, 1889-07-10
work is all that of the service and deter

In the pools the Boulder team was the
~favorite, with Loveland second and all
the rest in the field. The Gramm men
of Laramie and Alerts of Cheyenne were
backed heavily and their admirers we're
legion, while each of the remaining teams
had a confident following OF respectable
proportions.
j. t. CLARRs.
The bell changed and a heavy voiced
Judge called for the J. T. Clarks of Chey-
enne. This team has performed won
drous feats in the past, but of late years
the company has given but little attention
to racing.
The men showed a lack of training and
there were several new faces on the ropes.
while at least one point" was covered by
a green man. Three or four members of
the team were injured at Greeley on,the
4th, and the new men had not yet be-
come acquainted with the work. They
rad evenly but laboriously and 80 As sec
onds had elapsed before water issued
from the nozzle.
ALERTs.
Now came the Cheyenne pets, the
trim built, agile alerts. Each man
seemed full of life, and that they had
been carefully prepared for the event was
very apparent. The Alerts have a pheno-
minal record. In numberless contests, of
ten previously handicapped, they have
never failed to capture first or second
money.
The Alerts team is light and the track
was still quite damp when they were
called, but the men are always confident
and courageous and seem lmbued with
the idea that the fates decreed long since
that they should always come out pretty
nearly at the top of.the heap. Their men
at the points are equal to the best in the
association and rarly fail at the critical
moment.
When the team in their neat white
trunks faced the starter a big shout went
up. Silence followed and the words of
Capt. Roedel were heard the length of
the track. Stretch your rope, Are you
ready? Col" and the eleven men were
off the scratch and away like the wind.
They forgot all about the cumbersome
cart and the heavy track and simply
flew along The plugmen q we're
pulled past the hydrant and
the runners were ierked backward by the
shock, but quickly recovered and we're
down the stretch as the plugmen returned.
There was now a requisitlon upon the
bone, muscle and nerve of the eight men
on the rope. They did not fail, but
forged ahead with the i~mpetuosity of a
locomotive. The 200 feet OF hose was
laid in an instant, the nozzle attached in
a twinkling and but the fraction of a sec
ond in advance of the arrival of the water.
The time was 80 4 5, the best ever made
in the Rocky Mountain region.
BOULDER.
The fayorltes in the betting, with the
prestige of a long line of victories and
letters patent on perhaps the best plug
man in the United States marched
proudly on the track. Fonda, the wizard
plugman, carefully reeled the hose, first
draining it. The mans nonchalance was
epidemic in the circle he desired 1t to
effect, and the eleven men in the Macky
hose team of Boulder seemed cool as if
only out for a jog. Their delibera-
ton delayed the start until the people
commenced to fret Just a little. Finally
the starting signal was raised and all eyes
turned to the head of the stretch. The
team when stripped for business is pre-.
possessing. There are about three small
men in the lot, but the remainder are big
brawny fellows filed with determination
and bearing an air that plainly declares a
run of GOO feet mere amusement.
They came down the track at a killing
pace, urged on by plaudits of the multi
tude. As they neared the hydrant a big
athlete started for the object with the
hose. Fonda attached the coupling quick
as thought and sent water after the flying
cart. He did his work just a trihe too
well, for the nozzle was scarcely in place
when water rushed through 1t, drenching
a crowd. The pipeman "cross threaded"
with his implement, else the magnificent
run would have been for aught. As it
was the Boulders made n tie with the
phenomenal time of the Alerts-3O 4 5
seconds. The excitement for a time was
wildly intense. There were many who
firmly believed it impossible to equal the
feat of the Cheyenne boys and a few OF
these cried foul on the pipe,
but no formal protest was
stood last night, though the point is not
covered by the rules. Under the rules of
the Colorado State Association neither
team has any claim whatever to second
money, but this decision if adhered to,
made will doubtless meet with the APP
probation of the sporting public and fair
minded people interested.
To-Day.