Andrew Spaan  ’25, staff writer 

Secret societies are common on college campuses around the country; however, many are unaware of a secret society that once existed on LVC’s campus.  

The Death League was formed in 1867, which was the year LVC received its charter. In practice, the League imitated cult-like practices in its meetings. Members would wear hoods when on duty, and there was also an internal hierarchy of power within the organization. Some of the positions had names like “big devil” or “little devil.” The main goal of the league was ultimately to cause trouble for and humiliate people who they deemed to be full of themselves. 

The most notable Death League leader was a man named Ollie Butterwick. His leadership oversaw many notorious incidents, such as tying up a ministerial student to a tombstone and making him give a two-hour speech on the topic of “The Dead.” Butterwick was outgoing and a lover of humor.  

Butterwick was also famous for pulling pranks on much of the faculty. One example of this was when a few Death League members snuck into the administrative building and put cement in the locks and wired the windows closed so that the faculty could not get into the building, resulting in a cancellation of classes for the next two or three days.  

However, the Death League also had a dark side. As time went on, the League began to look more like a gang rather than a secret society. There were reports about League members hazing underclassmen and generally promoting a culture of fear on campus. LVC would soon begin to have the reputation of being a terrible and unsafe place. The Death League’s terror on campus would culminate in an incident later known as the disturbance of the eighteenth. 

On Jan. 18, 1911, President Lawrence Keister marched across campus to meet with Butterwick regarding a proposal from the athletic department since Butterwick was the manager of the football team. Athletes wanted their participation in sports to raise the amount of scholarship they received from the school. The administration denied this request, causing tension on campus and making Keister an unfavorable figure. 

Keister and Butterwick met in a male dorm room. Outside of the room, a few Death League members had some squibs (tiny explosives that made a hissing sound) in their possession. They lit the squibs and threw them under the door where Butterwick and Keister were. While this was happening, they also banged on the door chanting, “we want blood,” repeatedly. Keister was terrified and jumped up on the table, thinking his life was at stake.  

Eventually, Butterwick told them to stop because he deemed that they went too far. Butterwick then walked a terrified Keister out of the building. However, just as they were about to take the first step outside, Butterwick heard someone yell, “This way out!” from an upper floor. He jumped back, but President Keister unfortunately was doused with two buckets of ice-cold water from above. Butterwick denies his involvement in the incident.  

The disturbance of the eighteenth was the final straw for Keister. On June 10, 1912, Keister officially abolished the Death League in his final meeting as president of the college. 

Even after he graduated and the Death league dissolved, Butterwick remained a huge Death League apologist. In a 1964 interview, Butterwick reaffirmed his belief that what the Death League did was for the good of mankind and good for his personal development. 

In a tribute to LVC, Butterwick wrote, “But the four years that I had on campus, the social life of that campus, meant more to me in preparing me for life than all I had leaned out of the textbooks, because they taught me how to meet people, and cope with people; because I learned then and there that we’re all basically pretty nearly alike, that’s true. And if I had a boy, and he went to college, and he came home with A’s, I’d beat him, because I’d know he’d be missing something.”  

Today, The Death League is not formally recognized by LVC.