New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-01-13
STUDENT KILLED
IN CLASS BATTLE
u. of P.Freshman Crushed
Under Struggling Mass
Another Dying.
by Telegraph to Tbs Trib-ins J

Philadelphia, Jan. 12.-Five hundred
Young men fghting furiously in the
annual bowl contest between freshmen
and sophomores AT the University Of
Pennsylvania suddenly stopped their
struggle to-day as they found William
Lifson, a freshman, lying crushed at
the bottom Of a mass Of students, with
his face stuck deep in the mud. Lifson
died before he reached hospital. A
score of others were injured, some
seriously.
Gordon Smyth, a sophomore, Of the
Beta Theta Pi fraternity. 1929 Locust
Street, is dying in the University Hos
pital. His skull is fractured.
The bowl fight, one of the univer-
sity's rost cherished traditions. IL the
climax of the five regularly scheduled
contests wsged each fall between the
sophomores and the entering class. The
SCRAP" was divided into two periods,
Of fifteen minutes each.
The first ended IN a draw, for the
first time in the universitys history.
The freshman charge was led by Este
vaag. captain of last years freshman
football team, but his men were unable
70 push him through the crowd Of sophie
mores that massed around the bowl.
Nor could the sophomores capture
Estevaag.
After brief rest and while the
hundreds Of spectators who stood IN
the drilling rain cheered the freshmen
charged the waiting sophomores once
more. Lifson was in the van. He was
5 feet 8 inches tall, and although
weighing only l35 pounds he had won
honors earlier in the fall as lightweight
wrestler Of his class.
The crush OF men at his back drove
hi,a through the lines of sOphomores
until he slipped on the drenched turf
and went down. The fight had four
minutes still TO 90. Only those nearest
him knew that he had fallen. Two OF
those nearest D. g. Thomas. a fresh.
man from Wilkes-Barre, and John
Walker. OF Chester, also a freshman
realized that Lifson was being trampled
under the feet of the mob and shouted
a warning. But their voices were lost
in the tumult. Lifson himself cried
feebly:
"Ny God. I'm being killed."
Those near him pushed back. but a
new charge from the rear drove them
down again. A. last their cries were
heard, and thirty men who were piled
on him were dragged apart. Lifson
hands were clutchiug the bowl. He
gasped and lost consciousness. -.
Llfson. who was seventeen years old
and came from Elizabeth, y. J., was
the first student 70 be killed in a bow.
contest. Glasses were dismissed az
once. and the hospital corridors were
thronged with students.
Pcli,e Headquarters sent detail OF
the murder squad 20 the university 20
arrest material witnesses. They will
appear before the Coroner when the
Inquest into Lifson's death r. held.
Provost Edgar Fahs Smith said: The
question OF the continuation OF the
bowl fight and other fights will receive
careful and serious consideration after
a few days In the Hight OF what oc-
Cured 7 am sure no one would care
70 have this form Of sport continue
The sophomore class and the under
graduate committee. which regulates
the activities Of the student body,
adopted resolutions tonight recon-
mending that the bowl fight, as well as
all other interclass fights, be abolished.