The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-02-20
SAW. LON MYERS COLLAPSE
George, the English Runner, Tells An In
teresting Story About the Dead Athlete.

A very interesting and in many ways
progress in. English newspapers and
periodicals on the dangers of over ex-
ertion in various branches of sport. The
latest man to enter the discussion is
w. G. George, the ex-champion runner,
His communication, as published in a
London paper, is particularly interest
ing for the reason that it has a refer
ence to Lon Myers, the athlete who died
in New York last week and was well
known by so many Worcester men.
Mr.. George writes in part as follows
Twenty years ago l ran in a cross
country race at Birmingham. Our
clothes had been sent on to a village
twelve miles away; a heavy snoWstorm
came on directly we had started and
we all lost the tran. ] fell in with one
companion, and after running some
twenty miles found our destination and
one of our members still missing. Our
| friend, however, soon turned up appar-
entity well. On taking his bath he conf
pletely collapsed. We carried and laid
him on a table and four of us, under the
orders of the late DIR. J. Moore ChImself
a good athlete) worked hard on him for
more than an hour. He was at death
| door the whole time, and had Mr..
| Moore not been there he would prob
! ably have died. He regained partial
consciousness in about two hours, was
| put to bed, and he got up the next
morning feeling all the better for his
outing. L. e. Myers, the American, ran
me a hree-quarter-mil match in New
| York In 1881. He collapsed twenty yards
from home and was carried to his tent;
| | finished out the race and walked to
my tent, when I Immediately collapsed.
Recovering in about an hours time, !
went to Myers and found him still I'm
conscious and he remained so for some
| hours. We wtre due at the Windsor
Hotel that night at a dinner given to
us. We both turned up, but had to leave
before the dinner was half served. We
went home and to bed and got up the
next day feeling none the worse.
wv. Cummings, when he ran me at
J Lille Bridge in 1886, and when I estab-
lished the existing one-mile record--4
minutes 12% seconds-oOllapsed sixty
three yards from home. Some people
! say his legs gave way. 1 maintain he
simply collapsed, although not COM
pletely.
During my athletic career I col
lapsed seven times, and I have witness
ed many athletes collapse in walking,
running, swimming, rowing and boxing
| contests, but never in cycling, although
l have seen many men collapse from
the shock of a spill, caused through
making a mistake.
I'm conclusion, let me say that I have
never seen trained, healthy man reap
any permanent harm from collapse, and
1 think it almost impossible for him to
| do So Collapse simply means nature
asserting itself. A few men may have
the pluck to try and kill themselves by
oVer-eXertion. but when they try to do
so nature steps in and puts a stop to
the business before the climax is
reached. On the other hand, an UNI
trained or unhealthy man, il he enters
! into any kind of violent work or con-
test risks Sis life, or, at any rate, lays
the seeds for no end of trouble. The
moral, therefore, is: Don't go in for
| training or violent eXertions without
consulting a doctor.
EVERY one should be thoroughly eX-
amined both before and during all
4 training. l devoted twenty years of my
/ life to very active and violent sports of
almost all kinds in England America
Australia and India, and / am perfectly
sound today, as DR.. Wingrave of Fins
/ burycircus, can verify This gentleman
examined me a few months ago and
he said my heart and lungs were per-
fectly sound, not even the slightest en-
largement of the heart, which was very
remarkable