score from 8 to 0 to 12 to 6. Then came one of those surprises peculiar to the game, and which gives always the assurance that the contest is not ended until the last man is out. The Atlantics in the seventh innings found the redoubtable Creighton for five clean hits, yielding nine runs and giving them a lead which the Excelsiors were unable to change. The final score was 15 to 14 in favor of the Atlantics. Thus ended a hitherto unbroken succession of victories, dating from the beginning of the Excelsiors' remarkable tour through New York.
The great rivals were now even in the race for championship honors of Brooklyn. Each had one game of the series. The next contest must decide the question of club supremacy. Interest in the result became intense. It was not confined to Brooklyn, but extended to all neighboring cities and villages. Under the agreement regulating the series of games, it was provided that the third game should be played upon neutral grounds. The new grounds of the Putnams, having just received their finishing touches, furnished just the requisite conditions. After a lapse of two weeks, namely, on August 23d, 1860, the final meeting took place.
The intense feeling of partisanship that had been engendered by the preceding contests increased as the time for the last game drew near, until it had become very bitter. It permeated all grades of society. Schoolboys, clerks, merchants, manufacturers, workingmen, and members of all the learned professions were profoundly interested. This would have been well enough, but, unfortunately, in those days all Eastern cities were noted for their
