Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1898-02-10
THE uMPIRE's TROUBLES.
How Tim Hurst Tried to Remove a Dis
orderly SPECTATOR.

The UMPlRE'S TROUBLES.
How Tim Hurst Tried to Remove a Dis
orderly Spectator.
League Umpire Tim Hurst, like
other officials, has worked his way
up from the bottom of the ladder.
He first acted as judge Of play in the
south and then got into the West
ern league. Speaking of his debut
in the west, Hurst tells the follow
ing interesting romance:
Talk about troubles on the dia-
mond nowadays Why, they re
nothing to some of the times they
used.to have out west. I'll never
forget the first game / umpired in
the Western league. I was green for
fair, and when came on the field
wore one of those red and white
striped coats, for l didn't want to
60 to the expense Of purchasing a
regulation uniform until found out
whether I'd stick or not.
''Just before the game the man
ager of the visiting team, who was
chesty guy and wanted to impress
me with his Importance, came up
with a book of rules in his hand
and, looking like schoolteacher,
said:
Mr.. Umpire, repeat section 10
of rule 80.
Never mind about that, I said.
I know the rules all right. Just
you go and sit on the bench and run
your team
with that the manager went
away, vowing that he would break
me if / didn't turn out all right.
When it was time to start the game,
the players began to pay their re-
spects to me by calling me 'Rube,
Dummy, Stuff and other names,
whereupon the crowd joined in, and
l had lovely time. l never UNI
pired better in my life, but there
was no end of fault finding.
Finally, above the din from the
crowd, I heard one particularly loud
voiced fellow yelling that he would
like to take a punch at me. I looked
around in his direction and located
him in minute.
eyes, you'll! he roared, at the
same time calling me vile name.
I'll punch you in the eye if I get a
chance. And he shook his fist,
while the crowd encouraged him.
1t was then that I decided to act.
Remembering the rule which en-
powers an umpire to have any dis
orderly person removed from the
grounds, by force if necessary,
called Time and started for the
grand stand, at the same time call
ing upon a couple of policemen to
put the man out. He was defiant,
and the cops wouldn't turn a hair.
jumped into the stand and started
to remove the fellow myself. I got
a good collar and elbow hold and
started to drag him out of his chair
when found. I had stirred up a
hornets nest.
MEN on all sides of me. were TAX
ing flying punches at my head. I
returned some of the compliments,
but / was no match for the mob.
held on to my original mark, though,
all through the struggle and soused
him well too. Suddenly the owner
of the club came rushing down the
aisle of the grand stand with three
or four cops.
"'Grab that umpirer he yelled,
and throw him over the fence!'
eff I go over the fence I said
to him, you'll go too Then sew
eral tough looking guys who want
ed to see fair play said:
You're all right, young fellerl
Nobody will t'row yer out of here
widout a fight! Sees
"Then there was riot. Cops,
oranks, toughs and managers joined
in q free fight over me, and I was
almost torn limb from limb. I man.
aged to grab a seat and hang on, SO
that it was impossible for me to be
swept out. After several minutes
of hot work the police and the tough
looking guys quelled the disturb
ance and the question was put to me:
What do you want to do with
this felleri' They referred to the
man who had caused all the trouble.
/ still had grip on him, and he was
as limp as dish rag.
I want him put out, / said, and
they escorted him to the gate. Then
they let him come back after had
climbed out upon the field and call
ed Play saw him all right, but
made no further attempt to re-
move him. The next day I had no
trouble. New York Sun.
A Useful Little Notion Long In Coming.