Lives in Cricket No 50 - Tom Emmett

70 ‘so that the shock might be lessened when he came to cross the Atlantic.’ The side embarked at Queenstown on the Cunard steamer, Algeria , for New York, departing on 17 September. The journey over was very rough and Emmett remembered that for the first seven days ‘we had some sport in the shape of the vessel doing everything but turning over’, and admitted that he had been so frightened by the rolling of the ship that he was unable to eat. 48 At the start of October, the side began a series of games in the United States. In the first game against Gentlemen of Philadelphia on the Germantown ground, Emmett made a limited contribution with bat and ball in an easy innings victory in front of small crowd. He did not bowl in a match in New York against the St George’s Club (although he scored 21), or against a United States 18 in Miltown. From there, on the evening of 10 October, the side set off on a 3,000-mile train journey to the west coast. They stopped off in St Louis – a city of 400,000 people - where Emmett made 14 not out (including hitting a ball out of the ground) in a match badly affected by rain. The side arrived late after their 36-hour, 1,000-mile railway journey and there was then a delay when their baggage was taken to their hotel. As a result, the start was put back, and in addition, the local Twenty-Two of St Louis and Chicago had to be made up with baseball players as cricket was not as popular in the city as in Philadelphia. The attendance of only around 200 people was also a big disappointment. Rain prevented a conclusion to the game and the players hung around the ground, taking over the ten-pin bowling alleys. As they had a tight schedule, they could not agree to stay another day, but when the weather improved they took on some local players at baseball, although, not knowing the rules, they struggled. The next day (Friday), Emmett and his fellow players took the train for the west coast, crossing the Mississippi River, travelling to Burlington, where they joined a through train from New York and Chicago, and reaching Omaha on the Saturday morning. They then travelled for a day across the plains of Nebraska, then Wyoming, through the Black Mountains and across the Laramie Plains, and into the Rocky Mountains. Alfred Shaw recalled that the train made such ‘wretchedly slow progress’, as the tracks were laid loosely on the turf, that at times the players and a regiment of soldiers who accompanied them got out and ran alongside the train. They then passed through Utah, and on Monday evening changed trains for Salt Lake City. The nights were very cold, and the players could see snow on the mountains. They then crossed deserts where the dust continually got into their carriages. They passed through the Sierra Nevada at night and arrived in Sacramento on the Wednesday morning, and then San Francisco at midday. They had travelled for five and a half days, and despite the comfort of their sleeping cars were heartily sick of it. 49 The journey across America by train had only been possible for around a decade when Emmett made the journey and it remained challenging and not without risk. San Francisco was a rapidly growing city of 234,000 inhabitants, and the day after their arrival, the visitors played Twenty-Two of the San Francisco Club. Emmett recorded 13 in a team score of 98, but again did not bowl. Yorkshire Captain 1878-1883