Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-12-03

as OUYukW 1Vr Vn10 lily II At
s- tempt 10 NAH Then.
10 Canton's famed Bulldogs afraid
to risk their title Of worlds foot
ball champions by coming to Rock
Island Sunday?
~ BY arranging things in order and
arriving at . logical conclusion.
fhere can be but one answer. And
that IL yes"
= But, wait . minute!
( Although the manager Of Canton
did wire that Rock Island could
not be played Sunday, Manager
Flanagan did not turn up his heels
and give MP the ghost. It was .
terrible body blow, and after fail
ing to reach one i'd authority over
the long distance. he boarded .
RATHER last night for Canton, de-
termined to bring the muchly
Wanted champions" back to Rock
Island. He is due to reach there
tonight, and an answer may be ex-
pected tomorrow morning.
But to get back to what we start
ed to say.
A telegram was received from
Manager Hay Of the Bulldogs by
Manager Flanagan Sunday night.
It read: mo game scheduled for
Sunday. What will you Offer?
This came as q result Of q promise
the Canton management made to a
Rock Island fan who saw the Bull
dogs beat Hammond at Chicago on
Thursday. It was stated to him
that II Massillon succeeded in de-
feating Cleveland on Sunday, Can
ton would. not consider game with
the latter in view of the fact that
Thorpe's team had already trim
med Massillon twice this season.
Massillon defeated Cleveland.
The score was Z to 0. So Canton
did wire that It was ready to re-
ceive overtures from Rock Island.
The answer went back that Rock
Island would give them $1,000
guarantee or . privilege Of taking
As per cent Of the gross gate.
These were the terms demanded by
Thorpe early In the season.
Monday night Manager Flanagan
received long distance call from
Manager Hay. The latter asked for
the correct score of the Akron game
here Sunday. He evidently had
heard 1t, but did not like to credit
the same. When told it was II to
0, he could hardly accept the truth.
Feeling that the news was not TAX
en- lightly, Flanagan inquired II that
made any difference to Canton.
The reply was that It did not, but
that he, Manager Hay, would first
have to consult one James Thorpe,
Esq, before . definite reply could
be given. He explained, however,
that it was only necessary to Sc
cure Thorpe's approved Of certain
details and that 1t was . certainty
that Canton would invade the Is
land city.
Disband In One Hourl
Now, ladies and gentlemen, just
/ hour and II minutes after Man
ager Hay stated he had only to OBJ
tain Thorpe's approval Of certain
details, Manager Flanagan received
another wire. 1t read: Have dis
banded team. Cannot meet Rock
Island"
That was all. And the supposed
disbandment occurred in the mar
velously short space Of hour and
II minutes, not taking out the time
required to send the telegram.
Just ponder on that . while. And
previous to that the manager was
enthused over the prospects OF
coming to Rock Island and said
there was no doubt at all that his
team would be in Rock Island
Sunday. We wonder what the willy
Indian Jim Thorpe could have said,
or what he did say, rather, when
appraised of the correctness Of Ak
ron's defeat!
There is only one conclusion. 1t
Is much too risky to come to Rock
Island and take q chance on being
defeated. Better to let well enough
alone and start again next season
With q clean slate.> Anyhow, that
Rock Island team has been caus-
ipk too much damage this fall ia
0ka0's aggregations.
Largest Guarantee.
Starting at 9 o'clock Monday night
Manager Flanagan stuck to the tel
ephone until morning In an effort
to talk to either Thorpe or Mana
ger Hay. Something was wrong