Famous Single Poems
sent an agent to Sioux City especially for that purpose, and that no evidence had been found to support it. But in view of the letters from Mr. Wilstach, it was evident that the only way to settle the question definitely was by a careful search of the Tribune files. Mr. John H. Kelly, the editor of the Tribune, was accordingly requested to have such a search made. He did so, and the following letter from him is self-explanatory:
We have had one of our men go over every copy of the Tribune during 1885–1888 inclusive, and he found the column referred to in your letter in numerous forms; but did not find the much sought "Casey at the Bat." It would have been a very real pleasure and distinction to have claimed the great "Casey."
So, whatever the poem was that Mr. Valentine wrote at Mr. Wilstach's suggestion, it was evidently not the present "Casey at the Bat." Indeed, this might fairly be inferred from Mr. Wilstach's own letters, in which he emphasizes the fact that Mr. Valentine's poem was written as a parody on "Horatius at the Bridge." "Casey at the Bat" in no way suggests "Horatius"—except perhaps by a very faint similarity in the basic idea. But its form and character are entirely different, as the first stanza of "Horatius" will show:
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