Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1902-09-11


occasion ON which ! wentoutside the
legitimate world Of sport2" began
the Colonel. TO the Colonel racing.
poker, cockfighting and an occasion
nj lynching composed the recreasive
sphere Of gentleman. 81 thought
not.
''It was back in 81, when the fire.
mems tournament was held here in
Freeboro. At that time every town
In Jones county had q volunteer fire
company. and the yearly drills and
exhibitions were Of greater import
ance than the circus. Themeetings
lasted q week, and consisted Of team
races, hose-squirting contests, base
ball games and some other indoor
games.
'The rivalry between the ball
teams was intense. Everyone ex-
pected closer contest than usual
that year. The Lightfoet Lilies
were the popular favorites: but the
Ring6eld Roarers had stronger
team than usual and their friends
were pretty confident.
'.The previous year Freeboro had
not entered. the contest, and her
new team was not considered for
midable by the leaders. As q mat
ter Of fact. the team was not organ
lied until Q week before the contest.
~ was the only man of affairs In
the village who was not a member
Of the fire company, l was elected
manager. The last manager had
disappeared in company with the
gate receipts, and the team decided
to take no chances.
well, / advanced the necessary
money and the team practiced every
day for . week. They hardly took
time Tor meals. They certainly
were . fine lot, and on the last day
OF practice they showed up so well
that the betting dropped from long
odds to about 8 to /.
much 70 the surprise of the out
siders the Freeboro boys went thro'
the contest withan unbroksn stringof
victories. There we're justtwo games
between them and the championship
and on the day before the close of
the tournament they defeated the
Ringfield Roarers by a big margin.
This made people think, and the
supporters of the Lightfoots began
10 look for chance TO hedge.
Never in the history of the tour
nament had such crowd been seen
as gathered to seethe final struggle.
The stand was packed to the roof
and the field along the base
lines was a mass OF excited human
ity.
AT the end of the eleventh inning
the score was even a. two runs
apiece. From the beginning it
seemed as il the Lilies had all the
best Of it.
"YOu see the competing fire CON-
panies had parked their engines in
the outfield and, and the Lilies back
ers had turned their hose on
the field and soaked it. At first we
thought this would hinder their
fielders as much as it did ours, but
those farmers kept their feet i'm the
mud as is they were used TO it,
while our boys found it almost i'm
possible to get under q fly.
We managed. nevertheless TO
shut them out in the first of the
twelfth, and they killed the first
two men who came up in our half of
the inning. Il looked as five might
make tie, bntnobody dared to hope
for more than that.
FINALLY their pitcher got tired
and gave two bases on balls. We
were quick to see our chance and
yelled with delight. The next man
up for US was Hi Coles, the heaviest
hitter on either team.
Our ostardent supporters were
the Lanesville Hose. They had won
the hose squirting contest and had
bet all the prize money on our win
ming.
When Hi came to bat the boys
jumped up and manned their double
expansion hand engine. We did
NOS understand just what they were
up 10, but we soon found out.
When their centre fielder saw
who held the stick he got sort of
scared and ran back until he was
right in front OF the Lapasyille
engine. The first ball pitched was
. straight one, and Hi hit 1t with all
his strength.
Atthe moment the ball left the bat
the Lanesville boys began to work
their engines likem ad. II was a
beautiful ~. aud the fielder judged
Ii 70 perfection.
The ball was coming down right
In his hands Ii seemed to take
ages for that ball 70 drop. The sus-
pense was awful.
ssVKra- a -. -.