Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 103, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 May 1918 — Page 2

FOOTBALL IN FRANCE KEEPS LIBERTY LADS FIT TO BUCK THE GERMAN LINE

Our troops have made baseball well known to the people of France by , their constant playing of the game. Now they are doing the same'service for the American style of football. Weather conditions have less influence on football than on baseball, so the liberty lads have found greater opportunity for it. Army commanders, too, advocate the game, for it hardens the men and makes them fit to buck the German line. This photograph shows a mixed group of soldiers and Interested French folk living near the American camp watching the soldiers play. The quarterback is calling off the signals as the teams face each other braced for the Impact of rushing bodies. • —.

HIS GREATEST GAME

Just before Ray Chapman came to Cleveland from Toledo in 1912, he had a day that he » never will forget. Toledo was J playing Minneapolis. Rube Wad- £ dell started for the Millers, but * Comstock finished. All Ray did * was to make three singles, a double and a home run in five times up, drive in a bunch of * runs, score four himself, steal * home once and have a perfect £ day in the field with nine as- £ sists.

PETER-THE-GREAT ENJOYS FULLY EQUIPPED BUNGALOW

Elite horse racing circles have been Invaded by the bungalow craze and “Peter-the-Great,” the famous 2:07% sire, has a bungalow home to himself on the estate of Stoughton A. Fletcher, the Indianapolis millionaire horseman. The bungalow cost $1,500 and Is fully equipped with electric lights, hot and cold water, large electric fan for the summer time and even a porch and flower boxes. In the photograph “Peter-the-Great” is “airing” by the side of his bungalow home. Mr. Fletcher purchased “Peter-the-Great” just a year ago from W. E. D. Stokes, the New York turfman, for $50,000.

STOP FREAK BALL PITCHING

Elimination Ought to Result in More Batting, Making Games Enjoyable to Fans. The elimination of all freak pitching from the American association this coming season ought to result In more batting and consequently in more enjoyable games for the spectators. The layman naturally, thinks that It will be pretty hard work to regulate this matter of freak pitching, but those who have studied the problem say that It is comparatively easy, so that part need not concern us at all, savs Milwaukee Sentinel. Where there la a rule they say it can be enforced. Drastic measures may be necessary, but that does not concern the patron. The probabilities are that the average baseball follower would really like to see more hitting, and If the rule works out to this end It will be nn accepted one.

UNCLE SAM’S ALL-STAR TEAM

Most Excellent Machine Could Be Put Together With Many Player* in Navy and Army. If Uncle Sam wanted to put a team in the National or American League races he could get up a star team •with the many players who have entered the military and naval service in the last few months. He could choose as his pitchers, Pfeffer, Sherrod Smith and Cadore, of the Robins; Shore, of the Red Sox; Rixey. of the Phillies, and Goodwin, of the Cardinals. Hank fjowdy, of the Braves, would make a very acceptable United States catcher, while Galnor, of the Red Sox, could play first; Barry, of Athletics, third, and Mnranvllle, of the Braves, shortstop. Lewis and Shorten, of the Red Sox, would find a place in the outfield, as would Jacobson, of the Browns Some team, you will admit.

HAS PENNANT-WINNING TEAM

Manager Miller Huggins of New York Yankees, Believes He Will Win Championship. Miller James Huggins, the new leader of the New York Americans, is

thirty-eight years old, and one of the smallest men in baseball, standing 5 feet 4 inches. Huggins played In St. Paul, 1900 to 1903; Cincinnati, 1904 to 1909, and St. Louis Nationals, 1910 to 1917, inclusive. Huggins was appointed manager of the Yankees last winter, succeeding “Wild Bill” Donovan,

who has replaced Jimmy Burke as coach fbr the Detroit Tigers. With Derrill Pratt at second base, Huggins believes he has a pennant-winning team In New York. St. Louis fans are particularly interested in Huggins. He finished third twice with the St. Louis Cardinals, staging a wonderful pennant drive with the local club in 1914.

