The Washington herald., 1920-09-29
FIRST SCANDAL
BROKE IN 1887
Four Members of Louisville
Club Dismissed When
Evidence Was Found.

New York. Sept. 2S.--Forty-threc
years ago organized baseball wen;
through a gambling scandal similar
to that which is now shaking the
national game.
In 1877 A. H. Nichols, William H.
Craver, George Hall and James
Devlin were members of the LOUIS
Vile club of the National League,
Old timers tell US that they were
players as prominent in that early
period of the game as any of the
men of the Chicago White Sox who
have just been indicted.
They were suspected of throwing
a game for the benefit of gamblers.
The deal was not unlike the ar
rangement said to have been en-
tered into by the Sox. The Louis
willie players were to see that their
club lost.
Confronted with Evidence.
In those dayssthe National League
had a man as president who seems
to have been n man Of considerable
force and Initiative. He bitterly
despised the gambling evil. He was
william A. Hubert, OF Chicago,
who died in 1882. Hubert set to
work on the Louisville case, and
one day Hall and Devlin were sud
denly confronted with the evidence.
They broke down and confessed, i'm
plicating Nichols and Craver. All
the PLAYERS were summoned before
a meeting of the directors of the
Louisville club, and Hall, Devlin and
Nichols signed orders on the tele-
graph company for the kilograms
alleged to have passed between
them and the gamblers. CraVer re-
fused to sign. He was Immediately
expelled. Upon receipt of the copies
Of the dispatches which passed oe-
tween the ball players and gam
blers. Hall, Devlin and Nichols were
dismissed. They weer never again
reinstated, although desperate
fight was made for them by their
friends. One by one they dropped
out of sight.
A writer of the long ago tells an
incident of some years later when
a sorry looking speciman of human
ity, ragged and wretched, showed
up in Hulbert's office.
1t was Devlin. He begged Hubert
on his knees for reinstatement, bnt
Hubert was obdurate. He gave
Devlin a $50 bill and sent him away.
Evil stRmpcd Out.
The early period of the game
seems to have been a constant war
against the gambling evil up to the
time of the Louisville expose. HUI
bcrts firmness and quick action
stamped out the gamblers for many
years and until comparatively re-
Gently no whispers of crookedness
had been heard.
Then came Christy Mathewson's
charges, which now seem to be gem
orally accepted as true by baseball,
at the time John A. Heyd-
Ter. president of the National League,
Chase. Then Chase
was sold to the New York Giants
and Mathewson was engaged as
coach of the same club, the incident
some comment.
However, until the action in Chi
cagO yesterday, no definite evidence
seems to have produced sufficient to
warrant an open accusation against
a player.
As long ago as 1867, a Chicago
paper charged a club known as the
Nationals, one of the earliest ever
with throwing a game to
the Rockfords for betting purposes.
A. ?. German and Frank Jones, who
was president of the Nationals, Wis
tied the office of the paper the fol- !
lowing day and secured a r6traction /
Of the charge.
In 1908 there were charges of at !
tempts to bribe the umpires in the
famous game between the New York !
and Chicago clubs of the Nation<l |
League.
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION.
Minneapolis. 4; Columbus, l list game). !
Columbus. ;: Minneapolis. . I'D game).
Toledo, Z; Kansas City. 3.