SERIOUS FOOTBALL ACCIDENT.
A POPULAR PLAYER BADLY INJURED.
The Otago-Taranaki match was the scene of a sad accident on Saturday afternoon, and one that has thrown quite a gloom over football circles in Otago. Alexander Armit, who was playing on the right wing of the Otago three-quarter backs, had the misfortune to come down so heavily on his neck that a dislocation resulted, and he now lie at the hospital paralysed, his recovery being almost hopeless. The accident happened this way: Armit got the ball, and was running almost at his top speed down the touch-line. He successfully passed one or two of the opposing players, and then he met Bayly, who was playing opposite him as wing three-quarter for the Taranaki team. Mr W. H. Haydon, line umpire for Otago, was probably in about the best position to see the whole affair. He states that he saw Armit jump when he came to Bayly to elude tackling. This caused Bayly to catch him round the legs lower probably than he intended, and Armit's impetus made him turn a somersault, coming down on the back of his neck as already stated. His head doubled under him, and all who saw the incident knew instinctively that he was seriously injured. Play at once ceased, and Dr Roberts and Dr Macpherson went on to the field to do what they could. With all possible despatch the ambulance van was summoned, and Armit was taken to the hospital. When taken there the question was: Is his neck broken or only dislocated, or both?
The injury was situated where the neck joins the shoulder, or seventh cervical vertebrae. Here there are a mass of thick, strong muscles, and it was found impossible to speak positively about the exact nature of the injury. The members of the hospital staff then decided to cut down upon the spine from behind to better feel and see the exact nature of the injury. This procedure would not complicate matters, and it gave the best possible chance of recovery. On operating it was found the spine between the sixth and seventh vertebra was both dislocated and broken. The spinal cord was badly crushed, but not torn. The dislocation was easily reduced, and the fractured bones put in their proper position. The operation was highly successful. It was hoped Armit would recover some sensation in his body and lower limbs after the operation, but up to an early hour this morning no sensation had returned. The surgeons think this is due to the crushing which the spinal cord sustained.
The case is an exceedingly desperate one, and the chances of recovery are very small; yet cases of a somewhat similar nature have recovered; but of course the usefulness of such a person has been very much impaired. Armit is completely paralysed from the top of the shoulders downwards, and the marvel is that he was not instantly killed. He is quite conscious, suffers little or no pain, and looks upon the accident as one of the fortunes of war. Armit's depositions were taken before the operation, and he entirely exonerates Bayly, saying that the whole affair was the purest accident. Bayly, he says, tackled him in the ordinary way, and in accordance with the rules of the game. Bayly and he were quite friendly, and he sincerely believed his injury was entirely accidental. This bears out the statement of Mr Cresswell, the referee, and others who were in a good position to see what actually occurred.
Naturally the visiting team to a man are greatly concerned over the accident, and if sympathy would heal, Armit would be well at once. In consequence of the untoward event the team will not leave for Invercargill this morning, as had been previously arranged. -Otago Daily Times, 28/8/1899.
Numerous inquiries continue to be made at the hospital regarding the condition of Alexander Armit, the injured footballer, who is still very cheery and confident of coming out of the hospital as well as ever he was. Yesterday morning he was inclined to vomit, and did not appear to be so well, but he again rallied this morning, when, as he remarked himself, he felt a little better. It is now close on four weeks since Armit was admitted to the hospital, and, with the exception of having recovered some feeling from the neck to the lower part of his body, very little change has been noticeable in his condition. No definite information is yet available as to the amount realised on the sale of tickets for the benefit match. -Evening Star, 22/9/1899.
We regret to notice by yesterday's telegrams that Alexander Armit, the victim of the accident in the Otago-Taranaki football match on August 26th, died at the Dunedin hospital yesterday morning. Besides having a well-earned claim to being the best three-quarter in the colony, Armit was always considered to be a splendid fellow in every way. He was Otago's scoring man, and it took more than one player to prevent Armit from registering his try. We feel great sympathy for Bayly, who had the misfortune, through no fault of his own, to take an active part in causing the accident, and we have no hesitation in saying that his conduct has been that of a gentleman and a thorough sportsman throughout. -Hastings Standard, 13/11/1899.