BASEBALL STORIES

The Little Rock club has sold Outfielder Howard Baker itp San Antonio of the Texas league. * * • The Peoria club announces the sale of Pitcher Guy Hoffman to Houston of the Texas league. * * * Memphis has a new catcher, Leo Flaherty by name, who hails from the Virginia Military Institute. * • » The Sacramento club plans to use Brick Eldred, secured from the Chicago White Sox, in the outfield. l ' • * * The Atlanta club announces that it ha# taken on two players who were with Mobile last year in Catcher Dave Grtfiith and Infield Ward McDowell. • * • Faster baseball is assured for minor league fans this year because of the numerous players out. of work. Likewise it means cheaper salaries. * -* * Catcher Larry Pratt of Peoria has followed Bill Jackson to Omaha and will do backstopping for Pa Rourke’s team. • • • The veteran Sam Frock, who had been pitching up in the New York state league, has gone South again this time as a member of the Nashville team. • • • Otis Crandall, veteran pitcher, after declaring almost up to the last week of training that he was done with baseball, finally drifted into the Los Angeles camp. * • • The Detroit Club has nine new pitchers and only one of the lot is a left-hander. He is Doty Blades, who was last season with Sherman in the Western association. • • • President Duncan of the .Oklahoma City club of the suspended Western association is quoted as saying that he expects to see Oklahoma City in the Western league by July 4. • • • The Oakland club has lost a promising pitcher because of the Injury to Lockhardt, the Indian. He broke a ligament in his pitching wing and will be out of the game indefinitely. • • * According to Newark, report Infielder Jack Lewis has been sold the Indianapolis club. According to Steubenville report, that being Lewis’ habitat, he has quit baseball. So there you are. • • * —- Big salaries are a thing of the past in the'Amerlcan association. The limit most of the clubs will play this year la S3OO a month and one manager remarked that few players will get that amount next year. .

Miller Huggins.

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN. RENSSELAER.

BRITISH NAVAL RECORDS HOLD TALES OF FIGHTS WITH U-BOATS

Stories In Brief Form Reveal German Savagery and Frightfulness, With Occasional Touches of Comedy—Many Describe Hairbreadth Escapes and Gallant Defense by British Sailors. ..

London.—ln a big room in Whitehall there are kept all the records of British merchant ships’ encounters with U-boats. There they are, volumes and volumes of the post damning evidence, indelible for all time, of German savagery and British bravery. Ever since Germany’s cold-blooded frightfulness at sea began these records have been piling up in this room; and only now are they being allowed to see the light. * They tell of all kinds of ships, from big liners down to tiny schooners. All are short, but realistic, testifying to the British merchant sailors’ behavior against the ugliest methods of German Warfare. They tell of fights with submarines, often against enormous odds, and of hairbreadth escapes; of gallant rescues and perilous adventures In small boats on the open seas; of German submarine crews who jeered at their victims, and of some few cases where the German crews helped to rescue them. Here is a typical story of a fight between a merchantman with a little gun and a U-boat. It is perhaps one of the longest of the records. There was a heavy sea, with squalls of rain, and the time was five minutes to three in the mornlpg. The captain says: Sighted Submarine Ahead. "Almost immediately I sighted a submarine right ahead, crossing from starboard to port. It was a very big one, and there were four or five men around the conning tower. I put helm hard a-starboard and tried to ram him, but missed by feet, as I could hear the men shouting aboard her. As soon as I saw I had missed her I sung out to>the gun’s crew: ‘Look out close on port side there!’ and I put the helm hard aport to bring the enemy astern. “Almost Immediately afterward I heard the report of my gun, and, turning round, saw a big bright flareup in the water in the port quarter like a big explosion. This was verified by the gun’s crew, the second officer and the mate, who was the spotting officer. About ten minutes afterward I noticed what appeared to be the wake of a torpedo passing along the port side, and I shouted the gun’s crew: ‘Look out -port quarter again!’ and put the helm to port;-but as I was calling out my orders second officer and gun’s crew observed the bow and stern wake of a submarine on port quarter steering parallel to us and coming on at a good speed. “We fired on him, but made no hit, and I ordered the men to cease fire, as I hoped to escape in the darkness, and the flash of the gun was very brilliant, it being a dark) night. I then ordered the chief engineer to get his men down the stokehold and drive the vessel to his utmost, and ordered the gun’s crew to stand by gun, and every one to put a lifebelt on. , The captain continues with a fine touch of unintentional bravado: Felt Enemy Was Pursuing. “As the had not yet had their coffee I told the steward to get it for them and went back to the bridge and spoke to the second officer about keeping a sharp lookout, as I felt somehow that the enemy was chasing us.” He was, sure enough, for, adds the captain: “About twenty minutes past six o’clock I went below to the chart room to get our position again, and almost Immediately I heard a terrific explosion on the port side. I ran up on the bridge and ordered all boats out and called the wireless operator to send out an S O JTand give our position. As broke down almost Immediately we got no reply. A few seconds after the first explosion I heard th« heavy, dull, explosions

WITH THE BRITISH IN PALESTINE

British gunners in Palestine making use of a Turkish observation post which they have captured.

