The Fort Dodge Messenger: Jan. 3, 1905

Pugilist Jim Jeffries to be Here Soon

Champion Will Appear on Stage of Midland as Davy Crockett.

He is Drawing Large Crowds

After The Performance Jeffries Will Give an Exhibition Three Round Bout With Soft Gloves With His Trainer.

James Jeffries, the greatest pug on earth, will actually appear in Fort Dodge and “act” before a Fort Dodge. The added attraction of a three-round bout between the big pugilist and his trainer will also be put on after the play at the same price of admission.

It is expected that the big fellow will draw one of the largest crowds that ever filled a Fort Dodge opera house, and that S.R.O. signs will occupy prominent places in the lobby as early as seven o’clock on the night of his appearance.

The play put on by the big bruiser will be “David Crockett,” in which Jeffries takes the title role, and in the impersonation of the husky countryman, it is stated he appears very well indeed, acting the part in a most pleasing manner.

Jeffries in “The Man From The West,” in his tour thru the east last year, made a decided hit with his part, and he is said to be no less a success in his present part. This city will be one of a very few in the state that will be favored with a visit from the pugilist on his way thru.

In his tour of the country on the stage, he is keeping himself in trim for his work in the ring, by the three round bouts after each performance in which he appears with his trainer. This feature, beside keeping the fistic (sic) champion in constant trim, is a great drawing card and adds greatly to the number of seat sales in each engagement. The exhibition while not in the nature of a fight, is a thoroughly scientific affair and will be of great interests to the entire crowd.

The Fort Dodge Messenger: Jan. 1, 1903

Des Moines Bowlers Meet Crushing Defeat

Fort Dodge Representatives Carry Off Victory by 82 Pins – Make a Remarkable Score.

Fort Dodge bowlers walked all over the Hawkeye club of Des Moines, in the five game match which was rolled in Des Moines on Wednesday evening. The Fort Dodge representatives made a total score of 2767, to 2685 made by the Des Moines bowlers, winning by 82 pins. The score for the first game was 1001 for Fort Dodge, to 870 for the Hawkeyes. The score made by the Fort Dodge men is a very high one and it is unusual that such a total is reached in competition.

The team went to Boone today, and is expected to roll there this afternoon and evening.

It includes the following members:

Tiffany.
Scott.
Ruge.
Brown.
Wigton.

(Editor’s note: with 5 members, the score averages to 200 per game, or 553 for the series.)

The Fort Dodge Messenger: June 29, 1903

Amateur Ball Players Busy

Several Fort Dodge Teams Played From Home on Sunday.

Fort Brands Have Hard Luck

Lose Two Extra Innings Games By One Score – East Fort Dodge Loses Close Game at Lehigh – R.M. Stevens Nine Beats Tara.

The Fraser miners defeated the Fort Dodge Fort Brands Sunday at Frazer by a score of 4 to 3 in a thirteen inning game. The game opened at 10:30 a.m. After the first two Fort Dodge men had struck out in the first inning, Dombrowska reached first on an error. Whitman and Barth on bunts and all three scored on Stuart’s drive to deep right. This ended Fort Dodge’s scoring as the Frazer pitcher struck out twenty men in the remaining twelve innings and held the Fort Dodge boys helpless. Frazer scored three runs in the second inning by bunching hits. Stuart’s work at third was the feature of the game. He accepted eleven chances, seven assists and four putouts without an error.

In the eleventh inning with two men on base, Whitman got and (sic) easy grounder and threw his man out at first. Ottosen threw to third to cut off the runner. The throw was  high, but the little third baseman speared the ball with his ungloved hand and completed the double by tagging his man three feet off the base.

With enthusiasm undiminished by their defeat, a forty mile ride and twelve miles cross country triy (sic), the Fort Brands tackled the Pilot Mound Pirates at 3:30 p.m. Pilot Mound won, 7 to 8, aided by a long-haired diamond and the umpire. If Captain Tyrell had called his team off the diamond Pilot Mound would have refused expense money. Nevertheless this game required eleven innings, the umpire finally forcing in the winning run by letting a man walk on balls that cut the plate in two.

The Fort Brands play the East End next Sunday at Riverside Park and a good game is expected.

The Fort Dodge Messenger: June 27, 1905

Frank Gotch Tells His Experiences

Gives Interesting Account of Great Tour Just Ended

Had Fifty Match Contests

Will Stay on His Farm Near Humboldt During a Part of Summer According to His Usual Custom, When Not Out on the Road.

Frank Gotch, the famous heavy weight champion wrestler of the United States, spent a few days int he city during the time that the circuses performed here. Gotch has just returned from an extensive tour thru the west and during his stay was interviewed by a Messenger representative to whom he gave an account of some of his wrestles and othe (sic) experiences during the trip.

