Monday

October 28, 1918

Washington & Lee University, Lexington, Va.

There is a chill smack of winter in the air. In the morning the bugle blows at the unearthly hour of six, and twelve minutes later we are expected to form outside beneath the starlit sky....

After classes we drilled on the athletic field. The sun was a blood-red ball showing through the fog. When we broke ranks, Poole wrestled in the ghostly fog with a pale-eyed freshman from Company C. The boy looked like a god, thrillingly beautiful. He got a good hold on Poole and wrestled him to the ground. Poole cried out, laughing, “All right, Dasham—all right!” The boy straddled him, and seemed about to whisper in Poole's ear, but Poole didn't like that and they stood up.

Tonight I asked Poole who the boy was. He looked displeased. “Oh, that one! I don't like his sort.” I said, “But you were laughing—” He said, “At first I was.” I asked again. Poole stared at me, and then told me, “If you have your reason you want to know, his name is C.C. Dasham, he hails from Mississippi...and I hope, Alexander, that he isn't your kind.”

From September 1918 through May 1922, Jeb was enrolled at Washington & Lee University. He spent his summers in D.C., where he worked in his father's grocery business and lived with his parents. Unwilling to reveal his homosexuality to his family, he familiarized himself with popular gay “cruising” spots in the city.

Monday

July 19, 1920... Continued