PRINCETON FOOTBALL STARS MAUL 16-YEAR-OLD YOUTH

A sixteen-year-old town youth was brutally beaten Thursday night by three members of the Princeton football team, the News learned this morning.

The body of Larry Shelvey was found by Princeton police officers in an alleyway between the Colonial Bakery and Zinder's Store. He was taken to the Princeton Hospital where police surgeon P. C. Tan gave the boy emergency treatment.

Shelvey suffered multiple cuts and bruises, a severe concussion, a broken jaw, and a badly sprained wrist. His condition was termed quite serious" by Dr. Tan after the preliminary examination on Thursday evening, but by late Sunday evening, Shelvey had regained consciousness, and Dr. Tan told the News this morning that his chances of recovery were "excellent."

"It is amazing that he made such a rapid comeback," Dr. Tan said. "It was a terrible beating he received."

Shelvey was able to tell the story of his accident this morning to police officers. He described his assailents as "big and dark--football types."

"They stood in a ring around me and just grinned. They were the meanest grins I ever saw. I was scared. Then the biggest one hit me in the face, and they all jumped on me. It's hard to say how many they were; it was pretty dark. I recognized the meanest one--he was kind of short--from a picture in the newspapers. They knocked me down and then kicked me. I can't remember anything else. It was awful."

Police chief John H. Smith described the beating as "the most horrible thing I can remember in all my years of police work. It must have taken a pretty brutal type to do such a thing, but I've always thought that those football players would get mighty vicious by the end of the season."

The chief further told the News that young Shelvey had identified pictures of football players shown to him in the hospital. "He wasn't certain," Smith said, "but it seems pretty clear to me that some action will have to be taken against those men." He refused to tell the News the names to the suspected players, but said that he "won't hesitate to throw the book at them. Anyone who would commit such an outrage certainly deserves the harshest treatment," he explained.

This, of course, may mean that the three athletes in question may not play the entire game this afternoon or even start it. As this edition went to press, the odds on a favored Princeton eleven dropped substantially, and the Yale team's morale was, naturally, boosted considerably, If Yale could defeat the Tigers this afternoon, they would still be very much in the race to retain the Ivy laurels which they gained last year.

The News has reason to believe that certain Princeton officials will meet before game-time or shortly thereafter to consider the case, although the necessary path of their decision appears obvious. The News also learned that a warrant for the arrest of the three players is being sought by Borough authorities.

Meanwhile, speculation was rampant over possible motives for the beating. At Yale, David E. Hunt, assistant professor of psychology, suggested that the tensions which often accompany a major contest such as the Yale-Princeton, Harvard-Princeton, or Harvard-Yale games may have overwhelmed the players, who sought emotional release in beating the 16-year-old boy.

At Princeton, Ernest G. Wever, Eugene Higgens Professor of Psychology, whose course in animal psychology is one of the most highly regarded at Princeton, said, "I just don't believe a Princeton student would do such an unkind and ungentlemanly thing."

When further pressed for possible motives, Wever confessed that he needed more time to think about the various aspects of what he termed "a most unusual and most disturbing case."

Another possible outcome of this event was suggested by Rebert J. Kiphuth, director of athletics at Yale. "The results of this unfortunate accident may be more serious than it appears on the surface," he said. "A severance of athletic relations for a few years might not be out of order."