The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-01-02
La ter Statistics Show
Records of Fatalities
ere Exaggerated.
DEATH RATE WAS
NOT EXCEPTIONAL
Death Roll Is Deplorablc. How
ever, and Changes in Rules
to Modify Game Must Be
Made Before An
other Season
Opens.

Total deaths attributed to game. 20
Not due 10 football .....1.......,. u
I,esuIt of injury In previous seasons. g
Due to injuries I'm unorEanlzed games.
College players killed ..............
school players killed .....#.s......E..... S
Facts only. and not fancy or
exaggerated. should have weight In
any reform movement. and this applies
to the inevitable changes that VIII be
ntadc I'm the rules of college football
this winter. Since the football season
closed u careful investigation OF the
fatalities alleged to have been due d.
rectly to the game has been made.
and the result shows that the season.
however dcplorable in its death roll. is
not exceptional over its predecessors,
except that the number OF fatalities IN
college games is unusual.
when IL Is said, as was tho case at
tho meeting of the New York Board
of education. which voted for the
abolition OF the game. that tho sport
had cost twenty-six lives thls year,
n1fsstatement of the facts was made
saws tie New York Tribune. Yet
this statement was based on figures
collected and tabulatcd with great
care by the Chicago Tribune That
Newspaper is moi TO blame. Its figures
before detailed information was pos
slbIc. and for the errors the local cor
respondents must be held responsible.
Reports Exaggerated.
'The tahulated statement indicates
that football cost twentysix lives
this year Now. as a matter of fact,
careful examination by tho Tribune
of every case mentioned shows that
five of these twenty-siS deaths were
from causes In no way connected with
tho game. and that six others alleged
TO have died from football injuries
were victims OF accidents In previous
seasons. Moreover. in only two OF
these six cases can any connection
be traced between football aud death
except that the men concerned had
at one time or another played the
game.
Thus fifteen deaths remain to be
studied as having possibly been due
to football as played this year. Of
these. four We're organized teams one
victim being only eleven years old.
Such players seldom follow any OF
the rules OF the game. Their form of
the sport is a rough and tumble en-
gagement called football only because
a ball is used in some fashion during
the play. 1t is nanifestly unfair to
Judge the college game by occurrences
In such travcsty.
Two Men Fatally Hurt.
Two college PLAYERS were fatally
hurt. Eugene A. Bryne. of West
Point, playing against Harvard sus-
tanned broken neck and died within
twenty -four hours. Archer Christian,
half back on the team of the Univcr-
sity of Virginia, was fatally hurt in
a game with Georgetown, and died
within few hours. These arc tho
tragic and deplorable accidents OF the
season that have made the rule-makcrs
stop and think That they seem to
have been unavoidable makes them
mono the less dcplorabc.
Two college players. thcn, have
been fatally injured. Eight boys at
school playing on regular school teams,
with more or less organization, must
be added to tho death roll. Two OF
these cases are in institutions OF
pseudo collegiate sranks-St Mary's.
College, of Kansas. and the Medico-
Chirurgical College of Philadelphia.
Both OF these institutions claim good
scholastic rating, but in athletics they
arc barely on par with schools IKE
Exeter and Andoyer, and are property
rated with the schools rather than
with the colleges.
Not Fully Authenticated.
These eight deaths arc not fully
authenticated In every case. The
Tribune has sent letters of inquiry to
the principals of the schools involved,
and full answers have been received
In many cases. But, even SO, no con-
flrmation beyond the original dis
patches chronicling the death Is avail.
able in four cases, which are included
in the table therefore With some re-
luctance. Five deaths have been
proved to be due to football and two
OF these victims are known to have
been immature and hardly fitted to
take part In so strenuous a game.
"rhese facts are set forth calmly.
and without any desire to attack the
views of those opposed to the game
as at present. They are intended to
be OF service to those Interested in a
real revision, in order that the sub
ject may be approached in a reason
able spirit and without hysterla, The
fact Is that the total authenticated
death roll of fifteen, based upon the
figures OF the Chicago Tribune, as
revised. compares not unfaVorably with
the record of thirteen deaths in 1907
and fourteen in 1905 recorded by the
same authority. To go further into
the causes of. the fatalities admittedly
due to the game Is to make the list
even smaller. for some of tho deaths
are shown to he due to a plain disre-
gard of rules and precautions wholly
tncXcusable, Bi
How Accidents Occurred.
.One OF the school deaths was due
to an injury to the neclS received In
an open field tackle, Another was
~ rs (Continued on Second pagel