from the bursting boilers and the ship was involved in steam, smoke and fumes.” • A few minutes later the vessel sank and, as most of the boats were smashed, the captain and some of the crew jumped into the sea and swam until picked up some hours later. In all these records the commanders and crews of the U-boat are seen face to face and their actions and words are set down without prejudice. There is a tale of a terrible struggle with death in the case of a torpedoed ship, boats smashed, the only two that reached the water being upside down. Some of the crew jumped from the vessel and sought refuge on them. U-Boat Up Three Times. The U-boat approached them and ordered the survivors to come on board the submarine. They shouted back that they were capsized and could not move. Three times the submarine came up with a similar invitation; three times the commander received the same reply. Then the U-boat came Alongside one of the upturned boats, took the name of the ship and the master and all the details. The crew of the enemy craft was asked by these shipwrecked men to help right their boat for them, but no answer was given, though the Germans must have heard the frantic knockings of one poor chap Imprisoned under the capsized boat and who was trying to attract attention to his pitiful plight. The submarine steamed ahead and put the helm hard over, with the result that the men clinging to the keel of the boat were thrown into the water again. They managed to scramble back to their boat, with tin man still underneath it, but they pulled out the plug to give him air, and ten hours later they were rescued. The Germans take elaborate steps to find out the name of the ship they have sunk and the nature of her cargo. In one case a master, while engaged with his crew baling out a leaky lifeboat, was hailed by the submarine for the name of his ship. It was given to him, but the commander shouted back that h£ could not find the name in the shipping list and ordered one of the crew to go on board. The emissary spelt the name and the officer disappeared into the conning tower and three-quarters of an hour later he returned and said he had found the name of the ship. Photographed Two Negroes. Another ship carried a crew of 47, two of whom were negroes. The ship was torpedoed in the usual way without warning and sank so rapidly that there was no time to lower the boats, though luckily the entire crew had lifebelts. Seeing a negro In the water, the commander of the submarine took him on board, and as soon as he reached the submarine his wrists were imprisoned and held. They then took

HEARS KAISER DECLARE GERMANY WILL RULE ALL

I Los Angeles, Cal. —S. C. Clem- ’ ensen, once a subject of Den- ! mark and now American citizen, ’ claims to have the “goods on the ! kaiser.” In July, 1901, Clemen- [ sen claims he stood within fifty feet of the kaiser at the launching of the battleship Kaiser Carl der Grosse and heard the emper- ; or say he would rule the world > in 1917. ; “In 1917 our fleet will have > supreme power over the sea. Our ; future lies on the water. We • will rule the sea and the land,” ' the kaiser declared on that oc--1 caslon, Clemensen says.

RED CROSS IN ALASKA

Mrs. Louis K. Pratt is a prominent clubwoman and chairman of the Liberty bond committee of Fairbanks, Alaska. Fairbanks claims more than 2,000 Red Cross members who are raising funds despite the decreased buying power of their dollar. All bridge clubs are donating their club dues to war, purposes; the various woman’s clubs have collected during the winter every scrap of discarded metal and rubber to be sent to the “States” for the Red Cross at the opening of navigation. One small club raised by delicatessen sales enough money to endow a bed' In the Neuilly hospital, which Alaskan women are trying to support. Their second sale alone netted them $447.50.

a photograph of him and also of the other negro, who was floating on a raft nearby. The first man was then allowed to dive from the submarine and he, too, swam to the raft. These photographs were clearly intended for German propaganda. Out of the crew of 47 men only 15 are known to have been picked up. The captain of the ship was left on the bridge when the boat went down and was not seen again. The saved men were in the water for hours together, the U-boat as usual submerging and leaving them to their fate. Among all the tales of cool and splendid behavior, which Sir Rosslyn Wemyss in paying a tribute to the British merchant navy recently described as “beyond all praise,” is that, of a stewardess of a big liner, which went down, according to one account, in seven minutes after the explosion. The master says: “The stewardess behaved exceptionally well, and with great presence of mind gave mufflers and other articles to the crew when they were in the boat.” It is in this story that one of the very few acts of humane conduct on the part of a German submarine commander is recorded. “Submarine picked up two of the men in the water himself, after which we went alongside the submarine and took the two men on board.” Among all these records of horror, bravery and cruelty there are little glints of -something almost approaching comedy. Take, for instance, the record of a little South Coast schooner, which was sunk a some way from home. The first part of the story is that of the master told to the British consul abroad. The master described how, when the ship was struck, three men got- into the boat. Before the fourth man could get in an accident occurred and the boat was upset. The master reported four men drowned —what happened to the fourth man is not clear—-and remarked that “those drowned became too excited.” His ship had been heavily shelled for a long time, but the German shooting was very bad. The captain and boy, who remained on board, were taken on board the submarine and released five hours later and put on board a foreign ship. The captain was unable to give any description of the submarine: “Captain could not describe submarine. He said he was sent below at once—Step!’ ” The next part of the story is from one of the* men whom the master thought lost. He gives an idyllic picture of the scene before the shelling: Vessel in Full Sail. “The vessel had all sail except the mizzen gaff topsail set. The wind was abeam, the vessel on the port tack, heading southeast and east. The master was standing by the helmsman. The mate was talking to the master, both on the lee side of the poop. She was making six or seven knots through the water the master asked the mate: ‘ls that a submarine?’ The mate had a look at it and said: ‘Yes, It is.’ The master took the wheel and ordered all hands to get the boat out. Before the boat got into the water the submarine started shelling.” Then the disaster happened. The man on the boat reported that "noth: Ing has been heard of vessel since deponent last saw her.” It seems that “about three hours after leaving ship boat righted and was baled out.” But a most interesting part of the storv is missing; for one would like to know whether master and crew met again and what they said to one another.' Says the mate of another little ship: "Master’s reason for abandoning ship was that she sank under him.” And, as is but natural, the seaman’s pride in his ship is often revealed in these records; as "She went down with hardly a splash, like the lady she always was,” and “I shall never got another like her.”