Members of clubs affiliated to the Otago Rugby Football Union are requested to attend the funeral of the late Alexander Armit tomorrow. -Otago Daily Times, 14/11/1899.
NOTES FROM DUNEDIN.
(BY OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) Eleven weeks ago the niirrie of Alexander Armit was in everyone's mouth. His case excited the most widespread sympathy. He was the young man whose neck was broken in an interprovincial football match but who, nevertheless, stubbornly refused to die. Every one expected to hear of his death in a day or two after the accident. He was told in the hospital on the day after it that he was going to die, and all the fuss and worry of taking what was in effect his dying depositions was gone through. One would have thought it was enough to make him die. On the contrary his spirits rose greatly and those whose training and knowledge did not tell them how hopeless his case was, were inclined to think ha might pull through. For the proverbial nine days periodical bulletins about his condition were actually posted in town, and then some fresh sensation came along and he passed out of the mind of most people, until the news of his death on Sunday last revived the interest in him. An inquest was held upon his body at which a verdict of "Accidental death" was returned and the player (Bayly, of Taranaki) by whom he was tackled and thrown was exonerated. Even the inquest furnished something like a sensation. Dr Burns volunteered to give evidence and expressed the deliberate conviction that Bayly had violently dashed Armit to the ground. As Dr Burns rarely gets anyone to agree with him on any subject it is not surprising that on this he should hold a view that the public opinion condemns as outrageously unjust not only to Bayly hut also to Armit himself, who admitted that his injury was the result of a pure accident, "It was the fortune of war," as he expressed it. Another statement made by Dr Burns at the inquest has also aroused indignation. It was, he said."simply disgusting" that the Otago captain should have gone to Armit and told him that it was his own fault. The suggestion that the Otago captain, who was a club comrade of Armit and who loved him as a brother, was not more concerned about him than Dr Burns was is generally regarded as sublimely presumptuous and grossly offensive. Armit is to be buried to-morrow. The regrettable thing is that there seems a disposition on the part of a number of people to obtrude themselves temporarily upon the public notice in connection with it. The idea of an order of procession and of a marshal of the funeral of this young fellow certainly seems to be carrying the worship of athletics to an extreme. -Mt Ida Chronicle, 17/11/1899.
DUNEDIN. November 15. The funeral of Alexander Armit, who was injured in the football field, was extremely large, and was witnessed by a great crowd. It was attended by six bands, the Foresters of the city, and the suburban fire brigades, the Rugby Union, and members of the football clubs. Many wreaths were sent, including the New Zealand, Otago, and Canterbury Rugby Unions, all the local clubs, and Alfred Bayly, of Taranaki. Telegrams of sympathy were received from many quarters. -Oamaru Mail, 16/11/1899.
OTAGO LETTER
(From Our Own Correspondent.) DUNEDIN, November 23,
A FOOTBALLER’S END.
A striking proof of the extent to which the community was touched by the death of Alexander Armit, the young footballer who succumbed on the 12th inst. to the injuries he had received eleven weeks before in the match between Taranaki and Otago, was furnished by the crowd that attended his funeral, and the still larger crowd that thronged the streets to witness the passing of the procession. Here was the funeral of a mere factory lad causing such a concourse of people in the principal thoroughfares as has only been seen on, at the most, half a dozen previous occasions in Dunedin. There was probably a two-fold explanation of it. In the first place, it was felt to be inexpressibly sad that this young man, in the full enjoyment of his health and strength, should be suddenly cut down while engaged in a pastime which for their pleasure was being witnessed by thousands of people. In the second place, wonder and admiration were excited by the splendid vitality he displayed. The mortal nature of his injuries was apparent from the moment that their character was seen, and on the very day after the accident Armit’s death was looked for by the hospital authorities. They sent, in fact, in hot haste for his relatives on the Sunday night after he was taken into the institution. Not only, however, did he rally on that occasion, but for weeks he seemed to grow no weaker. .He joked with his doctors, informing them that he intended to “beat them yet"; he joked with the warders and nurses; and generally he was the life of the - ward. Gradually, however, he became vjeaker and weaker, and found, himself unable to sustain a conversation, but even when he felt himself that he was doomed his spirits did not flag. Emphatically he died hard. The endurance he displayed impressed the public about as powerfully as the accident had previously affected them. “Accident” I say advisedly, because the coroner’s jury found — and no doubt found correctly — that Armit’s death was due to accidental causes. This verdict ignored the evidence at the inquest which Dr Robert Burns gave. He is not absolutely alone in thinking that the deplorable occurrence was avoidable, but he is one of a very small minority. Of those who saw the game probably 90 per cent, will agree that Armit’s death was the result of an accident, as, indeed, he himself, in a sworn statement, admitted it was. Dr Burns went out to the match expecting, he says, to see rough play. No one who has gone to a football match looking for rough play has probably ever been disappointed. He blames Otago in fact for having thought of playing Taranaki. After their experience of the North Island savages two years ago: — a delicate reference to the Wellington team’s visit in 1897 — he seems to think that the Otago Union should stick to the South Island for its engagements. -NZ Times, 27/11/1899.
