Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, April 4, 1909, Page 47

TRACEDY OF FATHER GAPON Downfall of the Hero of an Hour in Rui PUT TO DEATH BY A RIVAL SPY Factory Preather Whe Organized the Ned Sunday Procession in St % Turned Re- trayer of Revolutionists. Peters ST. PETERSBURG, March 10.—Materials for an Interesting side chapter of con- temporary history hive been gathered among the debris of the Russian revolu- tionary junta at Geneva. Aside from revelations of Aszoff's years of betrayal the chroniclers of the movement have di- vulged the facts, concerning the late Father Gapon durfng the weeks following the Bunday rising In 8t. Petershure 1 remember well the enfgmatie figure of the little clerle on the night of that dis- astrous day. He had been reported killed wounded and prisoner; he was not touched He was In a traktir (2 workingman's bec and tea room), near the Finland station His furtive expression and downward look wuggested more the character that is now given him than the herole nature that would have fitted those stirring events. In the Savremenny Mir (contemporary world) and Russkoye Bogastvo (Russian wealth) the soclal democrats and revolu- tionary populists publieh their respective versions of Gapon's relations with their party chiefs when he appeared among them in Gensva mfter the suppression of the workmen's movement In St. Peters- burg. Leo Deutsch, who makes the report for the soclal democrats, describes the initial astonishrient and misgivings when the eolony of revolutionary emigrants in Switgerland read of the workmen's up- heaval and of Father Gapon as its leader. Astonishes the Socialists. One fine morning he completed their per- plexity by appearing among {hem, declar- ing himselt a comrade. He was Introduced to the group and made the acquaintance of its leaders. It struck them as ecurlous that Gapon avowed that he had never heard their names before. He added frankly that he Xnew nothing of the inmer history of the revolutionary movement. His talk with them was copiously sprinkled with the pro- noun I; with remarks about his life, his deeds, his impressions. The comrades ac- cepted his harmless nalvete; but they found co-operation with him difficult when he sald he knew nothing about Marxism and socialist principles and was sure they were all wrong. Soon he made the acquaintance of the soclal revolutionaries, the propaganda by deed men In the forelgn directorate “Thess are the practical men that Rus- sla needs,” he said, and went over to his new triends. These, as their spokesman “A. 8. now reports to thelr comrades and subscribers in Russia, tried to instruct him as a work- member of thelr movement. But from the younger members he derived the impre sion that he was a popular hero. He saw the two wings of the party competing for his person, and his self-conceit was de- veloped accordingly Demay " the Be Leader. Le content with the posi- tion of simple member of the party, but demanded the leadership. First he asked for a place in the contral committee. This was refused him ostensibly on the ground that he was uninstructed ln revolutionary principles and a newcomer in the move- ment. @Gapon thereupon resigned from the soclal revolutionary ranks and declared that he was above parties. He sct himself organizing a movement for the unification of all the elements which aimed al the overthrow of the czar's government. He summoned a congress, at which the extreme seetions, fm- pressed by renown of Gapon's name, took part. At first sittings of this congress the unily movement went to pleces owing to differences over the pro- gram to be adopted. Gapon failed, not much because he underraied these differ- ences, as because he was unable to grasp what they signified. He then swerved back to democrats and sought to reconcile who held that their program should clude wholesale assassination of the czi agents with (he minority, who were for educational propaganda. In this also he fatled Meanwhile Russla had constitutional amnesty of thelr movement comrades, pon to Russia. Gapon first tried to revive the old work- men's unjon which ad organized and sent out on that fatal march the previous January. He was defeated in this attempt by the opposition of the committee of workmen's delegates, the body which had successfully carried through the general strike. Goes Over to Go " He would not m the the s0 soclal those in- the the October general strike in forced the czar to yield the manifesto and a form of nly expectant as to the future many of the emigrant among them, returned he vernment. stage of Gapon's proletarian leaders In Russia would not let him share thelr lead- ership. There