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Show I: Jeremiah Langford Eleemosynary Fan JUST what happened to Jeremiah Langford on Wednesday last, nobody seems to know, but M whatever the contributing causes were, they cul- M minuted at noon in an ultimatum from this pub B ! lie spirited citizen to the effect that the directors HI J of the Salt Lake ball team must pay a few H I hundred dollars rent supposed to be due, or look H i elsewhere for a place for Blank's Bees to win the Hi pennant. ' HI i Whether ho was suffering from neuritis of H the pocket nerve, something had happened to H j his matutinal digestive apparatus, or he had had M a dream about the way ho used to run Saltair M was kept secret; but at any rate, public spirited H Jeremiah vas as peevish as a prima donna on an H opening night. M Jeremiah's effervescence came, according to M ' his allegations, because his palm had not been M crossed with a sufficient amount of silver to m pay the rent alleged to be due for the use of the M grounds during the two weeks at the opening of the season,, and also Jeremiah is very much up M stage because Factotum Tennant, the keeper of B the grounds, has a vocabulary not in entire ac- cord with Jeremiah's early teaching. But that is H another story. It is the rent thing that is stick- M ing in Jeremiah's thorax and when he pulled it he H wasn't half so mad as the directors were when PH they heard it, and the way it was received by I ten thousand fans is indescribable. Possibly there is a point In the fact that the town is baseball crazy, for were it not, it is hardly probable that Jeremiah would take It upon himself to abruptly cause trouble at this time with the idea mayhap that no time could be more opportune in forcing the directors to meet his demands. Now just what kind of a bird Jeremiah is, may be judged by the statements of the directors, all substantial business men of Integrity who are not the kind to be bullied by a wheeze from anyone like Langford who is quoted by one of the papers as stating that he "finds it necessary to stand on his dignity." How can it be done? He must be an acrobat to be able to balance on such a footing. Just a minute for the other side of the story. There are four of the directors of the Salt Lake baseball club who individually (not as a club) are on five thousand dollars worth of paper for that amount of money advanced to Jeremiah when he was faced with a strike during the construction of the stands at the grounds on account of lack of funds. Besides the $5,000 cash advanced him, he subscribed for $5,000 worth of baseball stock upon which he has never paid a quarter as yet. The directors state that the rental and a certain percentage of the gross receipts whenever due Jeremiah, were to be an offset against this stock. In the meantime they allege that he was to put the grounds in shape, fix the Uoxes and clubhouse properly and do sundry other work on the field. It is further stated by the directors that they have spent money in doing necessary work at the park which should rightfully have been done by Jeremiah. With an assist of five thousand cash and the sacrifice of five thousand stock and Jeremiah Jere-miah trying to make a put-out on a four hundred dollar rent bill, it is hard work for a fan sitting over by third base to see where he gets that stuft. In one paper, public spirited Jerry is quoted as saying "that he is a fan, a lover of the game, wants to do the right thing by the club, and that ho will -be willing to adjust matters when the club feels like It." But Jeremiah failed to state whether whe-ther he meant a baseball game or the old army game. 'Anybody in his position ought to be a lover of the game and ought to come out of a desire to block the splendid work of the men who have been so diligent in giving this city a real team. t But the moss on some back grows long, long, long, and never gets a cutting. Possibly before this appears in print, which will be twelve hours from now, Jeremiah may have seen a light and it is to be hoped that he will, but if hd doesn't It will be just as well to take him at his word immediately, and prevent any possibility of a reoccurrence of a mess of this kind for which he Is directly responsible and which has a very peculiar look coming at a time when the enthusiasim Is so great and everything every-thing in local baseball circles is working so smoothly. In speaking for what he says are his rights, Jeremiah made the statement to a daily newspaper, news-paper, that "he did not propose to be shoved down in the mud and then trampled upon." We don't blame him a bit, but would it do any harm if the directors shoved him In the mud and omitted to trample If Luther Burbank could take the public spirit Jerry displays and graft it with aj piece of macaroni, we imagine the result re-sult would be a noodle. |