The Portland daily press., 1899-06-28
They Led for Nearly
Whole Course.
Cornell Was Third and, Columbia
Poor Fourth.

@Su8AhoSpetcs wa 1ss Juu6 1f-lWeuty
thousand persons EtodayE saw one Of the
most exciting four-mile boat races ever
witnessed In the history of.Tcollege row.
Ing. Five thousand persons on the obser.
walton train yelled themselves hoarse in
frantic appeals to their various college
crews to do their best and with the other
IL, 600 they saw the Red and Blue carries,
over the line a winner by q short hall
length from the Wisconsin badgers who
lost 1t in the Iasu 200 yards by bad steer
ing, Cornell. thu victor of former years
pulled after them a good four lengths
the rear, and Columbia never In tht
fight, after the end of the first mil
trailed In good three lengths from til
stern Of the Cornell boat.
1t Twas the kind of race that mako :
the blood tingle In the veins and IT,.
nerves become tense under the excitemer
and these elements were injected into
by the crew that came over 1000 miles I
meet the former victors. forlwithout ii
gallant Wisconsins in the race it woul
have been but doIefui procession afte
the second mile. To say that there wa
baIpEAhO On tno OuorEyhblOn Train al
amidst the great crowds upon the bank
when the Wisconsin shell swept mile afte
mile of the course, until the last half WI
reached, with clear lead upon all IL
crews. Ia putting 1t mildly,
When those on the train saw the gaIlaI
struggle, mile after mile, they droppe
their appeals for their own crews an
yelled in friendly manner. for the bo,
from the West
The alleged ragged stroke. the badl
keeied boat, the too long reach were a.
forgotten as the fast moving craft KEEP
its nose to the fore, until 1t was seen /,
turn out towards the shore at the finis
and lose the race to the men from Penn
sylvania by a short half length. Well di
the Pennsylvanians obey the Injunction
Ellis Ward to not lose their heads. Frol
the first eighth of mile, they rowed !;
stern, hard chase, at one time bein:
astern of both Cornell and Wisconsin
but their pluck and endurance senu thei
over the line winner in good time an
by such q small margin that the glory Il
greater.
For Cornell, the winner of many bat
ties, 1t proved to be a race only for tw,
miles. For those first two miles she di,
gallant work, but she was struggling
against evidently better crews and It wn.
only by exertions OF phenomenal natur
that she managed to keep the nose of tn
| oat aheadss Of Pennsylvania for q briel
time in the second mile.
OF Columbia 1T may be said that she
was outclassed from the start and barring
en- accident. never at any time stooda
chance OF Winning. She went to the real
in the. first quarter. although she made i
good start, and stayed there all through
the race. @N 8 u
All day long there was a
3LULL ABOUT THE CITY
and the crowds strolled over to the river
quite early. AT six O'Clock, orr few
minutes after, the Pennsylvania crew ar
rived at the start, where the observation
train already was, and there was a long
wait, which was explained on the ground
that the Columbia launch while towing
the shell up the river had broken down.
The Pennsylvania crew, which 1 was
getting into the boat from the float at the
start, was serenaded by lot Of enthu-
siastic rooters, who had secured o cornet
to accompany them in the song "Hurrah
for the Red and Blue" At 6.48 the
rsferee's boat signalled to Cornell and
Wisconsin, both crews being at the Cor
nell float just above the start, to come
out, because Columbia had Just rowed
into sight. Seven minutes later the four
the referees queryi Are you ready
in the affirmative. Cornell had the
channel course, where the advantage is
said to lie, with Columbia directly next
to her and then came Pennsylvania and
Wisconsin close in-shore. 1t was rathe,
pitiful to hear the three eastern crew
gst cheer after cheer and the Wisconsi n
crew not getting any.
PLEASE keep quiet, observation train
called the referee. and there was quie
ness enough so that the referee coul
pls inly be heard saying care you 81
resdyY''
Eyes, came back the answer from ell
the coxswains.
At,6 54.S0 the pistol flashed and the
together.
Hardly had the crews rowed five
l.ngths before 10 was seen that No. Q of
the WISCONSIN oreW had iuHipad his seat
and the ooxswain thre q h hisshkh hds