Morning journal and courier., 1880-05-20
News by Telegraph FROM ALL QUARTERS. 4 GRAND FIZZLB. Yesterdays FiascO on the
 Potomac. -HANLAN EASILY ROWS AWAY From His Sick and Detected
 Rival. The Convention in Illinois. A Spirited Struggle Over Contested
 Seats.
HANLAN EASILY ROWS AWAY
The Convention in Illinois.
A Spirited Struggle Over Contested
 Seats.
THE NATIONAL CAPITAL,

' l View a Padding Procession-HanIan 1 Pulls Leisure1y Away From the Sick COurtney-Immense Crowds Taken In. ! WASHINGTON, May 19-A stupendous fzzle,
 a grand sell a gigantic sell, a good sell - l these are the words one hears on every side ! tonight concerning the outcome of the Hanlan- Courtney exhibition today. A hun dred thousand people tonight are talking of the performance, and on all sides there is | nothing but indignation. It would be ridic- | ulous to call the affair good race It was more like a funeral procession. One man l (Hanlan) rowed leisurely over the course one man (Courtney) came up looking sick, \ rowed hard for fifty or hundred strokes, 1 found himself behind, gave up the race, padded two miles in dejected, painful sort of fashion, and then padded more slowly and dejectedly back to his boat house that is the | story of the affair itself in nutshell. All interest in the contest was exhausted before 1 hundred strokes had been pulled, and the I race from that on simply an exhibition of practice rowing on the part of Hanlan and pitiful spectacle of a sick man in a boat trying to paddle over a specified amount of water against his will. The start was even. Both pulled hard for an eighth of a
 mile Hanlan pulled long, clean, sweeping stroke; Courtney splashed slovenly and nervously for the first two strokes and then settled down and pulled thirty-two strong strokes in the first minute, but the strokes though strong had no life in them, and at
 the end of the first minuteE..it was evident | that Hanlan was slipping ahead A minute more and he had a pronounced lead of length and the race, so far as there l was any race in it, was over A call to Courtney for a spurt eicited no reply save a 1 dejected shake of the head and perceptible slowing up of his stroke. Hanlan rowed on vigorously for perhaps half mile and then ] finding Courtney was already beaten and he had safe lead of three or four lengths he | took let up, stopped an instant to see what ! was the matter and then logged on leisurely. | Three-quarters of a mile down Court ney came to standstil, took of his handkerchief and bathed his head and then ! he padded on again until he pulled two miles or little less, when he stopped again, wet I his head again and then turned around and l paddled slowly back to the Potomac boat house. Hanlan in the meantime padded the ] remaining distance, turning his buoy, passing Courtney on the return trip and pulled lei l. surely to the starting point. It sorry l sight from first to last and fiat failure as a boat race. Hanlan's time was announced officially 36 minutes 46 2-5 seconds, but | nobody felt any interest in the time because l there had been no race and hard pulling.
 But if the race itself was & failure the &C., | cessories of the race were not. Never before | in the history of boating in this country has l such great concourse of people gathered to | witness a race. For one mile long the
 Maryland shore of the the Potomac was fringed black with humanity. They 1 filled long lines of seats which had been erected every available spot They crowded the great steamers which lay along l the edge of the course until the water kissed 1 their gunwales. They loaded hundreds of pleasure boats of all sorts, shapes and sizes ! and packed the decks of all the available 1 shipping. They clustered in the rigging ! crowded every window and climbed the trees Great swarms of men were gathered on dizzy heights of the great coal bunkers along the shore, and smaller clusters were perched on l top of the framework of the great gasometer | in the vicinity. The adjacent hillsides were 1 invaded and people and teams crowded every l slightly spot. The great aqueduct bridge 1 seemed as though it must break under the 1 great throng which crowded it, filling both I the roadway above and the canalway beneath ! means of safety. It was a spectacle worth going mile to see. Careful judges estimate ! the number of spectators at fifty thousand and there could not have been much less With such surroundings and great popu1ace | ready and anxious to do honor to the hero of
 the hour it seemed then pity that there was no hero There were indeed cheers for Han 1 Ian and music and banners and excitement inevitable to great crowd, but the people | who had sat for hours in the broihng sun to see great and hotly contested boat race
 were too disgusted to get up much excite l ment.
 The day was very hot and the race was postponed Ian hour on that account. But when it was called finally shortly after 6 D. m., the most fastidious oarsman could not l complain of anything. The course stretch | ing like long lane between the crowded shipping and the shore lay like a mirror, and 1 the rays of the setting sun were no longer uncomfortable. Everything was suspicious | except one oarsman. Tonight the city has been boiling with excitement. Everybody is ! cursing Courtney and hardly anybody will l believe he did not purposely lose the race 1 But he did not. He was a sick man, not physically but mentally sick. He was une- | qual to the strain and lost his nerve It is clear case of nervous prostration. The ! foolish two miles pull which he took in the sun yesterday was only the last 1 straw, but it broke the camels back. His breakdown has ruined him, however, as a boating man. Tonight he is again in bed | suffering mental agony I do not care for
 ] the race, said he lying in the bed with his
 1 head crossed between his hands. I knew l how that would come out before I stepped l into my boat to-day I am only troubled
 about the terrible pain in my head. am
 l afraid it will be weeks before will get over
 it. Beyond this he would say nothing
 He has been much criticised tonight for
 l not declining to TOW if he was sick and giv- l for &-& &o11a I,s,
 l make an interesting race. His decision on 1 those points, however, was made deliberately l on advice of friends who thought it would be better for him to row than withdraw, and at I the instance'of Referee Blaikie, who sustained the opinion of his friends, and said in addi- l ton that he Blaikie) had given his word that 1 Courtney would row. Hanlan is of course in l fine feather tonight. The referee awarded 1 him the race at the conclusion of the pull and 1 announced that the six thousand dollars would be paid to him at 10 o'clock tomorrow morning.
 In response to a serenade at his hotel | he made a speech which has attracted some l attention because it seems as though it must l cend to e match with Riley. He said TI 1 tame to row race and I am sorry did not row one, although I went over the course. l As for Riley think he is no gentleman or
 l he would not row over the course ahead of me- If he wishes to pull a race with me
 l will row him any time. I am now prepared
 l to TOW any man in the world The allus1on
 l to Riley was called out not alone by the fact
 l that Riley did TOW clear over the course, but also by talk which has been going
 on for week here concerning Riley's l ability to beat Han1an. The former says to- ! night that he will accommodate Hanlan be-
 ! fore the fall He is anxious now to meet him,
 ] but not till after the Providence race.
 Blaikie deserves credit for the skilful way in which he engineered the details of the
 race to-day. It is largely owing to his fore
 l thought that so great crowd gathered and
 dispersed without accident, and the race was
 l managed so there was no trickery or foul play
 l and little delay. Quite number of distin-
 guished persons witnessed the race from the
 referees boat. Secretaries Thompson and
 Sherman, and Attorney General Devens oc-
 I cupied conspicuous places in front of the pilot
 1 house. while Sir Edward Thornton climbed
 ! upon the pilot house alongside the referee
 { The Postmaster General was also aboard with
 ! some of his family.
 Barney Aaron and Johnny Dwyer with a
 number of their gang boarded the referee's
 n ,l.-Io~ ~-aI a1o< ,1,.I