The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1905-10-30
FOOTBALL ACCIDENTS
Startling Record of Gridiron
Fatalities for Five
n Years.

n Years.
That there Is good reason for the col
lege football authorities to eliminate
unnecessary roughness from the game
as advleeS by President Roosevelt Is
shown by the record for only Eve years.
Forty FIVE deaths aud hundreds Of seri-
Gus injuries Is the record during that
time. Hardly single game has been
played during which It has not been
necessary to carry one or more Of the
players from the Geld. In almost every
instance the death or injury was due
directly to the heavy mass plays
against which President Roosevelt and
the country at large are protesting So
/ vigorously. says the New York Herald.
To chronicle all the Injuries would re
qulre the use Of thousands Of names,
and even then none would be included
where the hurt was of less serious
character than the breaking Of collar
bone. The mere spraining Of an ankle
Is not considered Of sufficient impor
tspce to interest anybody except the
individual player and perhaps the pas
\ ents.
But in the big college games alone
/ the list Of injuries is large enough to
| prove interesting showing. as 1T does,
ten lets and fourteen collar bones bro
ken in four years Of play for a brief six
/ weeks each. to say nothing Of four
! skulls fractured, FIVE spines injured,
four shoulders dislocated and a couple
Of broken noses. one player got his
neck broken without its causing his
death.
OF the forty-fve who gave their lives
/ TO football nearly every death may be
traced TO the unnecessary roughness'
against which Mr.. Roosevelt has pro
tested. Picked up unconscious from
beneath mass Of other players, II was
generally found the victim had been
kicked ia the head or stomach so as to
cause internal injuries or concussion
Of the brain, which sooner or later end
ed life.
Sixteen died as a result OF internal
injuries, four from broken necks. six
from conclusion OF the brain. eght
from broken backs. three from paraly-
sis, two from heart failure. one from
lOckjaw. one from blood poisoning, due
TO cut received in a game; one from
hemorrhages and two from menin-
gifts. induced by spinal injuries suf.
fered in play
II is true that the death list includes
the names OF none Of the players on
the teams of the leaders in football.
but not season goes by in which the
best trained players are not seriously
hurt. As a rule the players who are
killed were in minor teams or not
themselves sufficiently hardened to en-
dure the strain OF the game
But those who maintain that the
game Is in danger of being buried be-
meath an avalanche of popular disap-
proval have plenty Of evidence on
which 10 argue their point that the
very lest players are in constant peril,
II not OF their lives at least of receiving
injuries which may weaken them for
life.
Ellis of Harvard, for instance, in
1900 was out after the game with West
Point. De witt, Princeton's big guard
had to be taken out of the game for
weeks al a time because OF injuries
Roper and Davis. two Of the orange
and blacks most promising players
went out with strained ligaments In
practice play. Perry Hale. Yales big
fullback in that year. hurt both his
knee and ankle seriously before the big
games We're played.
Wiley and Burke OF Princeton, two
promising candidates, we're put out iu
1901 with broken collar bones. and
Mills. PrincetOn's giant guard, had tho
ligaments OF his ankle broken In the
Cornell game Of 1901 In practice that
year such a seasoned player as VIII
helmi. Yale's halfback, had TO be car
ried of the field with a wrenched knee
which kept him out Of the game FOL
days. while SOper and Andrews, Yale''
substitute halfback aud guard, were
internally injured After the game
with Harvard De Saulles OF Yale hat
to beetaken to Boston hospital.
Tyndeman and Foote of Cornell were
put out OF the game in 1908 with 4 dis
AbAAAfn NnOAiAtt anu nlNhtl AOrf
Williams, Carlisle's captain, had hii
spine seriously hurt in the game witt
Virginia in 1902. Thorpe and Talbert'
] OF Columbia had a collar bone and an
| kle broken IA the Yale game OF 1903
Turner of Brooklyn and Lawrence o.
Bayshore. two promising candidates
for varsity positions, were put out las
year one with a strained back and thl
other with n dislocated knee Twitchel
of Hartford. substitute quarterback 70
Yale, had his spine badly hurt. Brill
; Harvard's star tackle, had 10 leave tn
line, when he had been depended upol
10 hold Hogan. Yale's great tackle, ant
an \ ray showed that the bones Of hi
shoulder were shattered
} Already this season Hollenback o
the University of Pennsylvania,
promising candidate for left end. ha
had his leg broken above the ankle
Aud all OF the big games and most 0
the games OF lesser Importance are "
: 70 be played
National Honne For Letter Carriers
officials OF the New York Letter Car
, riers' association announced recent
that national home for letter carrier