is no evidence up to this point that he had consclously betrayed any movement. His chief attributes so far had been his vanity and appetite for praise, his lack of knowledge of affairs and of mental power. But his elimination from the new direction of the revolutionary move- ment soured him Both Leo Deutsch and “A. 8." agree in their reports that after his failure to estab- lish himself among the heads of the revolu- tion he entered into relations with Count Witte's government and recelved his means of subsistence from that quarter. He was enabled to go abroad with government money, pald him on the rallroad platform as he left the country He went to Monte Carlo and for a brief space treated himself to all the gilded Aissipations that there were going; the rest of the money he spent in Paris. He had now fallen to the depth when he would perform any Judas servics for money that would help him along with his pleasures Buch & man was the deadly rival of the spy, Asoff; moreover, his former status in This was the crucial c#reer. The new ISING REAST : through the critical ordeal with the revolut tempt nary movement would probably department to Azoff looked the political police pay him from the funds on as his own. He was marked down for death, sentenced by Azoff, and strangled by Comrade Ratenberg in a hired cottage at Tzorki, near Bt. Petersburg, the day after he reached the capital The revolutionary historians this pleture of the ex-priest the tragedy was the fruit character. He never was by temperament. His procession to the winter palace did not aim at a revolution or a constitution, but purely and simply at begging from the Czar protection for the factory workers among whom he preached against the oppression of the gov ernment officials. A simple shepherd leading his flock was how he began and he-found that if for his factory be a silent revolut collapsed. It 18 noted of him that during his sojourn in the soclal revolutionary ranks in Geneva he took not only shooting but also riding The ex-factory preacher astride a Like 80 many adversity temptation. IN ASIA of New Rolling South Manchuria Road. Greene of Dalny reports the South Manchuria Railway a who draw xplaln that of the man's a revolutionary that was to workers wheel weak he fight on he must in the charac beloved Inconspicubus his nary machine lossons, high horse leading his army other fallen on could resist everything, AMERICAN TRAINS Tew on visionaries he except Stoek Conenl Roger 8 that com- pany on October 27 made a trial run of the new American first-class cars which to be used for its express ing with the Changchun re trains connect- at gives the follow- ing accomnt train service: The traln, consisting of a first-class day conch, two sleepe Chinese Fastern railway The consul of this new . one dining car and one baggage car, took a party of invited guests, leading Japanese officials, foreign consuls, forélgn and Japancse merchants and news paper men, to the station of Chinchou, a run of about an hour and fifteen minutes from Dalny. After an hour's stay the re- s made at the speed at which trains are to be run, an aver- age of about thirty miles an hour, reach- ing & maximum of about forty-five miles per hour, g0 that the guests were able to observe the behavior of the cars under actual service conditions. During the ride back luncheon was served to the party. The company officials who were present, among them the vice president and three directors, were greatly pleased with the cars in every respect, and the guests were equally Impressed with their finish, equip- ment and smooth running qualities. The sleepers, diners and first-class coaches are all Pullman standard cars, equal to the best on any raliroad in the United States and fitted with all~the latest fmprove- ments. They are heated by steam and lighted by electricity. The sleepers are of the usual American type with two drawing rooms at one end, each having three berths and a private lavatory. The express trains on which these cars will be used are to be run twice a week, leaving Dalny on Mondays and Fridays, thus connecting with only two of the trans- Siberian express trains, the International Sleeping Car company's train on_the St. Petersburg express. The South Manchurla Rallway company's liner Kobe Maru will continue to run weekly between Dalny and Shanghai to connect with the International express. It will leave Dalny Mondays at 2 p. m. and arriye at Shanghal Wednes- days, while on the return trip it wili leave Shsnghal Friday morning and reach Dalny Sunday morning. The first express train sert Dalny on October 3 &t 8 a. m. A condensed time table of the main line is forwarded giving