The wrestler is a big fellow, standing six feet one, though because of his heavy and powerful build he appears several inches below that height. He is magnificently proportioned, most of his strength apparently being in his powerful neck and shoulders, his neck measuring over twenty inches in circumference and his shoulders nearly three feet across. Unlike most men of his class he has none of the swagger, bravado, brutality and arrogance that usually distinguish the professional wrestler or prize fighter. He is quiet, unassuming and unostentatious in his appearance and possesses a pleasant and courteous manner.

When approached by the reporter and asked if he were not Frank Gotch, the wrestler laughed good naturedly and at first denied his identity, saying: “Why, No, you’re sadly off there, my name is Hutchins. I’m a traveling man.” Seeing that he was recognized, however, he soon admitted that he was really Frank Gotch of wrestling fame and at once consented to give the press representative any information desired.

“Yes, you’re right,” said he. “I have just returned from a big trip and it has been a big one in every way for me. During the last four months I have been in every state in the union but three and have wrestled over fifty matches, not counting the men that I took on in exhibition, guaranteeing them prize sums if they would stay with me for a certain number of minutes. In match contests I took on all comers regardless of size, weight or reputation, wrestling them any number of falls for any sum they wanted to put up. In many ways my four months’ tour has been a hard trip. I have had a number of hard battles and the continuous travel too is wearing on one. I think I shall stay at home for at least a time now and get a good rest.”

In regard to the reports that have been circulated to the effect that Gotch would go against Munroe he would say nothing either confirmatory or in the way of denial. He makes no claims to the championship of the world with which he has been accredited by some, and in fact says nothing in any way in regard to his own prowess, skill or record. He is undoubtedly the champion heavyweight wrestler of his style in the United States, though Geo. Hackenschmit, the great Russian, holds the European championship.

Gotch is in every way the true gentleman sportsman and athlete; in all his habits he practices a moderation that stands him well in hand in keeping up his excellent physical condition. He neither drinks nor smokes, and is as regular s clock work in regard to his meals and sleeping hours. Gotch though apparently in the pink of condition at present desires a little further training for the next matches and will spend some time during the summer on his extensive fram (sic) near Humboldt working most of the time at the hardest of farm labor in order to give his great muscles every chance to harden for the tussels (sic) of the next season.

The Fort Dodge Messenger: May 6, 1903

Y.M.C.A. Ball Tossers are Defeated by High School

Lose Practice Game on Tuesday by Close Score of 4 to 3 – Seven Innings Played.

The practice game Tuesday between the high school and Y.M.C.A. base ball teams, resulted in a victory for the high school by a score of 4 to 3. The game was very close, as can be seen from the score, and had nine innings been played instead of seven the result might have been different. Both teams played excellent ball. The line-up was as follows:

The Fort Dodge Messenger: April 8, 1904

Fort Dodge Loses Game to Preston

Battle for Indoor Base Ball Championship Results in Victory for Visitors.

Decision is Unsatisfactory

Winning Run Follows a Decision at Critical Stage – Return Game.

Company G, the pride of Fort Dodge lovers of the game of indoor baseball and claimant for three years to the championship of the northwest is no longer unbeaten. As for championship claims for a time at least those of Fort Dodge must remain silent. By the right of victory, Preston, Minn., whose claim has been voiced just as loudly as has the claim of Company G., is now the undisputed champion and enjoys the honor of being without defeat.

Preston invaded the local camp Thursday night and in a fierce battle, in which every effort of the invaders was contested with a resistance that refused to know defeat, in the phrase of the game, took the soldiers into camp by the margin of a single run. Preston upheld and Fort Dodge lost its claim to the championship by the score of 6 to 5 in the hardest fought and by all odds the best game of indoor baseball every played on a local diamond.

The invaders went home with Fort Dodge’s scalp, it is true, but at the same time it can be said in justice to the lcoal team that the taking of the scalp will go down in Preston’s history as the hardest task it has ever performed. At several states of the game the Minnesotans saw visions of their own pelts being raised and hung in the wigwam of Fort Dodge, but the fortunes of war said no and today for the first time in its history the local aggregation realizes how it feels to be other than champions.

Preston won the game in the ninth inning when there were two out and every indication for a tie score. Unfortunately the man who made the winning run was the subject of a vigorous protest over a decision on second base, where it was claimed by Fort Dodge that he had been put out. The decision was a most important one and for that reason leaves ground ofr doubt as to the outcome of the game had the umpire called him out instead of safe.

