Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1911-08-03

American crowd would have done un-
der like circumstances all would have
been we'll but that. it seems, would
have been asking too much. That
crowd was an Italian crowd and Just
about as manageable as the French
mans flea. The game was hardly I'm.
der way before those guineas swarmed
on to the playing grounds in such
way as to make fielding we'll nigh inn
possible and batting a real danger
For once in his career. at least, Mr..
Spalding threw aside his dignity and
got Enthusiastically hot. When he saw
that the police had no power to re-
store order. he undertook the job him
self. with the result that he got very
red in the race, and that was about
all. He had been studying Italian in
rca-covered book ever since we
landed at Brindisi, but ii WAS evident
~ of breed that was unknown IN
Naples, and was regarded by the
crowd as part of the entertainment.
| Then we tried to clear the field our
selves. and, though We succeeded par
| TALLY for time, it would soon be as
bad as ever. A ball from Carroll's bat
laid a perambu]sting guinea oni slsase-
less, but it seemed to have no effect
/ on the others except to increase the
general hilarity
Realizing that his Italian was too
feeble for tie occasion, Spalding fell
back on his mother tongue, and never
before or since have | heard him use
1t so forcibly. l don't insist that he
employed cuss words-of course he
didn't know in those days that he
would some time be United States SEN
ator from California-but l don't mind
telling you that what he did say un-
der provocation of that terrible mo-
ment wouldn't look we'll in print.
For three innings neither side
scored. In the fourth each got man
across the plate In the fifth the ALL
Americas increased their score by
seven runs. Thinking the game was
over, the crowd swarmed across the
field like an army of grasshoppers.
Quick to take advantage of the stu
alton, John Ward ordered his men
into position and claimed the game.
John Tener was umpiring that day,
and for some reason that l couldn't
understand then and can't now, he
gave Ward the game by a technical
score of to 0, the score books show
ing to 2. Some time when l have
day off I'm going over to Harris
burg and ask Governor Tener how he
figured that matter.
When we went to Rome we were
handed lemon of the most acid va
riety, and it didn't come from the
Vatican either All the church digni-
taries we met were courtesy and hos
pitality personified But the Ameri-
can minister gave us the cold shout
der. When Mr.. Spalding called on
him the morning after our arrival, as
? he felt in duty bound to do, the min
| lister threw him down hard. He de-
! clared that he had never felt the
( slightest interest in baseball and re-
| garded 1t as a great waste of time and
' energy. He added insult to injury by
t asserting that he would not permi,
/ himself to be identified with anything
as mercenary as professional base
t ball The secretary of the legation
, at that time, Mr. Charles Dougherty
, was quite different species of the
t genus homo. He tried to do every
) thing in his power to wipe out the bad
impression made by his chief and de
t voted much of his time and attention
: to us while we were in the city.
} On the afternoon of Washington
, birthday We called, by special invita-
ton, at the American college ane
, were received most Hospitality. 1t re
minded me of my old school days a.
| Notre Dame: AS slight return fo1
{ the courtesy we had received pu
Clarence Duval, our mascot through
his stunts, including hoedown ant
baton swinging, and then we ad
journed to the big assembly room
where we listened to a couple of yer,
, complimentary speeches by the pro
fessors and mighty slick response
, from Mr.. Spalding. When we tool
( A BAIL FROM CARRolts BAT
!, Am A DEPAhRIi ATlhC