The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-06-27
WIN BY FOUR LENGTHS.
In the Four. Dared Race Harvard Tri-
umphs.
THE FRESHMAN CONTEST DEAD HEAT.
YaIe's Crew Were Leading When With Mag
nifcent Burst Harvard leaped Along
side and Judges Were Forced
TO Call Il a Draw.
(By the Associated Esess.)


New London, June 26.-Rowing within
ten seconds of record time, the Yale
Varsity crew this afternoon lowered the
colors of the fastest eight the Harvard
has yet produced. Yale won by four boat
lengths. Yayes time was 20:20. Har
wards 20:33. In the four cared race the
colors OF Harvard were borne to the
front. The Cambridge four won by "a
lengths.
In the freshmen race Yale's crew led
over the last mile until within a few
feet of the finish. where the Harvard
crew, by a magnificent squirt, jumped
their she'll up even with the blue. The
judges were compelled to decide that the
race was a draw.
Twenty-Five thousand people saw the
Ellis row to victory in the big Varsity
race But while the crowd was great,
it was the presence of President Roose
Welt which made the crowd unique in the
history of Yale and Harvard races. The
President saw the finish of all three
races from aboard the Dolphin, which
was anchored Just above the finish line.
He declined the invitation of the re-
gatta committee to go aboard Cornelius
Vanderbilts launch, the Mirage, prefer
ring, he said, to remain aboard the
Dolphin, where he could be with his
family. The eyes of $4,000 people mean
while searched yacht after yacht in the
hope of glimpse of the President.
After a stormy night and morning
which seemed to mean postponement of
the races until Friday, the afternoon
finally became cloudless day of almost
perfect weather for she'll racing. The
wind blew quartering on the coarse from
the northwest, but with the exception
of the varsity four oar race the crews
could not have had much better water
More yachts than ever before in the
quarter OF century of Yale and Har-
ward races on the broad Thames were
anchored along the last mile and a half
of the course, forming solid avenue
and filling the river from bank to bank
Glorious tinge of colors Which above the
blue waters of the Thames made a beau
tiful picture against the cIoudless sky
The closenesS of the varsity race brought
out the greatest crowd of Yale and Har-
ward graduates and undergraduates that
has ever come to New London, while
the presence of the President brought
to the people for many miles around the
Thames. Rough water necessitated the
postponement of the varsity race from
fouP until six o'clock. The varsity four
oar, race was rowed a few minutes
beft three o'clock. The wind at this
tint was blowing a gale. and referee
William A. Meikelham decided to post-
pone the freshmen race and also to
postpone the varsity race. The long OBJ
servation trains on either bank Of the
river lay alongside of the starting flag
Filled from end to end, not an empty
seat, two big trains bearing over 5000
people were bright with the gowns of
pretty women and the colors of Harvard
and Yale.
The enthusiasm on the observation
train was so great that the referee had
to signal to the crowd to keep quiet so
that the crews might hear the pistol
shot. AT 500 the pistol was fired and
the two big shells leaped away from their
stake boats. Harvard got the best of the
start, and in ten strokes had the nose
of her she'll quarter of a length ahead
of the blues boat.
Harvard started at SO strokes to the
minutes, Yale at 80. BY the end of the
first half mile Harvard had driven her
stroke to "a, while Yale still held hers
at "a. At the half mile flag the boats
were almost even. Over the next half
mile the race was a desperate struggle
between two powerful crews. The boats
zigzagged for a minute and a half and
then the blue shell began to creep ahead.
Yale reached the first mile flag in 5:04,
two seconds before Harvard. The Ellis
We're two-thirds of length ahead.
the two mile flag Yale was leading
Harvard by four seconds. Yale's time
was 10:11: Harvard's 1915. Whistles
and sirens at the Navy Yard shrieked
cut welcome to the oarsmen as they
swung down over the next half mile. Yale
eased up bit on her stroke and dropped
it down to 81. Harvard seeing Yale re-
lax jumped hers up to "a.
At the three mile flag Yale led by two
good lengths, her time being 1910 and
Harvard 1916. Then Yale raised her
stroke up to 80 and Harvard in a desper-
ate effort to hold her own kept hers at
"a. There was very little difference in
the power in the two boats but be-
tween the two strokes there was de-