New Britain herald., 1929-03-26
MANY INJURED IN
 RIOT AT FIGHT
Panic SeizS Crowds at Fields. Thompson Battle in Chicago

Thompson boxing match. Two score persons were injured in the resultant pandemonium. Two of them were hurt so seriously that they may die.
 There were $500 men and women in the building when 8 fight started in the east balcony. Cries of fight" went up. By many the cry was un- derstood as fire" and the crowd be- came panic stricken.
 The fight between the Chicagoan. Fields. and the California negro. Thompson. was in the eighth round. The battle itself had reused the crowd to high eXcitment, and when the furore broke out in the balcony it spread quickly.
 Plank seats piled in the balcony in anticipation of the opening in the Coliseum of a circus, were knocked over, and their chatter added to the crowds frenzy. Most of those pres cnt knew that the circus was soon to open at the Coliseum, and that some of the animals already were quartered there.
 Shouts went up that boa constric- tors and lion had escaped from their cages and were loose in the main floor. The fact that the build- ing was in darkness save for the brilliant light which was centered on the ring itself added to the uncer- tainty of what had happened.
 Thousands of radio listeners tuned in on WGN and kYW listened in on the tumult, although the micro- phones through which the broad. casts were being made were knocked to the floor in the first wild rush. Telegraph wires to newspaper of fees were cut off, and first word of what was happening reached the outside through radio loudspeakers.
 A pail of smoke from a photo- grapher's fashlight hung low over fingsiders, lending substance to the cries of fire" Some of those near est the exits rushed outside and turned in an alarm, and it was fire men who later took the injured from the building to hospital.
 Judge Francis Bore,li was among those trampled. though his injuries were not serious. Teddy Hayes. trainer for Mickey Walker, was seated with Walker, the middle weight champion, in the fifth row and was reported to have been serl- ously hurt.
 The most seriously injured, 1t was stated today at St. Luke's hospital, were Samuel Schurman, whose legs were crushed and who was injured internally when pushed over the balcony; Samuel Shayne whose legs were crushed; Isaac Binber, inter- nally injured and Henry Lansfield. The latter two may not survive, it was said at the hospital.
 Several horses, quartered by the circus in the building. began stamp ing in their stalls, adding to the din.
 At the outbreak of alarm, the en- tire main floor crowd seemed to concentrate upon the elevated ring as the one place of safety. They rushed forward, trampling over chairs, leaping upon the reporters press table, wrecking typewriters and telegraph instruments and send ing microphones spinning to the floor. So quickly did the crowd surge forward. that there were sew eral score persons in the ring be- fore the fighters realized what was going on and were stopped from lighting by the referee.
 To the thousands of radio listen- CTS the affair teemed with drama. For several minutes the microphones carried to listeners such confusion of sound as to indicate that some dis aster had taken place.
 As soon as the kYW announcer, Gene Rouse, recovered his micro- phone, he called upon his listeners 10 notify firemen and police. At that time it was not clear to those inside the Coliseum what had hap pened-whether it was fire. a riot. or whether, as one carly report said. the gunmen had appeared and had started to shoot it cut.
 One announcement that went out over the radio during the early hysteria was that some of the crowd had shouted that pull was loose among the spectators.
 Paul prchn, head of the state box ing commission and also president of the National Boxing association. was one of the first to climb into iie ring and it was largely through his shouted appeals .or order and r's assertion that there WIS no cause for alarm that the crowd was quoted.
 The Coliseum office today was piled high with hats and coats and other clothing forgotten in the rush for safety. Women reported the 1 loss of furs, jewels and purses.
 Several police officers were among the injured, and the list included also the names of half dozcn women, although none was seriously hurt.
 The best account Of the actual start of the trouble was that two negroes, one with q knife, the other with pistol. startc 10 fight. T'.cre was a general pushing away from the fighters. and the cry of fight" misunderstood as fire" went up. An usher in the trouble zone said one of the negroes had offered to bet on Fields. the white boxer. and that this had ansered the other negro.