The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-08-02
BY PAUL COOK.

visible from the earth on account of sey- eral huge Yoiennos on the outaklrts Of the plain which tempered the dense at- mosphere of the valley and gave ample light for the game to be played.
 About the bieaehers the crowds of En- glanian and Martlan rooters assembled waiting anxiouHly for the signal to be- gin the titanic struggle for the pennant of the solar universe. As Mars had de- feated Venus in an eleven Inning game and the earth had made monkeys out of the lunar bunch. the interest in the ap- preaching struggle was intense. After all airships had been ordered out of the sky above the diamond for fear that they would cause a blocked ball when long hit was made the signal was given to play. Immediately the roofing began and the moon resounded with the infer nal clamor The human fans were si- lent. The "ragging" was done entirely by mechanical takers. A great number of these machines were ranged along the two sides of the bleachers, and, as each necessarily beloved out the latest quips that the fans of 100000 years had cudgled their brains to produce, the din was something awful.
 The power was turned on in the batter ies and the inter-planetary champion ship struggle was begun. The Martians had the advantage over the Englanians because their pitching machine could throw a triple curve while that of the earth dwellers was only capable of hurl- ing a double ricoehet combination of an in and out. The mechanical catchers were both about equal in prowess, al- though the Englanians indignantly claimed that the Martian backstop had a larger receptacle for the ball. These mechanical batteries made the game one of science and not comedy of errors. They were necessary on account of the wide area of the diamond, which was several miles from base to base, and from pitchers box to home plate. The pitcher was supplied with a sufficient number of balls to last during an ordin- ary game, and these were fed into It's barrel by a mechanism similar to that of the Gatling gun, a primitive instrument of war much in vogue during the years from 1895 to 1910. When the batter ap- preached the plate he turned spring with his toe and the ball was discharged with the velocity of thought. The eyes of the player were equipped with chrys- tals which enabled him to discern the flying sphere with ease. On account of the speed of the ball, hits were rearly heard of and the game was purely sci- entihc, the object of the player being to run the bases successfully. The uni- forms of both Englanians and Martians consisted of very stout armor as a de- fense against the ball. Should a player ever be struck it was instant death.
 The game dragged along for several innings without either side having the advantage. The Martians had reached second. because the picher got choked on a ball and the mechanism refused to work The Englanians were playing in hard luck. and although the talking ma chimes kept up their elamor unhaggingly the local team were unable to get Into the running The excitement was intense when the eighth inning arrived and neither side had scored. An Englanan reached first, and, on a pebble of the third baseman, tried to make the run to second on his pneumatic rollers. He was flying toward the sack with terrific speed when the Martian baseman shot the ball down, after fumbling 1t a moment. An instant before the ball arrived the run ner leaped toward the goal. A shout of joy went up from the Englanian fans, which was instantly converted into a cry of astonishment and anger. When the runner landed on the base with his abdomen he instantly shot into the al- for a height of fifty feet and was touch ed by the Martian player before he could get back.
 As the attraction of gravity was slight the fall did not hurt him. but the mean trick played by the Martian ruffled his feelings considerably. The willy visitors had used an inflated sack, and when the Englanian dropped upon + he was lift ed in air as if by a spring. The En- glanian fans raised howl. but without results. The umpire was not of the nine