Like Pablo Abeita, Father Schuster replied to Crane’s request for an account of the baseball game and its aftermath, as he had also served as an umpire. Schuster served as a Franciscan at Laguna Pueblo itself and the nearby Pueblo of Acoma. Schuster would have had to navigate skillfully the combination of Pueblo and Catholic spiritual traditions in his celebration of mass at the feast of San José to please both his church members and the church hierarchy. Schuster, too, would have been compelled to encourage Pueblo youth to consider Catholic schooling in Albuquerque and Santa Fe, communities that were at a sufficient distance from Laguna to worry some parents. In short, the baseball game would not have been the first or the last time that Schuster needed to employ delicate diplomacy in his dealings with those at Laguna.
Mr. Leo Crane, Supt.,
Albuquerque, N. Mex.
Dear Mr. Crane:
Referring to the recent trouble at Laguna I will make the following statements. It is true that I assisted as umpire at a game of baseball between the Winslow-Laguna and the Isleta baseball teams on the 19 of September, 1920. In the seventh inning of that game players of the Winslow-Laguna team objected to a decision in which the umpire-in-chief, Mr. Pablo Abeita, and myself concurred; and in consequence refused to continue the game. Players of both teams came upon the field to argue the decision of the umpires and feeling ran very high between some players of both teams, but towards myself the players of both teams acted respectfully even after the game had been forfeited. As I observed, feeling ran higher among the spectators of the game than among the players themselves and this I attribute to a great extent to the agitations of one, Jack (J. T.) Evans, a white man living at Laguna and married to a half-blood Laguna Indian woman. All through the game this same Jack Evans had been disputing decisions of the umpires, although he was neither manager nor player; he had been continually nagging and making insinuating and personal and even insulting remarks to the umpires and to the players of and rooters of the Winslow-Laguna team. I feel satisfied, although I would not care to take an oath on it, that this same Jack Evans was the cause and the instigator of many protests that had been made unjustly and without cause during the game to decisions of the umpires.
When you finally came upon the field to restore order and induce the players to continue the game, this act of yours was resented by Indians, as I know from remarks that I overheard, but in the surging crowd of players and spectators and the excitement of the moment, I do not recall individuals who made such remarks of resentment of what they termed your interference.
Of the resistance of Jack Evans to your authority as Superintendent of the Indians I have not been witness. When the players began departing from the field I went to an auto near the first base where I had my coat and other belongings. Neither have I been witness of the language or action of R. G. Marmon. These matters I have only through hearsay.
Respectfully yours,
Fr. Schuster
Source: Fridolin Schuster to Leo Crane, September 28, 1920; Consolidated Correspondence and Other Records, 1911–1934 Box 5; Various Pueblo Jurisdictions 106; Record Group 75; National Archives, Rocky Mountain Region.
Evaluating the Evidence