THE O.R.F.U. AND THE RECENT FOOTBALL FATALITY.
A special meeting of the Committee of the Olago Rugby Union was held yesterday afternoon to consider two letters which had been received on the subject of the death of the late Alexander Armit. The meeting was attended by Messrs Gallaway (president), Wilson. Morris, Campbell, Harris, Payne, Young and Hutchison.
_The following letter was read from Mr G Millar, uncle of the deceased: —
I take leave respectfully to inform you that I am dissatisfied with the inquest held on my late nephew, Alexander Armit, and believe that it was altogether irregular from the fact that there was no notice of said inquest sent to his friends; and if you do not make it your business to have a proper inquiry made as to the manner in which my nephew met with his death I shall be compelled to make it mine even if it should cause me to visit Wellington to interview the Minister of Justice.
The following letter was read from Dr E Burns: —
I beg most respectfully to request that you will support the desire, now becoming very general, that a proper inquiry be held on the football fatality by which Alexander Armit came to his death.
The apparent apathy of the community is far from being real. There is a deep-seated dissatisfaction with the verdict of the coroner's Jury. The constitution of that court and its proceedings seemed carefully designed to stifle the truth, and the verdict had been carefully led up to during Armit's protracted illness by persistent repetitions of false reports of the occurrence.
The matter should be cleared up at a new magisterial inquiry, as asked for by the Southland Daily News, and I think that a request to that effect, addressed, to the Minister of Justice, should, with great propriety, emanate from you.
Then perhaps, a tribunal with some idea of the nature and value of evidence would be able to refute the Otago Daily Times's opinion "that the verdict exposed the feeling of the community." The community did not know the truth.
I wish to say, with all due respect, that there is a likelihood of all this matter benig thoroughly inquired into by the Rugby Union, and it would ill become your body to have to act under pressure from the superior organisation.
It was resolved — "That the police having taken charge of all proceedings in the matter relating to the injury sustained by Alexander Armit, and the matter having been inquired into by the properly-constituted tribunal, it would, in the opinion of the committee, be altogether outside the province of the Otago Rugby Football Union to attempt to interfere." -Otago Daily Times, 5/12/1899.
The Armit fund has now been closed. A balance sheet of the fund, which is published in another edition, shows that a total of £587 12s l0d was collected. No deduction was made from this for the expenses of the benefit football match, Auckland v. Otago, all the charges in connection with it being borne by the Otago Rugby Union, and, after the payment of a few trifling accounts at the request of the late Alexander Armit, a sum of £585 0s 4d remained to the credit of the fund. It was proposed by the O.R.F.U. that this should be devoted to the purchase of an annuity for Mrs Armit, or that it should be vested in trustees, to be nominated by her, and approved by the union, on trust to invest the amount and pay her the interest with power to her to encroach on the principal to bring her income up to a specified amount. Her solicitors, however, informed the union that it was her desire that the whole sum should be paid over to her, and, it being the aim of that body to consult her wishes as far as possible in the matter, a cheque for £585 0s 4d was forwarded by the union, some days ago, to her legal representative. -otago Daily Times, 22/12/1899.
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