The Portland daily press., 1894-11-05
DoNAHuE's STATEMENT.
Tells All the Facts of the Disagreement
About Fairbanks That Presented the
Foot Ball Game Saturday.
To the Editor of the PRESS:

To the Editor of the PRESS:
Having a complete knowledge of all the
circumst ances connected with the Portland
Bangor difficulty, at the request of several
ardent supporters of the team, l will go
over the matter in as impartial a manner as
possible.
Early in the sea son Portland arranged two
dates with the Bangor High School, Novem-
ber 3rd and 18th. Over this there was no
trouble. About week and a half ago l
wrote Manager Hennessey the conditions
under which Portland wished to play.
Among them it was stated that Capt.
Mitchell of Bowdoin, and Captain Jordan
of Colby, should be the officials. Up to last
Tuesday no reply had been received by me,
and being desi1 GUS of learning if such terms
met with Bangor's approval, I called
Manager Hennessey up by telephone. He
said that Mitchell and Jordan We're not
acceptable to him. Portland's reasons in
proposing these two men were that they re-
garded them as disinterested otscials, and
men who would treat both sides justly.
He also said that they wanted Fairbanks
to act as referee and that we could bring
any one we wished to act as umpire. 1 in.
formed him that Portland WAS unwilling
that any person connected with either their
school or ours should have anything what
ever to do with these important positions;
that we wished to have men in these offices
whose decisions would make our contests
what they should be. true test of superior
ity, and not u wrangle of biased officials
that we should insist upon it and under no
other conditions would we agree to meet
them.
They said that they would not accept
Miothen and Jordan, and that they would
not play without Fairbanks. as referee, of
whose self-confessed partially in last years
games sufH cient has been said. We relin-
qnished all our rights in the matter and
asked them to name three neutral men.
Even this they refused, and stated in a
manner that admitted of no argument that
they could not and would not play without
Fairbanks.
AS final test we proposed DR.. Smith. a
Dartmouths alumnus, Prof. Smith, the Bow
doin athletic instructor and foot ball coach,
and DR.. Whittier, who has acted as umpire
for Bowdoin in most of her big games.
These men in addition to being entirely dis
interested know as much foot ball as any
other three men in Maine.
These names they Immediately rejected,
and as before would offer no other person
except Fairbanks. In all we gave them five
names to select from, while they would
name only one, and tell us that we must
take him.
Last Thursday night. for the last time. we
called up Mr.. Hennessey and asked his final
statement. His reply was the same as be-
fore. He insisted on Fairbanks and would
not listen to any other proposition. Their
answer was given as final, ana onrs was
certainly spoken as such. We said that we
would play with neutral men and no others.
We gave up all ideas of going to Bangor on
Saturday, and did not make. any arrange
ments for SO doing. Friday evening they
called nae up. but as l was in Lewiston to
arrange game with the Bates second
eleven to play here last Saturday after
noon, Captain Sullivan answered the CALL
They told him that they would give us the.
men we wanted, and insisted upon our
coming: this for reasons which have been
mentioned before We we've unable to do. 1t
was our intention to take down our team
the night before the game, and the notice
that we received was too short to enable us
to prepare for the trip. There the matter
rests
CuT COURSE udS ueeH approved Dy every
fair minded person. Our principal, Mr..
Albro E. Chase, Esq.,, advised us to stand
by our decision and Mr.. Sargent, the
principal of Hebron Academy, who is we'll
acquainted with Bangor's tactics, said that
our position is indisputably just and honor
able.
One of The Sunday journals stated that
we made mistake in not agreeing to Fair
banks and that the game would have been
thrown out on account of an infraction OF
the rules. The High School eleven has not
been working faithfully for the past three
months to win game over their strongest
rival by means of a technicality. They
desire to win on merit alone. If beaten they
shall feel that it was done fairly and by
superior team, if successful they may feel
no pangs of conscience and rest assuredthat
the championship rests honora5ly where it
should on the shoulders OF the worthy
eleven of the Portland High School.
CHARES L. DONAHUE, Manager.