The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1901-09-23
HARLEM TROPHY
CAUSES DISPUTE.
Central Rowing Crew Refuses to
Compete in Defense OF
the Cup.

Owing to the refusal of the Central Row
ing Club to permit its crew to row yester-
day in the Harlem Cup race and on account
Of the action of Referee Nick Wallace In
declaring the contest postponed when
majority Of the crews entered were willing
to compete, there was no race yesterday
aftertoon and three local crews assert that
they will not again challenge for the trophy.
Six crews were entered for the race. rep
resenting the st. Louis. the Mound City, the
North End. Century. Central and Western
Rowing clubs, the last named being chal-
lenger for the trophy now held by the Cen
trails. All crews were on hand to start and
all. except the Centurys and the CentraIs
expressed their willingness to compete.
The Centra1s. however. objected to the
rough water and the high wind. which was
blowing upstream and upon their objection
Referee Wallace declared the contest post
poned for two weeks. The St. Louis North
End and Western clubs refused to accept
the postponement on the ground that the
referee had no right to take such action,
and upon the further refusal Of the Centrals
to compete they declared that they would
not challenge for the cup in future
Captain Frank Dummerth Of the West
erns stated that by the conditions of the
cup contests the Centrals had no choice in
the matter of rowing and that they should
have forfeited the cup by their refusal
1.-The conditions under which the cup was
accepted from julius Meyes." he said, PRO
vfded that the holders Of the trophy could
be challenged once year, and that q date
for the contest must be set within sixty
days. No power is given to the holders or
to the referee to postpone the contest when
4 majority of the crews are willing to row.
Il thought at first Of sending the crew
over the course and claiming the cup by de-
fault: this would precipitate unpleasantness.
however. SO I let the matter go and will
refuse to row for the cup in the future
The st. Louis and North End crews are
with me in the matter
Robert A. Meysheimer representative Of
the Westerns. stated that the course late
In the afternoon was no rougher than that
Of 1900, when the Centrals won the cup
The course lay from the North End boat
house above the Merchants bridge. to the
Central boathOuse. q mile and a half down.
stream.
Referee Nick Wallace Of the Centrals
gave as his reason for declaring the race
posi- tponed that the weather was unsuitable
and that the Centrals had the right to
postpone the race. being holders Of the
trophy. He set the date for two weeks
hence. because the Centurys have . re-
gatta next Sunday.
OF the six crews entered yesterday. tho
Westerns were captained by Frank Dunn
merth. the st. Louis crew by Pete Blatt-
ner. the Centurys by Arthur Everson. the
Mound Ctys by Mike Beckley and the
North Ends by Captain Smith. Captain
Tebeau Of the ~entrals indorsed the posi-
tion Of his crew in regard to the rough
ness Of the water.
The Harlem Cup was donated in 1893 and
was won by the Westerns in that year The
Mound City crew challenged the next year
and won in minutes and 30 seconds and
were I'm turn defeated by the Csntrals last
year In IL minutes and seconds. The cup
becomes the property Of any crew winning
II three times.