Dwight Ireneus Douglass was an American mining engineer and short story writer who was one of four founders of Phi Kappa Tau

Phi Kappa Tau

Phi Kappa Tau is a U.S. national collegiate fraternity.-History:Phi Kappa Tau Fraternity was founded in the Union Literary Society Hall of Miami University's Old Main Building in Oxford, Ohio on March 17, 1906...

 Fraternity in 1906.

Douglass was the son of a prominent Colfax, Illinois

Colfax, Illinois

Colfax is a village in McLean County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,061 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Bloomington–Normal Metropolitan Statistical Area....

 physician, David T. Douglass. He graduated from Colfax High School and attended college for two years at Ohio Wesleyan University

Ohio Wesleyan University

Ohio Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college in Delaware, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1842 by Methodist leaders and Central Ohio residents as a nonsectarian institution, and is a member of the Ohio Five — a consortium of Ohio liberal arts colleges...

, transferring to Miami University

Miami University

Miami University is a coeducational public research university located in Oxford, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1809, it is the 10th oldest public university in the United States and the second oldest university in Ohio, founded four years after Ohio University. In its 2012 edition, U.S...

 in 1904. He played football at Miami and became associated with a group of independent students who formed the Non-Fraternity Association which would evolve into Phi Kappa Tau.

Douglass maintained close ties with the organization he helped found until he entered World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 where he served as a sergeant with the 27th Engineer Battalion in heavy fighting where he was gassed. He returned the United States from France and attempted to take up farming in southern Illinois. About 1920, he disappeared and his family did not hear from again until sometime in the 1930s. In the meantime, he had married in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...

 and later moved to Hammond, Louisiana

Hammond, Louisiana

Hammond is the largest city in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 20,049 at the 2009 census. It is home to Southeastern Louisiana University...

 where he died and was buried in 1940, having worked for the Veterans Administration

United States Department of Veterans Affairs

The United States Department of Veterans Affairs is a government-run military veteran benefit system with Cabinet-level status. It is the United States government’s second largest department, after the United States Department of Defense...

and written short stories under a secret pen name.

External links