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Pete and Clay. Their names sound rather like an old vaudeville act or perhaps an all-male version of Bonnie and Clyde. They were neither.
Life was considerably simpler at the Indiana University Bloomington campus in the 1920s and 1930s. And it was Pete and Clay who were responsible for helping to ensure that when students weren't concentrating on their studies, they were having some good, clean fun. They were the law enforcers.
Walter Peterson -- Pete, for short -- didn't start out his working life as an officer of the law. He was first a "car blocker" and a veneerer at Showers Furniture Factory and had served as county sheriff before joining the university.
Merle Clay had been a fuel truck driver, a chauffeur and a policeman before becoming Peterson's part-time partner at IU. They set up headquarters in the basement of Maxwell Hall but had no telephone early in 1925.
A request for a phone had been made to the trustees at a March 21 meeting of that year, but the minutes of that meeting indicate "action deferred."
The two men had other chores as well. As early as 1923, there had been concern about students' living conditions. A county official on Nov. 20 of that year had declared that housing quarters for students were intolerable. Keep in mind, of course, that the official was referring to commercial rooming houses and not accommodations provided by the university.
Peterson, who was quoted in a local newspaper article, suggested that the university appoint someone to inspect the rooming houses. He may not have wanted the job, but he got it.
Another issue which came to the attention of the news media was fire safety. Peterson suggested on Jan. 21, 1925, that regular fire drills be held in fraternity and sorority houses. Part of the concern stemmed from a water shortage. Peterson called attention to the inadequacy of fire escapes or even, in some cases, rope ladders.
While Pete and Clay were expressing their concerns about fire safety, they were given another chore. In July 1925, Peterson was ordered by the trustees to arrest any person caught fishing in the university lake (a body of water on the north side of Bloomington by the golf course) or for trespassing on the water shed. Also that year, Professor Clarence Edmondson recommended to the trustees that Merle Clay be appointed a "regular" officer at a salary of $30.75 per week.
Both men kept their eyes on campus safety until the 1950s. Pete and Clay, legendary figures in the memories of thousands of alumni, died in 1954 and 1951, respectively. Their Bonnie and Clyde-type automobile is no longer in the fleet of IU Police Department.
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