Aug. 4, 1909 (Wednesday)

HUGE CROWD PUTS THE SQUEEZE ON RED SOX AND TIGERS: We know there are strict rules about "fan interference" in the Major Leagues these days. Today's Globe has a front-page picture (above) that puts this in a great historical context. Yesterday's doubleheader between the Boston Red Sox and Detroit Tigers drew "the largest crowd that ever attended a ball game in New England" yesterday at the Red Sox' pre-Fenway Park field. The Globe said the crowd numbered more than 30,000 -- many of whom were evidently wearing straw hats.
The crowd was part of the story because they filled a good part of the field of play, including areas in the outfield. The Globe said,
"There was little chance for any great ball playing in the outfield, as the crowd surged in too close for any long range action."
Evidently many flyballs were simply ruled doubles because the fielders could not get close.
The Red Sox won both games, the second one on in a "walk-off" (modern term) hit by Pat Donahue (right) (spelled Donohue in the Globe). The run probably shouldn't have counted because Pat Donahue never made it to first base -- "the crowd rushed at him, and throwing him on their shoulders carried him to the dressing room, while the immense crowd swarmed over the field to have one last look at the boys who were responsible for taking the Tiger's measure twice in one afternoon."
A cartoonist captured the image, below:

HMMM, INSTEAD OF WRITING A LETTER TO THE EDITOR, WHY NOT JUST BASH HIS HEAD? Apparently Kentucky's Adj. Gen. Philip P. Johnston (above, left) has VERY THIN SKIN. He makes up for it with a THICK CANE. (He also has one of those distinctive beards so often linked to Kentucky and its colonels -- such as chicken-meister Harlan Sanders, above, right). Johnston was upset that Denny Goode, a Louisville editor, had mocked him in print. He called Johnston "Gen. Peacock P. Johnston" and hurled an insult that any typographer and type-setter would love:

He said Johnston "spells 'me' in capitals and 'you' in agate type."

Johnston visited Goode at his office and, once he confirmed that Goode was the one who wrote the offending words, "laid over Mr. Goode's head and ears with a thick black cane."

Johnson faces criminal charges.
For more on Johnston, there's a little bit of biographical information under No. 24 on this page.
I found a page of the "The Bourbon News" of Paris, Kentucky from Aug. 6, 1909, which says Goode is the editor of "The Focus" -- described simply as a weekly publication. In its summary of the matter, The Bourbon News does not repeat what Goode printed, apparently fearing a caning from the representative of Old Kentucky.