This “quarantine letter,” dated September 2, 1905, is an incredible read! With “fever” in Louisiana and Mississippi, and with those two areas locked down under quarantine, MMI released this appeal for college students in those states to come study at the Institute in Alabama. However, these students would first need to gather at the Piedmont Hotel in Atlanta (“The Marion Military Institute Headquarters”) where COL James T. Murfee, the “Superintendent,” would greet them, and provide them with room and board at the hotel while observing a seven- day observation period required under quarantine law. However, the students would be matriculated and assigned classes, and educational tours would be given in Atlanta (presumably, for only those seemingly uninfected) until the seven-day period expired. Then, they would be taken to MMI and processed as students. The faculty would work to bring these students up to speed so that nothing would have been missed since the Institute’s official September 7th opening for the school year. (Credit: MMI Archives)
The lengths MMI went to recruit students in the past!
These two color images are from a feature article in
The Birmingham News, dated February 6, 1972. The article centers on Betty M. Moss, a MMI high school senior, who reportedly became the first female member of The Swamp Foxes, MMI’s elite Ranger unit (the 1972 MMI yearbook depicts her as the unit’s “Sponsor”). However, the
News article has her participating in much of the Swamp Fox training schedule, reporting that she was an accepted and highly-popular member of the unit who usually “stole the show” during Swamp Fox demonstrations! (Credit:
The Birmingham News; Frank Sikora, author; Robert Adams, photographer)
Betty M. Moss, now Ms. Betty M. McAuliffe, is a “Homemaker” who lives in Richmond, Virginia.