BIG PITCHING FEATS

Pitcher with bigheat perceu- ■ tage of victories—Babe Ruth, ' Boston, .673. ( • • Pitcher with most victories— ' Edward Plank, New York, 303. Pitcher with most defeats— ’ Eddie Plank, New York, 179. % Pitcher with most strike-outs ; —Walter Johnson, Washington, ■ 2,297. ‘ Pitcher with most bases on • balls—Eddie New York, ■ 997. • : Pitcher with most shut-outs— ’. Walter Johnson, Washington, 73. « Pitcher with most one-hit ; games—Walter Johnson, Wash- • ington, 3.

“SILK” O’LOUGHLIN DISCUSSES UMPIRES

Dean of American League Staff Talks of Baseball Arbiter. Man Must Be Honeet and Wave Courage of Convictions—Knowledge of Game la Essential for I idlcator Holder. “What’s the recipe for successful umpiring?” is the quizz that was put to “Silk” O’Loughlin the other day. And the dean of American league arbitrators replied: "Well, first of all, a fellow has to be honest; he has to have the courage of his convictions, then an intimate knowledge of the game —and a genuine love for it. He must have common sense in abundance. Last, but certainly not least, a man who aspires to make good handling the indicator must be a student of human nature and rpust be a believer in the theory, “treat others as you would have them treat you.” ■ “Most players,” continued O’Loughlln, "are as temperamental as prlraa donnas. No two players are alike. Therefore, an umpire who wants to make good must learn the characteristics of each man and then handle him in the way that will eliminate as much friction as possible. “The fans who sit in the grandstand have the opinion that the arbitrator is unjust toward some players and favors others. That is because ■ they are not fully conversant with conditions. They have not made a study of all as intimately as an umpire. There are some players who attempt to alibi their own failure by ragging the umpire. There is another type which—odd though it may seem—bait umpires merely in the hope of Setting publicity as peppery, aggressive players. Usually those fellows are given the ‘gate’ in a hurry when they start to howl, because It is obvious that their walls are not slncere-Hthat they are attempting to pull some '■ tewspaper stuff for themselves. “A star player is easiest 'to handle. Ty Cobb, fiery and aggressl re though he is, has caused the umplrel less trouble than almost any man t Tat wears a big league uniform today. I ‘ew greater players have lived than I Iddie Collins, yet he rarely figures U the role of complainant “The same thing goe» i 'lth Tris Speaker, Joe Jackson, Ray Schalk, Stuffy Mclnnis, Ray Chapmi n and all the other really great players. They have as much pep as the player who seeks publicity and have the interest of their club at heart even more.

LOSS OF ROBERTSON NO CAUSE FOR WORRY

With so capable a player at wnd as Ross Young, the Giants have net much cause to worry over the loss of Davey Robertson. If Young lands ths right field position, it will be his first job in the major leagues. He made a wonderful record in the minors, leading the Western association in batting two years ago, and finishing second to Larry Lajole last year in the International league, with the splendid average of .357. His fielding is said to be on a par with his stickwork. He covers a great deal of ground, and is an excellent judge of drives and fly balls.

Yes Might Be Answer.

Has Chicago the two best catchers in baseball in Ray Schalk of the White Sox, and BUI KUlifer of the Cubs?