Student Prankster Set Off Friday Night Dynamiting

The student who set off 17 sticks of dynamite near the Weeks Memorial Bridge early Saturday is on his way home to Texas, his friends reported last night. Acquaintances of Leigh Cross '51, whose connections with the University were severed last week, named him as the man who set off the blast.

The blast, which awakened House residents at 2 a.m. Saturday and which was heard as far north as the Law School, was touched off by Cross, former bagpiper for the Band, according to friends of his who said last night he had planned the exploit for several weeks.

One Yard resident told the CRIMSONS that Cross had spoken to him at mid-night. Friday on the way to his Cleverly room, informing him that "this is the night."

Friends of Cross reported he had mailed the dynamite and firing caps to Cambridge from Oregon, where he worked as a logging blaster last summer. They said he had kept it in a chest in his room. Two weeks ago, the sources disclosed. Cross woke up Winthrop House sloepers by blowing up six sticks of his stock with a four-minute fuse and caps.

In addition to the dynamite, caps and fuses, Cross is said to have kept various guns and ammunition in his room.