Simcoe Hockey Club Exonerated by O.H.A.

After the Simcoe hockey team defeated the Ingersoll seven in such a decisive manner here in January the many patrons of the game were surprised to see a report going the rounds in the newspapers of Ontario to the effect that the Ingersoll players claimed that the drinking water in their dressing room at the rink had been doped with morphine which was the cause of their poor showing in the second half of the game and Bert Brown of Toronto, who refereed the match, was quoted as saying that he had also taken some of the water and that it had made him ill.

The officers of the Simcoe club were naturally very much disgusted that such a silly and unfounded report, which placed them in such a bad light, should be broadcast in the public press. Instead of simply contradicting it through the newspapers, they took a more sensible and satisfactory course in the matter.

Thinking Mr. Brown had been misquoted, they called him up by 'phone and to their surprise he said the report was correct and that he could prove it. They then laid the matter before the O.H.A. and requested them to take it up officially and have Mr. Brown or the Ingersoll people either prove their statements of retract.

In consequence, the affair was thrashed out before the complete executive committee of the O.H.A. at a special meeting held in Toronto last week. Messrs. Gibson, Vining and Beaton of the Ingersoll club appeared along with Bert Brown, while Mr. Tom J. Agar looked after Simcoe's interests.

After every detail had been gone into and much time spent, there was not a tittle of evidence produced to show any grounds for the report and the O.H.A. then passed a resolution completely exonerating the Simcoe club.

How any such report could have been started is beyond comprehension unless the Ingersoll players were looking for an excuse to take home for such a defeat. The part Bert Brown played in the affair is a mystery, and he is now certainly "in wrong" with the hockey people of Simcoe.

The funny part of it all is that not a word was spoken of it by either the Ingersollites or Brown while in town after the game. It all seemed to be an after thought. 

Brown, who dined with the Simcoe players and officers of the club after the match, had plenty of opportunity to mention the affair to the proper persons had he chosen, said never a word of it. From his appetite though he didn't show any signs of the severe illness he made so much noise about later.

The absurdity of the yarn, is shown by the statements of the five physicians consulted, who all claim that if sufficient morphine to effect a person was placed in water, it would make it so bitter they couldn't drink it and would be detected at once.

The officers of the Simcoe club are naturally pleased with the resolution on the O.H.A. clearing up such an unfair report, and they apparently took the proper method of going about it, even though it cost them considerable time and money.