archives of the chapter and, moreover, had the recognition and backing of Millikin and other alumni.  a rather prolonged correspondence ensued with the parent chapter of Delta Kappa Epsilon at Yale.  this resulted in "The Bull of Excommunication" which emanated from the Yale chapter in April 1855, expelling the six members who had been making all the trouble.  It as at this time that the six began to make plans to found a fraternity of the own.

The Founding

One of the smartest moves these six ever made was to associate with themselves William Lewis Lockwood.  He had entered Miami early in 1855 but had not joined a Fraternity.  He was the "businessman" of the group and was possessed of a remarkable organizing ability.  More than any other of the Founders, he was responsible for setting up the general plan of the Fraternity, much of which endures to this day.

The plans of the seven took form rapidly.  a room on the second floor of a substantial brick building (since stuccoed but still standing) at the southeast corner of the public square and on the north side of High Street in Oxford is properly known as the birthplace of Sigma Chi, as practically all of the early meetings were held there.

During the latter months of the 1854-1855 college year, Runkle and Caldwell lived in a second floor back room of this building.  In this room were held many of the earlier, organizational meetings of Sigma Chi (or Sigma Phi as it was originally called).  It was in this room, too, that Runkle and Lockwood worked out the design for the badge.