Clipping:Chartering a special train to bring in an umpire
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| Date | Sunday, July 8, 1883 |
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| Text | The first defeat last Thursday set the management nearly crazy and all sorts of things were said by the few weak-minded individuals, who lost money on the game, some charged that Kelly, the umpire, was crooked, because he gave a close decision against St. Louis, and I am sorry to say that the president of the club, Mr. Von der Ahe, himself joined in the cry, and is reported to have said that he would have another umpire or break up the American Association, which remark, if true, is deserving of the severest censure. Whether he said it or not, the fact remains that he insisted upon having another umpire. A telegram was immediately forwarded to Secretary Williams, requesting that Kelly be called elsewhere and another umpire ordered here, reasons for the request being embodied in the message. In due time Secretary Williams telegraphed that Kelly had been ordered to Louisville, and Daniels would come on from that point to umpire to-day's game here. Then all was serene for a few hours. Kelly took the P.M. train on the Ohio and Mississippi Road, and the local position became visibly strengthened. All went merrily until about 9 o'clock, when consternation spread through the camp. A telegram from Daniels stated that he had missed the train. There was agitation in managerial circles, while everybody outside laughed. Kelly was gone, Daniels could not get here, and the only thing to be done was to play an exhibition game instead of a championship contest, and divide the gate receipts with the Athletics. But the visitors would not play an exhibition game. What could be done in the emergency? Hire a special train for the umpire—there was no other alternative, if there was to be any playing on Saturday. “That game must be played,” was the authoritative final decision of the autocrat of Sportsmen's Park. It was cheaper to hire a special for the umpire than let the game pass. So about midnight a telegram was sent to Daniels at Louisville, and the latter routed the O. & M. boys out that morning, chartered an engine and coach, and made the run to St. Louis in six hours, reaching there at noon, in time for the game. The beauty of the joke was, that, spite of all this fuss and expense, the home club lost the game after all, and the umpire wasn't to blame either. |
| Source | Sporting Life |
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| Submitted by | Richard Hershberger |
| Origin | Initial Hershberger Clippings |
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