The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1910-11-05
Breaks From Attic Prison to
Play Football and
Proves Hero.

Because the door TO Jimmy Dugan' 5
prison was not proof against a bed Stat
applied as a croWbar Jimmy's school
football team smashed their greatest
and most hated rivals beyond the pos
sibility of retaliation, and the Washing
ton Playground Association won a new
friend and a crisp $40 bill, toward the
| 5000 fund necessary 10 keep the play
grounds open during the winter.
1t all happened when Jimmy's father
found him practicing forward passes
in the alley, with that Perkins brat,
when he should have been in school
And so as the supreme punishment.
Jimmy was forbidden the Fairgrounds
for a week. In order TO insure this for
one afternoon at least, his father es-
cOrted him to the attic and locked him
in. His heartbroken appeal to be let
out Just for this afternoon, and then
he would stay In two weeks, went TN
needed. What did parents knows OF
match games and rivals and champion
ships?
Playground In Sight.
And Jimmy, left alone sat through
the long afternoon, his head buried in
| mis- arms, his little body now ana then
cOnvulseG by a sob. Through the attic
window he could see the. playground
where that afternoon the two rival
/ teams-his team and that bunch of
muckers from the school up the street
would clash for supremacy. In
| Imagination he could see Reddy Hayes
/ crack halfback for the opposition
/ sIashing his way through the line or
/ skirting the end like the wind. and
none swift enough TO intercept his
flight. He turned his face away. and
| swallowed at the lump that rose in
his throat
Finally he heard the clock downstairs
strike three. lie glanced hcpelessIy
| about the dusty attic. There was nc
way out, and he turned his eyes again
/ to the playground, where the two teams
were beginning TO assemble, one by one.
/ He saw Reddy Hayes in a striped
| Sweater come down the street from the
/ direction Of the other school, surrounded
/ by a group Of worshipful admirers; ne
! saw Slippery and links McCIung. OF his
| team, come slowly from the other direc-
1 ton. The crowd began 70 gather flrsJ
/ by twos and threes. and then in littlC
! bands Of six and eight until the side
/ Of the field was lined with them.
! In one corner Of the field he saw his
/ team talking eXCitedly. he knew thai
/ they were taking Of him ana wondering
/ why he didn't come, and then he saw
I a little boy in a big white collar leave
! the field and teeter up the street toward
| his house as fast as his spindly little
] legs would carry him. He knew that
this was the nrst messenger Tor him
/ He also knew that there would be many
| more, winding up finally with a com
mittee composed Of Slippery and Jinks
and Sandy Watson, and he knew it
would be Ruthless he went over to one
corner and threw himself face down or
a bundle Of old clothes.
Hears the Cheering.
He did not know how long he lay
there. but a wild yell told him at LAS
that the game had started without him
He ran to the window and looked out
The ball was in the enemy's possession
and within the twenty-five-yard line
/ He saw both teams stoop for a mo
ment, and then the ball was snapped
back and the great Reddy Hayes wen
| whirling around the end for fifteer
yards. He saw Fatty Williams substi
I tuting for him at left halfback. How
slow and stupid he seemed-how incom-
petent How helpless did the whole
team seem. He knew that had he beer
there that last plunge Of Reddy Hayes
/ which bore the ball over the goal, would
have been stopped. Beyond slippery al
| quarter and links in the other half, tn,
team appeared to be utterly democrat
lied Then his team kicked OF agai
to the enemy and Reddy Hayes ran tn
ball back to within thirty yards Of then
goal.
Jimmy rose. He was going TO be Of
that field in about seven minutes o
break a leg. A bed Stat lay on the foo
beneath his feet. He succeeded in push
ing the top Of the door open enough
to insert it The rest was only a matte
. Of a stiff wrench. And thus It cam
about that when Jimmy's father wen
| to release him from durance vile h
found the bird had flown.
| Jimmy's father, being a practice
man. did not waste time in vain mag
inings. He put on his hat and too
his way toward the Playground
| Thither he knew as a needle to IN
magnet went the small boy. II
lpeered over the head of the crowd o.
the side lines 10 look for Jimmy, an
saw a dirty red-sweatered figure dis
integrate itself from the mass Of odd
/ " shaped small boys, and go flying u
the field. The face looked familiar.
: strongly reSembled his Jimmy. II
looked closer. There could be n
doubt OF tit was Jimmy. and tn
crowd of madly yelling young hood
lUms were cheering for him. He fel