Evening star., 1926-09-23
CROWD FOR HOURS
SURGES TO ARENA
Moiling Mob, Battle Lust
High, Fills Big Bowl
Slowly.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

PHILADELPHIA, September "a
The stadium looked like a great sea
turtle at distance. 1t rides the
crest of a low green hill gigantically.
The walls are of brown pressed brick,
with parapet of gray stone. AS you
approach down the blue black asphalt
of Tenth street you see the galapagos
turtle stranded high on the right.
Everywhere stood platoons OF Phil
adelphia policemen in dark blue. They
are smart in their Sam Brown belts
and wide crowned caps. People start
ed coming before noon, but the police
held them all back on Tenth stret.
Green busses and yellow taxis made
streaks of moving color along the
dark asphalt. Private cars were put
into the meadows on the other sloe
of Tenth street., across from the sta'
dunn and far below.
They multiplied in numbers rapidly'
and by o'clock when the gates were
opened they made acres BACK IN tIs
meadows look like they had sprouteo
some strange and unexpected crop.
Rarbed Wire Entanglements.
The Stadium was hedgeo OH py
barbed wire entanglements that RICK
ards men threw up within the iast
"a hours. Regular war work. Ihese
and the policemen's billys kept on
tho gate crashers. But being inside
tha W,ire fences was not being INSIDE
the Stadium. ..a+
That was another matter, one tnat
called for the costly cardooaross' o.
| There were plenty OF comers ny o.
Inside the 1000 white-jacketeo pop
corn and lemonade vendors an'
guished with their trays and baskets:
Thara were gatekeepers in khaki ana
ushers with red and white bands on
their arms. The scene was as Iuil
of color as the bird house at the 400.
The noise was lacking, but tnat
! would come in time. ~.
Folk were glad to get out or the
hurly.burly of upper Broad street,
which needed to be broader.
Stadium Like Battleship.
Numerous policemen managed the
traffic pretty we'll and taNis alo "o
,,,iIas on ho1,r to the Stadium in the
early hours.
"A
coat statesmen, but the sun popped
ont and the boom fell off. That the
sun was cheerful. but treacherous, It
boiled the early corners to the Stadi-
nm and then at o'clock Nimbus
clouds climbed out Of the west ana
the sun went in angry llgnt. Inc
sky scowled like Dempsey in the ring
as darkness fell.
The Stadium was built to accommo-
date $4,000. Rickard has nearly dou.
bled that. Five nights and days 40O
carpenters have hammered and sawed
till the saucer holds 10000.
Saucer is a misnomer. The Stadium
is like a battleship run hard aground
and then the after half removed ana
! whisked out of sight. The open end
of this immense hull is boarded up
and covered with corrugated iron out
side. Inside is slope of pine seats.
What previously was the Stadium 8
athletic field equivalent to the grid
iron at the Yale Bowl has been Gov.
cred with pine benches and folding
chairs. .
BEFORE the crowd gouged in
| through the hundred ports OF the Dig
half ship or horseshoe the banks OF
yellow chairs. all neatly numbered,
| lent a fine splash of color against
the gray slopes of the real stadium
On every hand stood up large let
ters and numbers indicating sections
and areas. In their mass they looked
liked a national political convention,
where the banners wave for states
The States are here this time, but
all jumbled in regardless OF
geography.
Airplanes Over Arena.
Army airplanes came over In
chevrons like wild geese. They were
wild enough, doing loops ana lmmel-
man turns in formation, going on
sudden verticals and horizontals and
solving pretty problems in geometry
| Their gasoline horses neighed SO
loudly that the sound thudded into
the stadium like Gunfire, as early
birds twisted their necks to watch
| the air acrobats.
| A silver-shelled blimp hung in the
air. and its great form stayed in view
inst over the west rim like sausage
symbolic of what these opponents
want to make of each other in &c
short minutes.
| BY o'clock the stadium was filling
up. People made black patches over
| the high slopes. Darkness was draw
| ing on and the night was enlargine
the place. Daylight makes the sky
high. Starlight makes it infinitely
remote But plain obscure darkness
abolishes it altogether. This last was
slowly happening, and the stadium
with it's population was becoming a
habtable globe itself
Philadelphia ceased to exist in any