New-York tribune., 1916-06-24
Crimson Varsity Rows to
Victory in Record Time
on Thames.
BLUE CREW FOUR
LENGTHS IN REAR
Lasher, Coxswain, Veers His
Shell Into Stake and SpoilS
Bulldogs One Chance.
BY W. O. MCCLELLAN.

Harvsrd's year on the Thames. The
three Crimson crews swept the river
and the Harvard varsity eight low
cred the record FOR the course, which
has been held by Yale since 1888. The
Harvard crew covered that stretch of
glittering. CLASSY smooth water in
20 minutes and 2 seconds. The former
record was 20 minutes 10 seconds.
The crimson-tipped oars shot the
shell through the binding sheen OF
sunlight that slanted across the finish
line four lengths ahead of the foun
oering Yale boat. The eight Harvard
osrsmen did not waver as they glided
under the bridge. They brought the
she'll TO stop with every man erect
and in his position.
Three men in the Yale boat dropped
forward YEARLY. The coxswain, lit
tie Lasher. released the cords defect
edly. To the watchers Of the finish,
from their position on the railroad
bridge, II seemed that the Yale crew
had openly acknowledged defeat by
slowing up in the last qusrter-mile.
II might nave been a closer and q
harder fought race. but for an scci-
dent TO the Yale Doat at the two-mile
mark.
Oar Hits Stake.
Coxswain Lasher veered the shell
Just a little too close TO the stake at
this point. One of the oars crashed
against it and the Yale she'll was
thrown back for half length before
it could recover.
The pity Of the mishap was that 1t
came just as Yale had started a squirt.
The vatermen Of Old Eli were only
half length behind, and they were
coming up strong. In one of the Yale
cars on the observation train some of
the rooters were chanting the bulldog
song Of Old Eli.
Two blue clad sailors, squatted on
the hatch OF the United States Sub
maripe No. Is, were waving their arms
frantically and yelling TO the men
with the blue-tipped oars. The Har-
ward rooters were silent with appre-
hension, as the buildings of the New
London navy yard shut off the view
Of the river.
The stake markings, the three
slender poles tipped with flags, showed
first. Harvard was leading by less than
length while Yale was coming up
steadily inch by inch At the distance
they seemed like one boat. Suddenly
the Harvard shell shot forward and
they were divided by a few feet Of open
water. One Of the Blue tipped oars
had just brushed one Of those slender
poles and set it quivering. The Yale
4 l 4. -. . L., ! rrrtkk fvrcr
while the osrsmen splashed desperately
10 set il straight again.
The Yale she'll recovered quickly, but
the race was lost. There, if ever, Yale
had q chance with that splendidly
trained and splendidly stroked crew Of
Cambridge. From this point on the dis
tance bteween the two shells widened
steadily foot by foot.
Yale Song a Chant.
The Yale Bulldog" song lasped into
lugubrious chant, and then the men and
women with the bright blue ribbons
were absolutely silent The unofficial
timers, who had been clocking the race,
announced that the course record GER
tainly had been shattered. They were
certain Of ~ at the two-mile mark,
where the watches caugkt the time at
closes TO 10 minutes fiat.
This is the way Harvard rowed the
record four miles, as 1t was caught by
half miles: minutes 80 seconds, 5 min
utes fat, minutes 81 seconds 10 min
utes seconds, y minutes 20 seconds,
IL minutes 80 seconds, II minutes 80
seconds and 20 minutes seconds.
Yale's time was only Z seconds slower
than the record.
The work of the Harvard oarsmen
~ Il. Z ~ 49,
of Syracuse on the Hudson last Satur-
day. A little after the start they took
the lead and were steadily gaining until
that wonderful squirt of the Yale men
Just before the tragedy at the two-mile
stake.
With Yale forcing the Crimson crew a
little harder in the last two miles there
is some chance that Harvard might
have made the course in something
under twenty minutes. That Yale could
have won, IL It had not been for the
accident, seemed improbable TO the
watchers. The Blue was beaten crew
from the start, but an eight imbued
with the bulldog spirit.
Wind and tide favored the smashing
Of the record The shells sped down
stream with a slight current, and there
was not a ripple on the surface of the
Thames.
1t was on just such a day in 1888
that a Yale crew, captained by /. A.
Stevenson, established the record for
Old Eli Only at that time the dis
tance between the shells was twenty
lengths Of open water. The watermen
OF the New Haven college pulled away
from Harvard at the start, leaving the
Cambridge she'll a mere black speck IN
their wash.
Woodruff Sees Race.
Hiram Woodruff, Yale, 'sS, who pulled
an oar in that crew, was one Of those
who watched the race to- day with car
load of gray ex-athletes OF Old Ell. He
was one Of those who joined In the
bulldog song Of the younger sons Of Eli.
With the instinct of the waterman. he
felt that the record which he and his
crew had established on that wonderful
day on the Thames so long ago was
about 10 be wiped out. He wanted the
new one that was TO be written there
made by Yale men.
With him were some classmates who
had seen that race. who had danced in
glee as the Yale she'll forged ahead and
ahead for the full twenty lengths Of
shining water. They shouted cries Of
encouragement that were used in the
good old brave days of Yale, did these
old grads. But IL was of no avail.
The glory of 'SS, the glory that
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