The first reported theft: student poses as a high school reporter
On Oct. 16, 1959, Joe Harper '62 of The DePauw reported that five Wabash students took the Bell. One student made contact with DePauw Admissions Director John Wittich after identifying himself as a Crawfordsville High School newspaper reporter. Wittich allowed the student to see and photograph the Bell. After noting the location of the Bell, the student returned later with four friends to make the heist.
"Operation frijoles"
The DePauw reported Nov. 2, 1965 that Wabash student James Shanks contacted William E. Kerstetter, president of DePauw, to perpetrate a hoax. Shanks called saying he was a representative of the United States Information Service in Mexico City. Shanks arranged a lunch meeting with Kerstetter claiming he wanted to include the DePauw/Wabash rivalry in an informative booklet about universities that would help explain describe them to Mexicans.
Kerstetter took Shanks to the storeroom by Blackstock so that Shanks could get a picture of the Bell. Later that night a security officer was called after three Wabash men were found to need protection from a number of DePauw men. Shanks was also found and the four were held.
Men of Sigma Alpha Epsilon nab Bell with help of Wabash students
In Oct. 1973, The DePauw reported that 14 DePauw men from Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity stole the Bell from a balcony in the Wabash gym.
It was reported that the DePauw students conversed with Wabash students during their visit and had no trouble loading the Bell into their station wagon.
An estimated 200 Wabash men came to recover the Monon Bell. They reportedly did $1,000 worth of damage to the SAE chapter house after breaking into the barricaded house and spraying urine in fire extinguishers. It was decided that the Bell would be returned to Wabash in a secret meeting at the Putnam County Fairgrounds that night. In exchange, Wabash College would pay for all damage to the SAE house.
Wabash men arrested on front lawn of Kappa Alpha Theta
In October 1978 The DePauw reported that DePauw's Sigma Chi fraternity pledge class had stolen the Bell and brought it to Greencastle.
After hearing the news, about 300 Wabash men headed to Greencastle and camped out on the lawn of Kappa Alpha Theta sorority to protest the theft. They stayed until police arrived. One senior DePauw woman and ten Wabash students were arrested. The next afternoon, "the pledge class returned the Bell at the ‘neutral' Monument Circle in Indianapolis."
— Information compiled by Dana Ferguson