Bisbee daily review., 1912-03-12
STRANGE ACCIDENTS
 OCCUR 0N THE LINKS
Players Tell of Incidents That Were Unexpected
 and Disconcerting

caterpillar and a grasshopperi How under the sun could they pos sibly figure in golf?
 Small blame to you for asking the question. yet each of these little fel- lows actually did get into the game, and when they did, no end Of trouble resulted. l can vouch for the authen- ticity of the occurrences. for on each occasion the interpretation of the rules was referred to me. Each is amusing and, think, worth the tell ing.
 Some years ago a fOur-ball match was being played at Belfield. and when the quartet finished the eigh teenth hole the match was even. They agreed 10 play an extra hole to de eide. and they went on to the first hole on the hill. which now is the ninth. The green is a trifle sloping. and on this particular day it was very keen. One ball. after the approach putt, came to rest a few inches above the hole. The gentleman who had to play next was a very methodical and deliberate player, and as the match depended on the accuracy of his ap- proach putt he took an unusual length of time in his calculation.
 Here enters the william. disguised as a caterpillar--one Of the big fuzzy ones. While our friend, over on the edge of the green, was exercising so much care in lining up his putt the caterpillar had chanced upon the ball lying close to the cup. and electing to crawl over rather than around, he mounted the little white sphere His weight was just sufficient to disturb the equilibrium of the ball, causing it to move, and by a curious chance il rolled straight into the hole, carry ing the caterpillar in with it. The owner of the ball immediately claim ed that it should count as having been holed on the previous stroke. Naturally the other side vigorously protested. and the match, which had been so rudely ended by the caterpil- lar, remained disputed for several days. When the facts were presented I ruled that the ball should have been replaced without penalty. l asked the owner of the ball what he would have desired to do if the ball had missed the cup and rolled ten feet below. He immediately replied that he would have wished to replace it, and. seeing the force of the argument, he resign ed his claim to the hole.
 The grasshopper broke into the game at Manchester. Vt, during tournament. The ground was as hard as a board and lightning fast. My opponent played @ ball which contin- ued to roll straight for a sand pit, a. ' mn Efa just strong enough to trickle in. But finally it came to rest on the very edge of the pit. The time was sum mer and there were thousands of grasshoppers jumping about. and the player approached his ball one big fellow. which had been beside 1t. start ed off and disturbed the ball from its very insecure lie It toppled into the pit That grasshopper had actually kicked the ball into the hazard. l al once told my opponent that. inasmucb as his ball had been disturbed by al agency outside the match" he should replace it without penalty.
 Both of these occurrences are unique. and 1 have never heard oi similar ones. However. there are many strange happenings in the game It is comparatively seldom that player is hit by ball. and yet l knew of one who was struck twice in one day and by successive strokes. Int incident was remarkable and had it's humorous side.
 woman player was slowly hack ing her way around the Lakewooc course. and as she was alone she fire quently had to stand aside to permit matches to pass through. Finally sht was oyertaken by a four-ball match in which was a gentleman who was noted for his weirdly wild play. He always got around the course like schooner tacking into the wind. On this occasion he indicated his desire to play through by believing Fore! Fore," and the lady very obligingly took herself off to the right fully fifty yards wide of the line of play. When a ball thumped her in the back she was very properly surprised, but rrofuse apologies downed her ire. and she walked across the course to the extreme left and quite as far from the line of play as she had been before: but our hero could pull or slice with equal abandon and he played no fay- orites On his very next effort, he neatly winged her again, and as she beat a hasty retreat to the club house she was firmly convinced that de. signing ruffian had twice attempted