Evening star., 1925-05-10

"A two-day hearing conducted by the
committee. OF which the national Sec
retary. Frederick w. Ruben, was the
head, developed the fact that Wilson
had been In New York in December
and had arranged with a New York
newspaper man to represent him in
the East. A letter written by Wilson
was produced, which contained the
following paragraph:
I'VE could pay him his expenses
hack to Finland or give him the
money. either one. Naturally. 1 want
to protect his amateur standing and
will trust you to handle this In a dip
lomatic fashion and let me know how
things progress SO We can advertise
this feature as soon as possible"
The statement related that Nurmi
had been questioned at some length
and had proved that he knew nothing
of arrangements for his participation
I'm the Drake games. Ritola had filed
an entry there and expected to COM
pete. but In Chicago, before the date
Of the relays. Wilson is said to have
visited the athletes In the dressing
rooms and requested that Ritola
a mile race against Joie Ray. This
was refused. Quist said he recalled
the sum Of $500 was mentioned in con-
nection with Ritola's expenses VIII
son later Cancelled the 2-mile race.
Today's hearing included the sus-
pension Of NurIni by the Middle At
lantic Association last night on a
charge of having received excessive
expenses for his participation in the
games last February. These expenses
have been checked and approved by
the national body, 1t was asserted.
THE committee feels satisfied" the
statement says In conclusion, that
the evidence presented does not in
any way involve Nurmi or Ritola,
and that they have neither directly
nor indirectly received financial bene
! fits through their competitions In this
country. The Amateur Athletic Union
has made a thorough investigation
throughout the entire country and
has yet to receive any definite in
/ formation of any violation of amateur
| rules by either of the athletes men,
toned
Nurmi Not Surprised.
FITCHBURG, Mass. May tA.P.).
-Paavo Nurmi, Finnish distance run.
ner, raced to an easy victory over a
handicap field in a special mile-and-a-
half event at the Reipas Athletic Club
meet here today. His time was 6 min
| utes 521a seconds. 10 seconds slower
than the record he established at Los
Angeles. Calf. on April 90. ~
Nurmi appeared to be running easily
through the whole distance. The high
| est handicap man had 100 yards. but
the Finn had passed the entire field al
| the end of the third lap and drew
| away steadily.
! Fftxpatr4ck of Holy Cross finished
! second. SO yards behind Nurmi, and
| his teammate, Donaghue, was third
| The rest of the field was outciassed
| completely.
Nurmi stopped In the midst of a
| warming-up process prior to his race
| long enough to hear the news that he
had beeh vindicated of charges of ex
| cessive expense demands made by
various athletic bodies. He grinned
and said he expected 1t.
Nurmi had been asked to explain
why Quist had not accompanied him
to Fitchburg for his appearance here
and also about a report that the two
had severed relations.
| mo. he is not with me-" he replied
I'VE have parted. I will be in this
/ country only two weeks more, and
/ Will no longer need any Interpreter OF
managef.''
Relations Not Pleasant.
Asked whether he and Quist hat
parted as friends. Nurmi evaded a di
| rect answer. but said his relation.
with his manager had not been alto
gether pleasant in the last two weeks
Nurmi previously had been told tha
he had been vindicated of charge!
| Of demanding excessive expens,
money from various clubs throughou
the country. At first he only grinnet
and shrugged his shoulders and woulS
say nothing. Later, however, through
A1INTZn RREWER