Los Angeles herald., 1908-07-23
By Associated Press.

gloom pervades the American camp to-
night. The athletes from over the
seas had strongly cherished hopes of
repeating yesterdays grand record
making clean sweeps in the track
events but dark horse in the person
of the South African youth, r. E.
Walker, upset the calculations. Walk
er broke the tape in what is considered
the most important event in the Olym-
pic games, the 100-meter dash, short
two feet in front of ]. A. Rector, the
University of Virginia crack, thereby
putting an end to the astonishing sue
eession of American triumphs when
had begun to sadden the Britons.
Shoulder and shoulder, Walker, Rec
tor and the Canadian star, Kerr, ran
down the straight course, with Cart
nell, the Pennsylvania Splinter, close
behind. At the halfway mark Walker
forged slightly ahead, but at the tape
less than yard separated the first
three men, with the Canadian only
few inches behind the Virginian IN
third place.
The American team did remarkably
we'll at the stadium today, but success
had elated them to the point where
they were satisfied with nothing less
than everything in sight. A world rec
ord by c. j. Bacon of the Irish-Ameri-
can A. c. in the 400-meter hurdles,
which he won in S. seconds; an Olym-
c. Irons of Chicago A. c., in the broad
jump, and the victory of G. S. Dole OF
Yale In the featherweight wrestling
out of seven finals, should be salts
factory days performance.
Great Britain as usual came second
among the countries, with S. V. Bacon,
winning the middleweight wrestling.
and the English team defeating the
Belgians in the water polo. The Afri-
can colonial flag was raised TO lne
masthead to signalize Walkers great
sprint, and Finland, whose representa-
tive, Saarla, conquered all corners IN
the Graeco-Roman wrestling bouts,
having no flag, brought forth a stand-
ard hearing the word FINLAND" which
the Films carried in the opening pa
rade, and 1t was elevated on the nag
pole. o,,,,,
once in a lifetime on an athletic field,
when 100000 people arose with a great
cheer and filed the air with hats, While
the boy, this morning unknown, out
whose name fills London tonight was
lifted on the shoulders of enthusiastic
friends. The only demonstration APP
preaching this during the meeting was
the tumult after Sheppard's sensational
win In the 800 meters yesterday, but
that was feeble by comparison, because
Walker is a Britisher and the Engllsn
public is not partial toward American
successes.
This is due partly to the fact that 1t
is a bitter pill to the keenest sporting
nation on earth to take second place
in any contest, and it is also true that
the Americans incurred some unpopu-
larity by their protests, which the Lon
don newspapers and the Olympic OFF,
ciols interpret as reflection upon the
honesty of the English judges, and re-
scented accordingly.
The American contingent had feared
that Kerr, the Canadian, would rob
them Of the 100-meter dash, but they
had not considered Walker dangerous.
No one accepted the national misfor-
tune more gracefully than Rector.
When spoken to regarding walkers
victory the Virginian said: walker is
a faster runner than me, and that is
all there is to say"
The Olympic games are developing
into n huge success. While the meet
ing started discouragingly, with the
weather and other conditions strongly
against it, London Is fast becoming
athletic mad. People everywhere talk
of nothing but the Olympian runners
and Jumpers, and the women seem as
much interested as the men. Great
crowds gather around the ticket otnces
to secure the best seats for the final
DAYS and a big attendance Is certain
from this on.
If would be hard to imagine finer
spectacle than the stadium presented
today From athletic, social and spec
tacular standpoints it quite equaled
the, expectations of the promoters
Queen Alexandra and other members
of the royal family were present and
congratulated the African runner on
his victory. The stands contained 40
900 persons, of whom at least one-half
were women, whose multi-colored cos
tunes presented a fascinating picture.
The American section was truly Ameri-
can, with waving flags and noise max
ing instruments. There was organized
cheering by a large band of collegians
under the leadership Of frantic
youth brandishing a huge club and
shouting "Rah, rah, rah, Bacon!
which was heartily taken up by the
others, when the first American vic
tory of the day was proclaimed. This
caught the fancy of the crowd i'm
mensely, as did the Americans cheer
ing for Walker, who, although he de-
feated their favorite, was as cordially
greeted as their own countryman.
The picture in the arena was worthy
of applause. When the queen entered
the royal box the runners were striv-
ing with every muscle set in the 400
meter race around the track, divers
were throwing double somersaults from
the tower and brawny wrestlers were
struggling III LnS NTIdeCO-ItOIIldn COLI
tests. On the platform at either end of
the oval a band of Danish lady gym
nasts, who were the most attractive
novelty of the meeting, arrayed in
white uniforms and yellow stockings,
were engaged in graceful exercise.
The jumping events were conducted on
the green turf in the center of the
stadium, and altogether today's meet
ing furnished a series of thrilling pic
lures and quite as much excitement
and close finishes as yesterday.
In addition to Walkers sprint the
400-meter hurdle and the semi-final
heats of the 400 and 200-meter fiat
races were memorable events. The
Americans had the hurdles to them
selves.
c. J. Bacon, the Irish-American A
G., and Harry L. Hillman, New York
A. c., between whom there was as
warm rivalry as between the men of
different nationalities, ran clear away
from their English rivals, Burton and
Tremer. The Americans rounded the
turn yards ahead of the Englishmen
and fought 1t out for first place in the
stretch, Bacon reaching the tape slight
ly in the lead.
On Hillman's previous record he was
expected to win, for, at the Olympic
games in ST. Louis In 1904, he ran the
distance in SO seconds. but as he had
knocked down two hurdles a worlds