New York Times – December 1, 1894
New-Haven, Conn., Nov. 30. – Capt. Hinkey and his band of football players and assistants got the finest kind of a send-off this afternoon when they started from the New-Haven House to the railroad station to take the train for New York. A notice had been posted on the campus calling upon all Yale men to assemble in front of the New-Haven House entrance to cheer for the Varsity eleven as they departed for New-York. The college daily paper made a special appeal to the undergraduates to be on hand, saying:
“It seems vitally important in view of the libelous attacks made by the papers upon the eleven and Capt. Hinkey that Yale undergraduates should give formal expression to their perfect confidence in and absolute approval of the team and its Captain.”
This notice was signed by twenty of the leading men in the university. The Yale News, in commenting on the notice, said editorially:
“The departure of the eleven for New-York offers the only opportunity for the university to show in what regard it holds the men who have worked so faithfully, so fairly, and so honorably for Yale. It is said among graduates that listlessness has taken the place of enthusiasm; if this statement is ever to be proved untrue it must be done this afternoon. A spirited public demonstration is the best answer that the university can make to the scurrilous abuse that the press has heaped upon Capt. Hinkey. The man whose brilliancy and squareness as a player have endeared him to the eleven; whose modesty and manliness have won him the admiration and respect of his classmates; whose devotion and self-sacrifice have made Yale his debtor unquestionably deserves such a tribute. Every Yale man worthy of the name will be present today to testify his loyalty to the team in general and to Capt. Hinkey in particular.”
This comment gives but a faint idea of the ugly feeling at Yale over the criticisms made by certain newspapers upon Capt. Hinkey and his men in charging to Yale all the brutality that occurred in the Springfield game.
As a consequence of the notice and appeal, when the members of the team appeared to take carriages for the station, no such cheering was ever heard in or about the Yale campus in years. Each man was cheered in turn, but the tumult and the wild old Yale yell that went up when Capt. Hinkey walked to his carriage must have been heard all over town.
The players and their immediate following left New-Haven on the 2:30 P.M. train. Hundreds of students went to New-York on later trains, and there will not be a student left in town tomorrow morning if he has the cash to get to New-York.
The talk in New-York that the University of Pennsylvania, after thrashing Harvard in Philadelphia yesterday, now wants to meet Yale, and will send Yale a challenge if Yale defeats Princeton at Manhattan Field, has reached the Yale men in this city, identified with football at the university. Josh Hartwell, one of the Yale coachers, was asked today what he thought about the prospects of Yale accepting a challenge from the University of Pennsylvania team this year, and he replied: “Of course, the University of Pennsylvania will send us a challenge, at the same time knowing full well that Yale will not play Pennsylvania under any circumstances whatever. Why Harvard should enter into a two-year agreement with Pennsylvania I am at a loss to know. I should think she had had about all the football she wanted, and Pennsylvania will have a chance to beat her again next year. Of course, the Pennsylvania men will make a big cry about being champions, but Yale will not play Pennsylvania, the public can be assured.”