Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-06-17
SCRAMBLE FOR SEATS
MARS LEONARD FIGHT
Many Delayed in Gaining En-
trance-FeW Police to
Handle Crowd
RAINS PROMISES RELIEF

Fight fans got the "razz' at the
Phillies' Ball Park last night They
suffered the only knockout on the pro-
gram. And to many of them it was
hard blow.
The bouts were booked to start at |
$50 o'clock. And they did. But those
who didn't get inside the gates a half
hour before that time hadn't chance
to get the seats they paid for. They
got seats-some of them-but it was
grand scramble all the way through,
and the fellow who won out was the
one who could climb best over rows of
chairs.
Promoter Leon Rains, who staged the
bouts, said today that he had previously
arranged to have sufficient patrolmen
on the job, but that not enough men
were sent by the department to handle
the crowds.
In explaining the lack of ushers,
Rains declared he had accepted the offer
to have marines on the job after it had
been explained that the men were actu-
where they were posted.
1T seems" said Rains, that
the boys in khaki left their posts at the
first sign of a fight and the fans had to
dig for themselves. 1t is unfortunate,
but under the new arrangement no one
will suffer"
1t is estimated that crowd some
where in the neighborhood of $4,000
persons saw the bouts. 1t is safe bet
that of the $4,000 who edged and
crowded their way through the narrow
turnstiles that jammed the entrances
to the very few gates opened to admit
the crowd, not more than a few hun
dred who happened to get inside the
park somewhere after sundown, saw an
usher.
Announcement was made later in the
evening that a detachment of marines
from the Philadelphia Navy Yard had
consented. at the request of Major A.
J. Drexel Biddle, to serve as ushers and
lead the fight fans to their seats.
But the marines, at the first sound
OF the bell staging the initial prelimi-
nary bout beat it from the stands and
srent the remainder of q pleasant eve
ming on the turf at the ringside. There
was nothing doing in the ushering line
when the blows started. And the
devil dogs sure held up their repu-
tation of being the first at the 6ght.
World Series Crowd
In the meantime, outside the few
gates that the management saw fit to
open to the fans, there was a regula
tion worlds series crowd jamming and
pushing its way into the narrow en-
frances and edging right and left in a
vain effort to reach the several windows
where tickets were on sale.
There was an average of about one
patrolman to every 300 persons. And
if the crowd hadn't been good natured
and orderly, except for jamming ant
edging in front of the entrances, il
might have been different story.
At the Fifteenth and Huntingdon
streets entrance, where the higher
priced tickets were being sold, there
was one lone patrolman inside the en-
trance doing his best to keep in ordel
throng of nearly 5000 persons. AL
he could do was stand there where h,
had been planted and plead with tn
crowd to take it easy"
Sticks in TurnstIle ...
But the bouts had started and tn
fans wanted to get inside the gate
Most of them were without tickets
and in their hands held rolls of bill
ready for the ticket sellers. Insid
the gate, just beyond the lone patrol
man, was line five deep in front of tn
IL IL
others shoulders trying to reach th
ticket agent. Severaf clambered to tn
top of the turnstiles that blocked pas
sage into the park. One man, VIII
weighed about 240 pounds ringside
~ot stuck In the turnstiIe with 5
bin IN one hand and . dsterminatio