The Atlanta Daily Journal was equally adept at appealing to the heartstrings of the Atlanta citizenry:

“…they (Henke’s wife and child) are destitute. That magnificent form is dust, and that young wife and child are looking through the mist of bitter tears into the hard face of poverty. He stood like a tower at first – stood for Atlanta in the height of her need, and amid the shouts of thousands won honest title to the grandest baseman in the league….Now that those nearest and dearest to his heart are faced by want, Atlanta will not turn her head and say ‘nay.’ Poor Henke! Call time, Mr. Umpire….(h)e is weary today and cannot take his base. He has made his sacrifice hit, and, like him of old, has laid him down to sleep that another might get home.” (20)

Unfortunately, threatening weather on the day of the benefit led fewer fans to attend than had been expected. The clubs managed to get in a full nine innings, however, with Atlanta winning 12-5. It was estimated that the game would net between $700-$800 for the Henke family. In addition to that game, an accomplished team from Covington, Georgia, came to Atlanta to play two benefit games against a team of local players known as the “Mutuals,” many of whom were also associated with the AAC. The Mutuals won the first game, while the team from Covington dominated the second contest. The games were played at Athletic Park on September 3-4 before respectable, if somewhat disappointing, crowds. No estimate was given on how much was raised for the Henke family.

The 1885 season ended in mid-September, a month earlier than planned, because attendance in many cities around the league had declined considerably late In the year; Birmingham and Columbus had already disbanded due to financial difficulties, while Macon and Augusta had indicated their intention to do the same. Atlanta won the pennant over Augusta by a fraction of a percentage point, although Augusta raised much fuss about an un-played makeup game between the two clubs. Club directors later claimed that they had lost about $2,500 on the club’s operation for the season.(21) Despite the financial losses suffered by most, if not all, of the clubs and the early termination of the season, great enthusiasm for 1886 was voiced within just a few weeks of the conclusion of the league’s inaugural season.

As preparations for the new season got underway in the early months of 1886, Atlanta club officials were embarrassed to find themselves having to deal with unfinished business from the Henke tragedy. The Macon Telegraph reported that Steven Ryan, a member of the club directorate for the 1886 season, had received a letter from Maggie Henke claiming that she had not received the money from the benefit games played after her husband’s death. She claimed she was owed $159 and threatened to engage a lawyer if the money was not forwarded to her in a timely manner. In a tone clearly meant to maximize the Atlanta club’s public embarrassment over this matter, the Telegraph twisted the knife even further: “The Atlanta public will be much surprised to know that the widow of Louis Henke complains that she has not received the full proceeds of the benefit game. If Mrs. Henke is right, it follows that a fraud has been practiced, both upon her and the public – a fraud which cannot be too widely published and too severely denounced.”(22) While this story never made it into the Atlanta Constitution – publisher Henry Grady, after all, had played a key role in forming the club in 1884 and had served as Southern League President during the 1885 season; he undoubtedly wanted no mention of the purported scandal in the Atlanta paper – the story was picked up and published in other papers around the country, including Sporting Life. A week later, the Telegraph reported that Mr. Ryan had personally forwarded to the widow, on behalf of the team’s former management, the amount due in order to “save the old directorship from a very ugly legal squabble ….Mrs. Henke would have shown up a good case on both the civil and criminal sides of the court.” It further insinuated that the benefit money had been used by the club to pay the salaries of several players that had been obtained late in the 1885 season, without offering any proof. (23)

Notes:

(20) "Henke Benefit, " The Atlanta Daily Journal, August 26, 1885, p4.

(21) "The Southern League: The Latest Local Base Ball News in Detail," The Atlanta Daily Journal, September 19, 1885, p1.

(22) "A Widow's Complaint," The Macon Telegraph, February 20, 1886, p4. The total amount to which Henke's widow was entitled, and how much she actually received, is unknown. When plans for the benefit game were first announced immediately after his death, estimates were that it would raise over $1,000 for the family. As previously noted, after the benefit was played that estimate was reduced to $700-$800 due to the smaller than expected crowd in attendance. It also isn't clear if these estimates included whatever funds were raised from the benefit games played between the Mutuals and the team from Covington. Nor is it clear how Mrs. Henke arrived at the figure of $159; either she had been told how much to expect and had already received some kind of partial payment, or club officials badly overestimated the expected revenues from the game(s), or she got a royal hosing. Other teams around the league also had pledged to play benefit games on the family's behalf; there is no documentation anywhere that they followed through on these promises, however.

(23) "Henke's Widow Mite," The Macon Telegraph, February 26, 1886, p4.