Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1899-08-11
Alas. Poor Tom!

| again having fit of the dumps. The
little boys from Sterling went up there
last "Wednesday and Thursday and
swiped the Larned ball club in two
straight games. On Wednesday the
score was s to 5 in favor of Sterling.
Of this game the EagIe-Optic says:
"Those who profess to understand
the game say it was played all right,
but the general impression prevails
among the uninitiated that there was
an understanding between the man
ayers and that the result of the game
was determined before it was played.
However this may be, it appears rather
strange that the Larned boys should be
able to give the Sterling nine seven
straight 'whitewashes, and fall down
in the very first inning to such an ex-
tent as to give their opponents eight
runs. Such playing as this may be
honest but it looks bad on the face
of the returns, and by creating the
impression of 'fxec up job dimin-
ishes the interest ofthose on the out.
side who take stock in the national
sport"
Great Scott! Tom! Have you no
pride in your town at all? Because
your aggregation can't play ball to beat
even those little fellows from Sterling
is no reason why you should thus brand
your townsmen and companions in
lonliness as being so dishonest as to sell
out the game. Why, the Sterling boys
told us, when they came down to Great
Bend Thursday evening mot desiring
to spend minute longer than they
could help in the'deserted graveyardD
that they did not try to play at all at
Larned; were saving themselves up for
game with real live flesh. and blood
players on Friday. They said further
that there was such a wailing- and
moaning among the animated spooks.
after the second defeat, that it was
real sorrowful- almost pitiful-and
they could not possibly have staid in
Larned another night without contract
ing the contagion of chronic strabismus
of the Optic, or the gibbering habit of
the Squealer and Squaller. They said
they seemed to have gone through a
two days nightmare. wherein yelling,
bowling COLLINS and clanking skeletons
had been dancing about them in
cloud of sulPhurious smoke and a bad
smell from that accumulation of dead
hopes and other garbage about the
printing office; and they fed to Great
Bend to get walked up.
By the way, the Eagle-Optic man
must have crawled into his grave and
pulled the tombstone down over him
before the game of Thursday, when
Sterling beat 'em 10 to +, as Tom never
mentioned that second game.
The Tiller & Toiler seems to have
caught the Leftwich bellyache, by as,
ISOLATION, as it also makes a roar over
the loss of the first game, although its
editor doubtless took something warm
before writing up the second game, for
concerning it he says:
THE second game on Thursday re-
suited in real victory, this time, for
the visitors, by the score of 10 to 4.
The victory was won purely by super
ior playing, and full credit should be
given the little red coats from down the
road. They outclassed our home boys
in batting and base running, and not
the least part of their superiority lay
in their pitcher, who is phenominally
good man. But we still have faith in the
home nine and think they could have
beat the visitors had they had the ad-
vantage of as much practice as the
latter"
Now what we want to know is by
what legerdem ain, what incarnation can
Great Bend induce the spooks to come
out of that dark hole in the short grass
and meet the Great Bend "Sham-
rocks" in another gamer Our people
want just one more look at the grave.
yard rabbits (who have all lost their
left hind feet calling themselves the
Larned base ball club. Can't we have
a "ru bier" at 'em?
IS