Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-08-07
Y. e
sit was hhe latter half Of the aaooaa


SIT was Che latter half of the second
inning, and no runs scored on either
side. when l grasped my bat at the
warning cry: Holmes to the bat:
Smithers on deck In a few seconds
Holmes was out and l faced the
pitcher.
81 grasped the magic hat tightly.
and as [ did SO [ seemed to feel an
electric thrill run through my frame.
The bat quivered as if instinctwith life,
and l could have sworn that l felt a
pair of warm hands clasping tie handle
between my own. So strongSwas the
impression that / actually looked down
to see if such were not the case.(
The ball flew towards me. l felt i'm
PEELED to strike. and without hesitation,
without calculation, struck madly at it,
and there came another roar another
electric clapping Of hands, and L saw
the ball, a tiny blot on the blue sky,
cleaving the air one hundred feet above
the head of the left field. 1 ran like a
startled deer, one base, two, three.
clean home run, and painting sank
down on the grass fully ten seconds
ere the ball was sent in. / had made
my first base hit, and it was a home
run!
"'Guess you've been saving up your
base hits for the last three years. re-
marked our captain.
81 need not dwell in detail upon the
rest of this history. On that day, as
was generally remarked, I played like
the DEVIL and the banner of Somer,
vile went down in the gloom of white
wash. Chat sentence is somewhat
Whitmanian, but let it stand.)
An honored member of the
first nine, wherever the Excel
siors went l went, and with me went
victory. Base hits and home rup
poured prodigally from my bat. Whit
[ wished it to do that it did. The fame
of the Wahpanseh E1celsiors becme
more than local; professional rnes
came from afar to battle with if and
retired worsted. My portrait with a
heavy black moustache) was il the
C1lppey. I was offered for six months
recreation such a salary as fewminis-
tiers of the gospel, teachers creditors
can hope to receive. One thing how
ever, puzzles me: Who was n, mys-
FERROUS visitor, and will he reap,ear to
claim his gift3"
How this manuscript came tito the
possession of the World reporter it
would be tedious here to relate The
following item from the Wah>anseh
Clarion of August 10, may, however,
be of interest:
eve regret to learn that no nliable
tidings have as yet been received of
Mr.. Henry G. Smithers, the respected
left fielder of the Excelsior Bae Ball
Club. On the 9Th of July, earlyin the
morning, as our readers may r,mem-
Der, his bats, with which during the
year he had made sixty-one home runs.
two hundred and n~inety-eight bass hits,
and six hundred and seventy-thre. total
bases, was found on Main street near
Jefferson, permeated by a strongsmell
Of sulphur and bearing the imprint of
several fiery fingers. Nothing has
since been heard Of our esteemed citi-
zen, and it is feared that foul play ex-
lists. The Excelsior Base Ball Gu, has
offered a reward of two hundred dol
lars for his abductor or abductors, and
the secretary, the genial Herbert F.
Wilkins, mine host of the Eureka Ho-
tel, informed our reporter yesterday
that the amount would be raised to
five hundred dollars."-M. Y. World.