The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-08-05
1VON1E NUN DALEY

Save me! For. the love of heaven,
save me, l am consigned TO a living
death in this den filled with baseball
crazy idiots. Take me from this torture
ere | perish. REG"
This was the note that Josh Hapgood
got from Reggie Van Rensselaer,, his
crack college pitcher, the morning after
he reached Alfalfa, leaving us hid in the
woods back of the jail in Cioverdale wait
ing for a chance to rescue our premier
twirler. Josh had gone home to get his
mail, but when he got this note and read
il TO US out in the woods on his return
he was Disguised.
Coarse work." he says. ITO be really
up to date he'd ought to have sneaked
that message out stuffed in the remains
of his breakfast or wrote it with blood OH
a piece Of linen. Here he goes and tears
a leaf out of his notebook and buys a KID
for a quarter to put 1t in my mail box
down al the hotel NOthin' that savOrS
of romance in that.
''Wots he in great trouble about, and
[ wonder who the baseball-craZy IDIOTS
are?" says Pinch. Think I'll have TO in
YeStigate that, I saw a board off the
Jail fence today where l can get in, and if
they amt got him in cell guess we can
get him out
Josh didn't like that He said we ought
to take a long rope and get il in TO our
imprisoned COmT8Ge by SledIIH- Anu uc
muttered a lot more O. things about swim
min the moat and lettin' down the draw
bridge and beSiegin' the donJon keep we
didn't pay any attention to him though.
We got a couple o bottles o raw rum and
that evening Hickory Hank and i inter-
duced ourselves to the jailer as fellers
from Missouri gOin out to the wheat
fields. He got real sOciable with us on
the front porch of the Jail, and in the
course O. time, as ii does when any two
sof lGTI-r fn a q m
versation drifted to baseball.
do YOU think the New YOrks Will
VIM says Hank, very innocent. And
that started the jailer off on long string
of talk
DO you know" says he. taking his
third drink of the raw rum from the bot
tie that the people in this section are
going literally plumb crazy over the game
of baseball? No less than five cases have
been chucked in here during the last
week. There's one man who claims he's
John ]. McGraw, and he's buyin ball
players at $4,000 a throw every day. Then
there's another one thinks he's LajOie
and another one thinks he's Wagner, and
another one is Frank Chance of the Chi
Cages, and he's talkin' about the cham
pionship he's goin' to win.
when they all get together tellin'
about the long hits they've made and the
cute things they've done as managers L
have to put cotton in my ears And then
the fifth one-he's the funniest of all.
He claims he's Reggie Van Rensselaer,,
the crack pitcher of the Alfalfas, and
he's the sorest mutt you ever see because
he can't get out and go down to the ball
grounds. The other fellows are con-
tent to sit around here and talk baseball,
but he seems to want to play. He ain
been examined as to his sanity yet, while
the others all have"
That's McGraW." said the jailer. He's
probably just bought Hans Wagner for
SO, 600, and is growing over H. But the
next minute we heard a cry. Jaiier!
Jailerl" came the yell. Your college
pitcher is escaping!
He starts down the corridor. and we
with him, in case we're needed-to soak
hin-but the bird had flown. Regis cell
door was open and him and Pinch Hobbs
and Josh HapgOod and the rubber-armed
shortstop was probably mile away by
this time.
So we go back to the front of the build
ing, and the jailer sends word to the
sheriff and the sheriff gets out a couple
o. deputies and they go off on horseback
to hunt up the crazy man that thinks he s
a ball player. and we beat it down the
street to where we know the others will
be waitin' for us. When we found them
there was a violent discussion on, for
Reggie, sore over week in prison,
wanted to hunt up Tim McGinnis an lick
him. Josh was for goin' straight home
an gettin' some sleep against the next
days ball game. But me an Hank had
the right idea.
"Show us where this McGinnis guy is, i"
says Hickory Hank, IAN We'll get him.
There's a fellow up In the Jail who just
loves TO get hold of fellows that think
they're famous managers. And now that
one man has escaped, think he'll be very
careful not to let any more get away"
That idea struck Reggie just right, like
wise the rest So we go right up to Nc
Ginnis' lodgin' house and knock on the
door. and Rufe an Hank ask him If he
don't want to hire a rubber-armed short
stop. That brings him clean out on TO
the street in his stOckin' feet. an Rufe
stretches out his arm to show that hes
got the goods. But in unstretching it he
carelessly let's it soak the Cloverdaies'
manager under the ear, and Hickory
Hank lands on him on the other ear at
the same minute and jabs fielder's glove
in his mouth so he can't yell, and in six
minutes we've half carried, half dragged
the squirming and kicking McGinnis to
the jail. Hickory Hank and me take him
up TO the porch and the jailer knows us.
Say here's your prisoner says L.
I'VE ketched him down the street; he
says he's some great baseball manager
now"
''Wots this. Reggie?" says the jailer.
givin' McGinnis a butt in the ribs with
his fist. who did you say you are now?
And how in thunder did you get out?'
With that be shed lantern light, on the
manager an says: Huh, This amt the
same man."
"Of course not" says McGinnis puffin'
out his chest. / had kept away from the
lantern light and he didn't see me and
he didn't know Hank
Release me at once. jailer I am the
famous Tim McGinnis. manager of the
doubly famous Cloverdale ball team"
Huh" says the jailer; you got EN-