The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-11-06
Coffeyville Is on the
 Map Again, Thanks To "Big Swede"

! CoffeyviIle is on the map again. | During the Summer months the south
 ern Kansas towns 15,00O-or-so people
 make vitrif1ed brick and egg case fill
 CTS and flour and pottery and such,
 and read the sporting pages. Along
 ins the Fall, however, Coffyeville be-
 gins to pick up., The Montgomery l county metropolis feels the thrill of l life along its keel. The people perk
 up, and pride shines in their faces. Even the town Ioafer braces up, and; whereas he formerly walked with a shanbling gait he now holds himself l erect, and for day two he leaves l off his whining about bad luck 1 Everybody feels that it is good to be alive, and glorious to be a citizen of Coffeyville- The neighboring town of Independence, which at times. puts on airs and claims to be a bigger and bet ter place than Coffeyville, now droops 1 in dejection. Even ETnporia leaves off boasting about being the home of Bill l White. Pittsburg, Kansas, may have outstripped Coffeyville in the popula- | tion race, and find consolation in the fact that George Foster, of, the Red Sox, started playing ball there, but it's people are plainly envious of the greater fame of their -ntighbor.
 And Coffeyville has a right to be there. And, if that isn't enough, Joe Tinker, the pilot of the Federal League champions, started his pro- fessional career in Coffeyvi11e-
 Walter Johnson, Coffeyville's most distinguished citizen, was born in Humboldt, Kan, just twenty seven years ago today, Nov. 6, 1888. Hum boldt fans don't get much nutrinent from that fact. however, for when Walt was only knee high to Kansas grasshopper his folks up and moved away to California. Of course. Seems like no man can succeed in baseball nowadays unless he was born in the Golden State or lived there, or at tended St. Mary's College, or played in the Coast League, Once in a while some fellow slips by who hasn't had this sort of training, but it is seldom, and getting schooner fast
 To proceed onward Walter first played ball. with kid hines in Los Angeles. Finally he got a chance to display his wares with the Angels, but he was wi1der'n Wild Bill Donovan at his widest The following year. which was 1905, Johnson pitched for Weiser, in Idaho. By that time he was a lit tie wiser, and he made good in Weiser., q say, Bo, did you get that 'un? Smooth, what2) In one game he struck out twenty-three men in one game. By and by the tidingsi of his prowess reached the effete cities of the East Joe CantflIon's scouts saw him
 
 ington- When ne had amassed a little coin of the realm he decided to settle down in his native State, and he pick ed Coffeyvi11e, near the Oklahoma border. He married last year Miss Hazel Roberts. daughter of a Nevada Congressman.
 The idea seems to be prevalent that Johnsons ban a. Swede. and he is popu- 1arIy known as the Big Swede.'' As a matter of fact. none of the smoke ball artists ancestors ever saw Scandi-; navia. Johnson is Scotch-Irish through and through, and, so far as he knows, he hasn't a drop of Swedish blood in his. six-foot-one anatomy
 This season Johnson won more games than any other American League pitcher, with twenty seven won and thirteen lost. Alexander. had thirty-on victories to his credit being the only major league twirler to win more contests than the Coffeyvi1le Cyclone Mcconnell, of the Chicago Whales, stood third in point of <vic- tories, with twenty-five to his credit