Seattle Claims Victory in the Gridiron Mud
A rainy, sludge-filled football clash at Madison Park sees Seattle avenge its previous defeat against Tacoma.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Tacoma's football pride was buried deep in the mud of Madison park yesterday. With 300 silenced shouters from Commencement bay for mourners, eleven long-haired Seattle youths wielded the sexton's spade. It was a glorious victory, with sweet vengeance—choicest viand known to human palate—heaped up. Football has captured Seattle. It has come to stay. The field was covered with a coating of treacherous mud that kept the players sprawling. It took but a few moments of energetic play to plaster them from head to foot with the black soil that hid every feature, filling eyes, nose, ears and hair. Of the winners, Folsom made himself the popular hero by his two brilliant runs in scoring the only two touchdowns of the game. Despite the rain and the slippery ball, the teamwork of the Seattle side—led by Atkinson, Randall, and Collings—outmatched the visitors.
“Tacoma's football pride was buried deep in the mud of Madison park yesterday.”
This vivid, mud-caked account of a local football rivalry shows that the 'Seattle vs. Tacoma' civic competition is as old as the city itself. The description of players as 'long-haired youths' turning a local park into a 'battle royal' perfectly reflects the era's transition toward organized team sports.
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