The runner was Johnson, backstop for the visitors, who had been given a lift on Richard’s error. In attempting to make second he was touched with the ball by Colwell but the Preston umpire declared him safe. It was claimed that Colwell was directly on the base and that the runner could not possibly touch the bag before being touched with the ball. The umpire ruled otherwise however, and his decision, although it ultimately decided the game, is not disputed, as the game is such that the position of umpire is by no means the most pleasant.

Fort Dodge was at bat first, and from the appearance of things when the first three men up walked, Preston’s stock went down. It was then that Kerr, the visitors’ pitcher, demonstrated that he is almsot what is claimed for him, as he struck out the next three men and from then on pitched a strike-out game, making no less than nineteen of the locals fan.

Preston made a run in its half of the first on two singles, a stolen base, and a wild pitch. Fort Dodge was the next to score. Three locals crossed the plate in the third on a base on balls and three singles. Preston pulled down the lead in the fourth when Plorf walked, stole second and went home on a bad throw by Richards. Two errors, a wild pitch and two singles in the fifth gave the visitors another run and tied the score.

Fort Dodge took the lead with one run in the sixth on Flahterty’s double and a sacrifice. In the seventh Fort Dodge apparently had the game in hand by making a fifth run to the Preston’s three, but in their half of the same inning, an error and a single and a singe gave the visitors one more and in the eighth a double, a single and a stolen base tied the score. Then came the ninth with its disputed decision and the winning run that gave Preston the game.

The visitors demonstrated that the game is one that calls for constant practice. Fort Dodge has a strong team, which may be said to be the equal of Preston, but Thursday night the want of practice proved fatal to its chances. Preston was especially strong in its battery and team work in general.

A return game will probably be arranged between the same teams to be played in Preston.

The score:

The Fort Dodge Messenger: April 3, 1905

Come Back to Iowa

Frank Gotch Will Live Simple Life at Humboldt.

Humboldt, April 1 – Frank Gotch, the Iowa wrestler, who held the title of champion of the country until he was finally defeated a few days ago by Tom Jenkins, of Cleveland, will come back to his hold home here and undertake to restore his old form by a course of simple training.

Gotch and his chief patron, “Farmer” Burns, also an Iowan and a former champion wrestler, believes at thoroughly as ever that Gotch is still the champion wrestler. But he has lost the title to Jenkins, and must win it back.

Gotch is the victim of the desire to make money. Like Burns, he is a man of model habits in the main; not quite as abstemious as Burns, who never knew in his life the taste of liquor or tobacco, but a man who never gets out of training. Gotch was discovered, trained and brought out by Burns, and Burns was the most wonderful wrestler for his size and weight that ever went on a mat.

Jenkins wrested the championship from Burns, and Burns raised up Gotch to wrest it from Jenkins. Now Jenkins has taken it back again, and Gotch proposes to go back to the farm and the soil and the simple life to recover his weight and form and defeat Jenkins again.

There is little doubt that Gotch will succeed, for he has repeatedly proved himself superior to Jenkins. But the past winter he has been touring the country doing one-night stands agreeing to throw local champions at the rate of one to every five minutes as fast as they’ll bring ‘em on, and such stunts, which are the very worst things possible fora man’s training, when taken with irregular hours and hard traveling. As a result Gotch went to the platform for his last match with Jenkins at fifteen pounds under his best weight.

The Fort Dodge Messenger: March 25, 1905

Name Has Been Decided Upon

Local Baseball Team in the Iowa League to be Called The Gypsumites.

Voting Contest a Success

Over Thirty Names Were Sent In and Although Many Excellent Names Were Submitted, Choice of All Was The Gypsumites.

The base ball team name contest which has been going on now for two weeks has at last been closed, and it has been decided to call the local team the Gypsumites. Investigation shows that nearly all of the board of directors favored this name, although they themselves did not cast any votes.

The reason that the Gypsumites was selected by nearly all was that this name cannot be copied by any other team, as there is scarcely a place in the whole country which would have any right to this name. Fort Dodge has become justly celebrated because of its great gypsum industries and in consequence, this name seems to apply to a fort Dodge team very well.

There were several other names submitted which would have made excellent names, but this name seemed to apply to Fort Dodge better than any of the others. Cardiffs also seemed to be an excellent name, and many favored this, but the majority favored Gypsumites, and so this name will be the one by which the local team will be known throughout the state.

L.A. Thorson certainly deserves the credit for the winning name, for he submitted both the Gypsumites and the Cardiffs. The Gypsumites was submitted by one other person also, but the latter did not sign any name. Mr. Thorson submitted both of the names upon which the contest developed and deserves the credit for so doing.