Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-01-10
.rror,r. rrrrenAn TO THE p1srArcn.,

NEW YORK, January Ss-1nab pOrhOu Vi
the Supreme Court over which Judge Nor
gan T. O'Brien presides was filed to over
flowing to-day by a crowd partaking of the
baseball character, who expected to listen to
arguments by counsel respecting the valid
itv of contracts between the National League
and its players, and in which the Metropoli-
tan Exhibition Company, controlling the
New York Club, is the plaintiff, and John
NJ Ward, of the Players League is the de-
fendant An injunction was moved for last
week to restrainJohn NJ. Ward from playing with
any organization other than the National
League, but the mass OF evidence that was to
be presented induced Judge OBrien to post
pone the case until to-day, so that the whole
matter could be probed to the bottom and a
proper decision rendered. The case was sixth
on the calendar and it was but short time
after court convened that His Honor called:
The Metropolitan Exhibition Company versus
John NJ. Ward"
THE LEGAL LIMBS.
Messrs. Choate and Beaman, with George M
Duysters, of counsel for the New York club
were early upon the scene of action and ex-
Judge Rowland and his colleague, Mr.. Ander-
son. Of counsel for the Players League, sat i'm
mediately beside their opponents. The rela-
tions between the learned experts Of the law
were of the friendliest character, and before
and during the argument of Mr.. Beaman,
Judge Howlaud and Mr.. Choate had frequent
chats together. Among the important base
ball personages present were: President John
b Day, Directors Charles 7. Dillingham;, Wal
ter Appleton and Jos Gordon Of the Metro
politan Exhibition Company; President Byrne,
of the Brooklyn club; Manager Mutrie, John
Ward Tim Keefe, George Gore and Buck
Becannon. Mr.. Beaman presented the case of
the plaintiff and asked for the restraint Of the
defendant Ward, from playing with any other
club In support of the request he carefully
explained to the court what the game Of base
bah really was. how the clubs were constituted
and managed; told what the national agree
ment was and the methods of the Brotherhood
and the Players League
THE CLUES BENEFITS.
He dwels at some length on how the New
York derived its benefits, claiming that it was
principally by the reputation and ability of its
players. Dropping his manuscript for a mo-
ment and lood & at Judge o. Brien smiIingly,
he said: SIN addition to Wards good qualities
as a ball player he is a lawyer" This amused
the court in general. The contract with the
players was read through hurriedly until the
supplementary contract with Ward was
reached.
Mot satisfied with the original contract"
said Mr.. Beaman Ward insisted on signing a
contract Of his oW@ in witch the word reserve
was omitted. But ! would like to know the
difference between the original contract with
the word reserve included and the supple
mentary contract which Ward signed That
contract stated that he shall not be held for
1890 on salary less than IS OOQ Is not that re-
serve contract7 Suppose he was offered So 900
or more, would not that hold him under his
own contract? We think it undoubtedly would.
This supplementary contract is certainly part
OF the original contract It is a contract made
TO protect himself Then why should it not
protect club as wellf"
In concluding. Mr.. Beaman said: THE ques-
tion is, have we contract with Ward? Is he
bound by it? Or is it simply an ordinary
laborers contract which can be broken with
out recourse to the law?'
ROWLAND CALLED DOWN.
Ex-Judge Rowland settled himself for an ex-
tended argument after Mr.. Beaman had con-
cluded; but Mr. Choate was on his feet in an
instant and claimed that Judge Howland's
procedure was at total variance with the law.
and asked the Courts interposition. Judge
Rowland was anxious to present a mass of
afidavits in support of which he would be
obliged to refer at some length to the National
League from its inception to the present time
Judge o Brien said that Mr.. HoWlandis course
was the general one, and if he insisted the case
would have TO proceed but he thought the only
proper way in this instance was 20 give the
plaintiff an opportunity to reply to his afidayits
Ex-Judge Howland-Your Honor it is abso-
lutely necessary 20 have this case ended as soon
as possible. There is a desperate struggle
going on between the players and the plaintiff,
and the sooner the matter is settled the better
it Will be for both sides
Mr.. Choate-But we have not seen your affi-
davits. and cannot make proper defense We
NAV want TO serve a few additional afidayits
also.
Judge O'Btien-HoE long, Mr.. Choate will
you require9
Mr.. GhoaUe-A week from to-day
MI. Howland-That will be satisfactory to u.s.
but they've got our thunder. have lust
handed them our briefs and they'll know as
much about our defense as we do.
Mr.. Choate-Oh, all we want is a-shortstop
His Honor and everybody, else was much
amused at this remark This ended the case
untiI next Thursday