The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1899-12-04


when in reality that fullback was lying on
the fiat of his back at the identical spot
from which he had kicked the ball; put
there, be 1t frankly said, by the Auburn
rusheline as they broke through to block
the kick. And once more that same umpire
mad to prove what an out and out Sewanee
meddler he was by interfering at the end
of the game and insisting that Sewanee
be given the ball as the victors. Auburn
would have been entirely willing to have
given the ball to Taylor for he 1t was who
certainly won the game, while they will
never believe that Sewanee won 1t, nor
does any other fair-minded man who saw
the game.
Disposal of the Ball
But the point is, that when the game was
over, the umpire's work was also-God be
prafsed-or should have been; and he had
no more to do with the disposal of the ball
than the yellowest cur in the state of Ala
bama.
1 might add that this same meddling trait
of Taylor's was in evidence in the Auburn
Georgia game, when he sustained Referee
Rowbotham in affixing the official score of
| that game at to Ga point with which he
| lldu tpSoiutcly uOtHlIB ~ uO, anu d ueclS1On
which after had written him letter ask
| ing for his authority for such a ruling, he
| had to acknowledge to me in the presence
| of Coach Suter, of Sewanee, on Thursday
morning in Montgomery, a mistake
plete. I am also informed by Coach Suter
| that Taylor said after the game on Thurs
| day he only RETAINED from calling down
the foulness of Auburn's interference by
| fears of what the crowd might do. Does
that statement show that he has the proper
| capacity for football official? 1 know,
however, that Umpire Taylor told me in
Atlanta after the Georgia game that Au-
burns interference was very fair, and the
record of the game shows he did not call
down Auburn's interference single time in
that game, though the crowd was all
| Georgia crowd.
As to the Referee
| And the referee? If he escapes becoming
| a worlds wonder for the work he did on
| Thursday last he stands in my eyes the
most fortunate individual born in the nine
| tenth century What he didn't know
| about the rules would make the entire game
| of football, and what he did know wouldn't
| even spell the word. 1 will point out but
| two of his masterpieces" then let him go
! -"unwept unhonored and unsung." When,
\ one time, Sewanee had kicked the ball to
| Auburn's ten yard line, Auburn took it and,
| massing' in bunch, suddenly shot Huguley
| out from the rear of the mass for forty
| five yard run. That was getting away from
| our endangered goal line altogether too
| quick, and into Sewanee's territory alto
gether too far and he Immediately had the
| ball brought back from where 1t started,
| and gave it over to Sewanee, saying that
| Huguley had bucked beyond the line of
| scrimmage with it, when, in reality, Hugu-
| ley couldn't have done so had he even
l wanted to, for the line men locked arms to
prevent opponents also coming through into
| the ring and, by the same Vancouver pre-
| vented Huguley from coming out in front,
| the play having been designed to shoot him
| out in the rear. 1t was the same play that
| Auburn worked on Georgia repeatedly,
| scoring with it her first touch down,
| Skeggs' seventy yard run and a number OF
/ others.
| This was too much even for Taylor, who
| had seen the play in Atlanta and UNDER
| stood it, and he started in to explain 1t TO
| Referee Martin; but for once, when Au-
| burn might have profited by Taylors in
| terposition, Martin would not hear to him
| and gave the ball over.
Auburn's Great Pluck
| Yet in the face of such disheartening de-
| oisions as these Auburn showed her In
describable courage and heroism by hold
| ing SeWanee for four downs and taking the
| ball away from the latter on her own o.
| ward line The ball went into play again,
| struck an Auburn players leg rolled few
| feet on the ground and Martin of Auburn
| fell on 1t, got up, made a yard with 1t, and
| theu-the crowning shameessne5s OF the
| day-Referee Martin says Sewanee fell
| on the ball, takes it again away from Au-
hurn on her 5-yard line and Sewannee sue
| ceeds in showing it over. Auburns oatter-
| ed trust and outraged feeling, for the mo-
| ment. more strong than Sewanee's bucks,
| overcoming her at last. Did Martin OF Au-
| hurn fall on that ball? Ask any man that
| was there that day-go, consult the account
| of the game under Squire Browns name in
| Fridays Montgomery Advertiser.
Auburns Great Gains
| That same account of Squire Brown"
| shows that Sewanee gained 50 yards in
| running with the ball while Auburn gained
| a2a wards: and yet Sewanee beat Auburn,
The only way Sewanee could advance the
| hall at all was to kick it, and then follow
! it when offside, always being sustained by
| the umpire, or If Auburn got 1t first, the
referee promptly took it away from them
| on the first or second play.
| Sewanee, If the truth was told, though
| eight pounds heavier to the man and over
| two years older IN their average, was never
| on the pure merits of the game In sight of
A,,hrrn,s coat-tails Every newspaper dc-
| count of the game, at some place or other
| states the same thing in unmistable lang
, uage-even the Advertiser, whose editor Is
| a Sewanee man. The son of one of the most
prominent public men in Alabama, and one
who had been at Sewanee seven years, told
] me on three different occasions and once in
| the presence of Coach Suler that Auburn
! outplayed Sewanee. Simpkins and Clai-
| borne of the Sewanee team, l understand,
| had the manliness to admit the same thing
-