Los Angeles herald., 1908-07-18
By Associated Press.

By Associated Press.
LONDON, July IA serious con-
troversy has arisen between the
American athletes and the British
Olympic association. Americas CHER
cause of complaint is the arbitrary
manner In which their protest against
the flagrantly unfair methods of con-
Quoting the tug of war" was dis
missed. Every unprecedented spectator
present at today's meeting was con-
WINGED that the Americans We're justi-
fled in refusing to go on with that
event.
The United Kingdom had three teams
entered in the tug of war, made up OF
the police of the city of London, Liver
pool and the Metropolitan forces. The
Americans all wore ordinary street
shoes, complying with the rule which
says:
mo competitor shall wear prepared
boots or shoes or boots or shoes with
any projecting nails, tips. springs AT
points, hollows or projections OF any
kind"
The Americans In wearing ordinary
shoes naturally believed that the team
representing the United Kingdom
would do likewise. Their disappoint-
ment therefore was all the greater
when upon the Liverpool police appear
ing II was noticed llty WNI0 WtoA ms
heavy shoes, so heavy In fact that II
was with great effort that they could
lift their feet from the ground. The
boots were enormous calf affairs that
could not by any stretch of ibagina-
ton be called ordinary shoes. Heavy
boots are worn in the British navy,
but these were greatly exceeded In
weight by the footgear of the Liverpool
athletes, which, In addition, had steel
rims around the heels.
Matthew Halpin. the manager Of the
American team, Immediately entered
protest TO the games manager but he
was told the shoes were those ordinar-
lily worn by Liverpool police. At first
Mr.. Halpin made up his mind to take
his team off the field without attempt
ing to pull. but finally decided TO go on
with the first pull in order to show
how unfairly the Americans were be-
ing treated.
The decision Was a wise one. for the
spectators in the stands near by could
see that as soon as the United King
dom team put their weight down the
heels of their shoes cut through the
turf and gave them hold that was
almost impossible to break.
The Americans made no effort ana
were promptly pulled across the line.
Mr.. Halpin then announced the Amer
lean team would not continue until the
rule was adhered to, and his protest
being ignored all the men marched OF
the grounds, one official proclaiming
through a megaphone that the Amerl-
cans retired because they have had
enough of it.
The facts in the case were reported
to the American commission and James
e. Sullivan, the American commits
sioner preferred a formal protest to
the British Olympic association, who
turned it over to the officials OF the
Amateur Athletic association. AS these
officials already had decided in favor
of their own team the protest, OF
course, was not allowed.
An American team is being organized
to take part in two days sports at
Paris to be held July 81 and August l..
The frequent downpours this morn
ing kept even the most hardy away,
and when the archery contests COM
menced there were scarcely any per-
sons in the stands.
Oddly enough the highest scores in
both the ladies' and gentlemen's arch
cry contests were made by members Of
the same family. w. Dodd scored 4O3
points and his daughter, Miss Dodd.
S48 points. K. B. Richardson, the only
American entered, scored fifth place in
the gentlemen's round, with 344.
The afternoon opened with the final
heat of the 10-Inile walk, in which q
e. Larner of England established a
new record of hour, Is minutes, 81 1-5
seconds.
In the semi-final fancy diving, George
w. Gadiazk of the Chicago A. A. won
his heat by handsome margin. He
scored S5.6, while Turner of Germany
was second with 1913. Seven heats Of
the 5000 meters bicycle race, which also
reaches the final stage tomorrow, occu-
pied the cycle track for nearly an hour.
SPENCER and Van Drake Stein of Hol-
land; Marecha, Aurey and Schilles of
France, and Jones and Kingsbury OF
the United Kingdom qualified. Cam
eron and Weintz, Americans, found the
European riders a little too much for
them.
The three-lap team pursuit race went
to the British riders, adding still an
other to the United Kingdoms list OF
victories.
AS was expected. C. w. Daniels of
the New York A. c. won his heat In
the first round of the 100 meters swim.
His time was 1908 4-5. T.
The heat winners in this contest IN
cluded H. J. Hepner of the Illinois A.
C. and L. G. Rich, Brooklyn Swimming
club.
The Americans met disappointment
in the 3200-meter steeplechase, j. ID.
Lightbody of the University of Chicago
losing his heat to Swell, United King
dom. Lightbody's defeat was not sur
prising, as he recently slipped and
threw out his knee cap, but he ran the
plucl1iest kind of race
j. L. Eisele OF the New York A. G.,
who most nearly approached the form
of the English distance men, won his
heat in the steeplechase in 1913 90
Galbraith of Canada and Robertson,
Russell and Holiday of the United
Kingdom all qualified for the final.
Germany scored her first win this
afternoon when Bieberstein came in
first in the 100-meter backstroke swim.
The wins now stand; United King
dom, %; America, 8; Sweden, 3; Nor
way, Q; Canada, Germany, France, Gel
GUM and Italy each.
The score in the track and field
events, counting for firsts. for sec
onds and l for thirds, is: United King
dom, 20; America, 81; Sweden, u;
Greece and Norway, each; Canada
and Australia, l each.
LONDON. July 1.-THE American
H. 80 IA