slang "in the soup"--antedating it by a few months

[Gerald Cohen]

     In a 3 Oct. 2002 ads-l message Barry Popik noted OED2's first
attestation of April 1889 for "in the soup" (= in serious difficulty)
and then presented a slightly earlier one:
           1 September 1888, New York Times, p. 8:
        'McLaughlin won with King Crab in the easiest possible
fashion, and    Speedwell finished "in the soup."'

   I just noticed one that's earlier by a few months-- mentioned
already in a 1989 article I wrote: Old baseball columns as a
repository of slang: reading through _The World_. Studies_ in Slang,
Part 2 (edited: Gerald Leonard Cohen). Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang,
1989. pp.11-84.
_The World_ was a NYC newspaper. -- April 26, 1888, p.3, col. 2: "The
photographers were slow in getting ready and the boys on the
bleaching-boards encouraged them to speed by yelling: 'Play ball.'
'Quit talking through your hat!' 'That picture machine is in the soup
- it can't work!' and all sorts of similar comments."

    Also, FWIW, here's one from 1889: _The World_ Oct. 30, 1889, p. 2,
col. 2; World Championship game; account by the NY scorer: "The
unhappy Brooklyn rooters did not utter a word, but the New Yorks made
the welkin ring.  'Brooklyn's in the soup!  Brooklyn's in the soup!"
yelled the New York cranks [= fans] as the Association men [i.e., the
Brooklyn team] marched in from the field."

     The April 1888 quote is in a baseball context and the Sept. 1888
one is in a horse-racing context.  Maybe sports are the context in
which to seek the origin of "in the soup" in its slang sense.

Gerald Cohen