The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-11-16
Tat I(essrnprr.
REPORTS FROM THE SEAT OF
WAR

with undated activity. It the Georgia
house but three woes were given
against driving out the brutal. deadly
game from that great state. The New
York papers and all about in fact, are
filled with football reports, public opin-
don against the game, and the casual
ties OF battle. We note, for edification.
some Of the reports. simply selecting
nnd condensing. At Springfield. Mass.
the five heads OF grammar schools Op-
pose h game. The st. Paul, Wiscon-
sin Pioneer Press reports that the two
teams fought tooth and oenail."
Bean was substituted for Anderson.
who was hurt. Cocvhems was
hurt, but refused to leave the game.
-" At this point Peele was hurt,
and Jolife was put in at left-back.
O'Dea was badly used up. and
Trait went in at full-back."
When a Minneapolis game was
fought a few days g the La Crosse
<w1s-) Republican say when a man
was disabled, "tne savage cries take
him off the field!" when e young ath-
lete lay writhing. might well have re-
sounded through the Roman amphi-
theatre 1000 years g when a slain
Gladiator encountered the way Of furth-
er slaughter"
The Kansas City Times reporting the
night at Lawrence. Kansas tells this:
I nearly every scrimmage some
man with a yellow sweater was hurt.
and much time was consumed in re-
viving the fallen. Hobbs, Iowa's good
~full-back, was struck on the back OF
the head near the base of the brain,
as he lay on the ground after an at
tempted ackle. When it was seen hat
he was in no condition to continue, he
was led off the field.
AS he lay on the ground, he became
e. delirious. After being taken to the no
tel, it was found that his right arm
and the right side Of his body were
paralyZed, temporarily, at least"
All the Georgia papers so far as
we know, with one exception, condemn
the game and advise immediate legis-
Iation against it. The Savannah News,
the Rome Tribune, the Atlanta Journal,
the Athens Banner, the Columbus En-
-quirer and others are strenuous against
the game.
The Young Mems Christian associa-
fion Of Williamsport, Pa, have decided
to drop the game. 1t has a fine team.
Mr.. Vance Mccormick, ex-captain Of
the Yale university eleven in a recent
lecture, deplored the ~roughness of the
game. Rev. DR.. Gambler, president of
the Methodist college at Oxford, Ca,
calls for legislation. He says Of foot
ball games, that they "are worse than
neutrality-suspicious., in that more pugi-
lists engage in the fights, and they are
damaging to a class of people never
injured by the prize ring. When these
things prevail at centres Of culture, and
find encouragement in colleges. we
have a syrsptom that our civilization
is beginning to die at the top. 1T is
time for some authority to trim the
f=Ae."
"A dispatch from Wooster (Ohio) to
Cleveland Leader, says broken collar
bones have deprived the different
. classes in Wooster university Of w
Of their best players within the past
u week"
Several other collar-bor"s broken are
reported, and at Middl2ton, Conn.,,
Kelley Of the Western university foot
ball team had his thigh dislocated in
the first rush in the game with Har-
ward, and was sent to his home at Dor
chester, Mass. Yarrow fractured his
cheek zone in a practice game this
week, and will be unable to play again
this fall" There are other fresh acct
dents and injuries, but enough now.
The New York Tribune like the Even
ing Post, is speaking out forcetully
against the brutal game. In a recent
editorial it calls for instant reform or
~"the game must CO." 1t says and, the
whole article is very notable, but a
small part must do:
MANY serious and several fatal acct
dents on the football field this year
HAY led to a renewal Of the move
ment for the prohibition Of the game,
and in two or three colleges it has re-
Gently been andon or forbidden.
Football news largely consists
of descriptions Of accidents and reports
upon the condition and prospects Of
players who have been laid up for re-
pairS-Whether or not they will be
able to play in the next big game, and,
If so, how long they will last. Perhaps
the most convincing commentary on the
dangerous probabilities Of the sport is
the elaborate provisions for surgical at
tendance for the injured"
Let men of sense n humanity
consider tina and use their influence
TO end a game more ~censurable. than
prize ring today. The New Haven
Register, the leading democratic paper
of Connecticut, and published right un-
der the shadow Of Yale university, in