Good Old Abe Martin

The editorial cartoon Abe Martin, created by the great political humorist Kin Hubbard, gave a nod to the 1909 national championship balloon race in this sketch published in the Indianapolis News Saturday, June 5, 1909 - the day the balloons were launched from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The character, Abe Martin of Brown County, syndicated in 300 newspapers nationwide, was one of the most recognizable political cartoons of America in the early 20th Century. Most if not all of the balloons floated over Brown County and one, the Ohio piloted by Dr. D.H. Thompson, landed in the county seat in Nashville, Indiana.
 
The caption to the sketch doesn't seem to have an relevance to the image but since the illustration includes a balloon named "Hoosier" I include it here. The caption reads:
 
"Rev. Wiley Tanger says a gossipy tongue leads t' card playin'. This mornin' Tell Binkley jumped int' his new three thousan' dollar tournin' car, an' after test'n the' carbuter hurried t' the' poor farm, arrivin' just ten minutes too late t' see his mother alive."
 
I am completely convinced this copy was meaningful at the time...