Middletown transcript., 1901-09-14
MONDAYS BALL GAME

To-THE EDIToR:-I do not think that
such malicious attack upon the citizens
of Middletown as was made by the man
| lit would be a misnomer to call him a
reporter) who wrote the article in the
Morning NelCs pretending to be an account
of the ball game on Monday should be
permitted to go unanswered. The article
| clearly shows what class Of people the
Wilmington Base Ball Club caters to, for
it states positively and clearly that this
club is run in the interest of betting
ring or clique of which seme of the
players form part and the would be
funny man of the Nescs forms the balance,
with an ex-State officer as stakeholder.
Even the Arabs of the desert respect the
hospitality of those whose salt has been
eaten. But this "Arab" after working
the management for quarters worth of
admission can find no word too vile to
express his opinion OF the "hayseeds and
peach plucks." Now as to the betting,
while | had no part in it, was witness
to q little of it and the bets | saw made
were at odds of two to one that Middle-
town would be shut out or that Whining
ton would score ten runs or more. AS
our team made three runs to their seven
all this class of bets were lost by the
citizens of the great metropolis by the
creek. In the sixth inning with the
score 8 to in favor of Middletown two
gentlemen went to the sports among
whom was this funny" man and offered
them 500 to $50 that Middletown would
win and the sports kept their mouths
shut The only excuse have heard for
this mans attack was that when the
crowd rushed on the field to protect Mr..
Sweet from the attempted assault by Bar
ker, the Nears man became scared and
fed to the cornfeld adjoining the grounds
and did not dare to come out again until
the game was over and the crowd had
departed. / can assure him however,
that the crowd intended no harm to
him, but the next time he comes
to Middletown, he had better have his
friends prepared to remove tar and
feathers from his person, for We have
coat of that material handy and there are
''peach plucks" enough around to apply
it. For the Morning Meas itself have
lost respect / have been a daily reader
of that paper for fifteen years but no
more of them come into my house, for
/ want my family to read somewhere
near the truth. AS to the merits of the
game, I have no doubt your published
account will be straight. The Whining
ton papers claim that Billy Day quit
VitehinS because his arm was sore, while
the facts In the case are that he was
Knocked cut of the box, clear and clean,
two runs of the three being earned by
hitting. When we compare pitching,
Middletown made 9 hits to Wilmingtons
10. The Wilmington papers credit IA
and Is hits, but their own score cards
only show TO- The extra 4 or 5 they
added to give little show of truth to
their story Of course, no enc here ex-
pected the home team to beat out this
band of professionals and everyone speaks
highly Of the work of 'our boys"
As to the small sized riot, it was due
entirely to Barkers unprovoked assault
upon Mr.. Sweet the umpire. The News
says it it the usual habit OF that team to
swarm out on the field every time a kick
is made / would like to see them try
it with Tim Hurst or Bob Emslie holding
the indicator. The only mistake made
by the management was in not having
the game declared forfeited when this
row was in progress. The patrons of the
game would have endorsed this action,
and have been better pleased. Even
now, the people who have supported the
club through the season are demanding |
that the management have Barker and
Shultz arrested for inciting to riot and |
given taste of hayseed justice.
CITIZEN.