the hours of arrival and departure at the principal stations. The jcurney from Dalny to Changchun, which has hitherto taken twenty-five hours, will now be made in twenty-one hours, thus bringing the pas gongers to Changchun at 6 & m., an ar- rangement made unavoidable by the time table of the Russian trains with which connections must be made. The south- bourd traln will leave Changchun at 8:40 p. m. on Tuesdays and Saturdays and will arrive at Dalny at 6:15 the following even- ing. ROAD BUILDING TO MUSIC Out of Fi I?Ino- and Won a Bet, Major L. W. V. Keunon, now commanding a battalion of Benjamin Harrison, I bullding the famous Benguet road through the mountains of northern Luzon, plished a feat called humanely impossible. It took music, money and a mongrel army of 4,000 men to do it, but Benguet road stands today one of the remarkable high- ways of the world. Major Kennon's army of 4,000 road build- ers rested only on Sunday. For ten hours of each day they forged ahead. On Sun- days they restad in their quarters, houses bullt of poles ana grass. They amused themselves with dances, cards and games that appealed io she different nationalities Major Kennon introduced music as one of the attractions along the loncly highway. He is known for his resourcefulness and he does not deny that he used music to get better work out of the pleasure-loving | Filipinos and other orientals. They did not like to work, and when they did it was with slow sluggish movement. One day Major Kennon decided to try music as an impetus to zeal, He assem- bled his band, made up of men of all na- tions, and ordered it to move quletly and tely to a place where several hundred Filipinos engaged in arflling holes in the canon walls. The band stole up behind the slow-going drillers and suddenly e were He Only Owned the House. Two northern business men, passing through a, ba. region of the south paused one ds down habitation, one of them exclaiming “Poor creatures! How do they ever make a living from such land!" At this the sag- ging door of the hut slowly opened, a tall lanky, poor white appearing, who drawled out » them ‘Looky here, strangers, | ain't so durned poor €z you think I am. 1 en don't own all this yere land; I jest own the house."—Harper'’s Weekly. And many other painfu and distressing ailments from which most mothers suffer, can be avoided by using ther’s Friend. This rem- edy is a God-send to expect- ant mothers, carrying them safety. No woman who uses Mother’s Friend need fear the suffering incident to birth; for it robs the ordeal of its dread and insures leuvln'a her in a condition more favorable to sreedyne- covery. The child is also healthy, strong and good Valus- safety to life of mother and child, OTHER. %’RIENI;S When the crash came | How Major Kennon Got Hustle Work | the Tenth Infantry at Fort | Philippine islands, accom- | v before a hopeless, tumble- | l "1 was playing Siade, and was puzzled THE OM AHA SUNDAY BEE SUNCLE TOM" IN PERIL YET| Adventures of Those Who Give the Show in Tents. TEXAS OPERA HOUSES SHUT TO IT Troble Made by Whisky, Tornadoes, Law Saits and Prejudice in Towns of the Southwest—Play the Biggest Money Maker. GUTHRIB, OkL, April villain, stood on a ladder with a paint brush In his hand swiping the side of his private car, From a nearby window Eliza beamed upon him amiably, even with af- foction, showing her white teeth as she smiled. The odor of ham and cabbage came from the car kitchen Yellow dandelions had begun te show themselves: the feeling of spring was in the air, heightened by the scent of new tent stakes, newly ofled harness and fresh varnish. An “Uncle Tom's Cabin" company was preparing to abandon winter quarters and lead the nomadic life of a tent show until frost and the chill fall rains should forbid further exposure of little Fwa, the dear child, to the dangers of pneumonia. The genuine feroclous Siberfan blood- fiounds seemed to divine the approaching hour of departure and were tugeing at thelr chains. A bunch of marble-eyed plckaninnies stood leaning over a fence at a safe distance spesulating upon the awful powers of destruction possessed by the bloc dhounds. “Yes,” sald Legree, a mild manncred men, who had accumulated $75,000 in good hard cash In the fifteen years he had owned @ “Tom” show, “we are getting ready to g0 down the firing line and don't for a minute imagine that we'll be able to dodge everything. This “Tom’' business s a life of perilous adverture 2-8imon Legree, Storm Zome Is Marked. “There {sn’t much trovble nor 'way down south, but proach Mason and Dixon's for storms. It's where the of mecession and unionism flap together that life is hardest for us. And the worst place of the bad places is south central and southeastern Oklahoma. There are ‘nesters’ in that reglon only an hour re- moved from the ‘bloody fleld of Shiloh.’ ‘Never heard about what happened to us In the spring of 198? Well you should have been there. Good crowd at the show snd Legree just in the act of larrupin’ old Tom when in comes a deputy sheriff with five or six partners, all loaded with squirrel whieky and each with a sixshooter in his paw. ““Take to the brush, every damned ome of you spotted leopards, and go back where you belong; you can't pull off this show in this here country.’ That's what they sald, and they meant It. . “Bverybody feli of the benches and ducked under the tent walls and lit out for home. The fellows with the guns hur- rahed and cheered. Then each one opened a bottle of whisky and waded into a nearby lake, where they paraded back and forth for hours, singing ‘Turkey in the Straw’ and shooting off their guns. Some of us ept on the floor of the car that might, fearing that a bullet might come througl the side of the car into our bunki Minister Makes Troub! “At another place a minister circulated a petition and got 250 signers asking the mayor to revoke our license. We had a dundy band that played selections from ‘Faust’ ‘Willlam Tell,' ‘Martha,’ * ‘Il Trova~ tore’ and all that kind of stuff, yet the crowd stood In the street and jeered and sald that the musiclans ‘played ltke a lot of scared niggers.’ That made us sore, but we couldn't do anything. “The petition divided the town. The mayor refused to revoke the license. A local newspaper editor sald our treatment was an outrage, and got into a bully fight with & gun play for saying it. “Tact often quiets trouble. something getting ready to start 1 stay close around the ticket wagon and pick out the biggest bully. T begin talking in a free-and-easy-way, without his knowing that I belong to the show and Invite him {to go in with me, paying for the tickets as If T were a stranger. Once inside, the bully becomes interested in the perform- ance and the vaudeville and acrobafic stunts between the acts and grows friendly “The prejudice against negroes s flerce in some parts of Oklahoma. A mumber of towns will not permit & negro to get off | the train. At such towns I kept my negro singers secreted in a car, took them In closed carrlages to the tent at night and | opened the carriage door right against the | door of the tent. Once insite and on the stage the audience couldn’t tell whether the negroes were genuine or imitation, Some “Plzen” Town ‘way up north when you ap- line get ready frazzled edges When 1 see “There are towns in Texas and Missis- sippi that are simply pizen. In one Texas town the town band came down the street playing ‘Dixie’ and followed by a mob of 20 men and boys. We cancelled the per- formance and pulled out of town. Never get Into a fight In such places; you'll get licked to a dead certalnty, and maybe Killed. “We call another place, Six-Shooter Junc- tion, after having had all the windows of our cars shot out there one night. In Texas one theatrical cireuit will not book & “Tom’ | show In lts opera houses, belng unwilling | to take chances, and no ‘Tom’ show has | ever played the opera house circut in that state. I “There's 31000 net for the man who | can get the Lookings. ‘Tom’ would draw | just as heavily as ‘The Clansman,’ which gets Texas on fire about three times a year. Once inside a show a southern audience usually ceases Its hostile demonstrations agalnst a ‘Tom' performance, There Is no play more appealing In its patho and when the story of ‘Uncle Tom' grips an audience prejudice usually gives way to | tears. This season I'm going on the firing line in Arkansas; you may see my name in the newspapers some day Prohibition in Texas. “Getting back to Texas, let me tell you of a fool thing that happened at one town Prohibition was & red hot Issue in Texas at the time we switched from “T'om’ to “Ten Nights In a Barroom.' There was intense bitterness between the opposing partisans, d to show their contempt of their enemies anti-prohibitionists often came to a show with a quart of whisky drinking publicly whenever thirsty. At the performance I refer to, gan had entered the barroom of Simon Slade and asked for a drink, only to be refused by Slade, In whose place Morgan's life had been ruined. Joe was complaining of his misery and the cruelty of Slade when & great, blg Texan stood up with a quart bottie of whisky in his hand and ex- claimed Here Joe Mor Joe, damn it, take a drink with me Ana the rascal walked up and onto The man playing Joe Morgan teetotaler. But the sight of the advancing Texan, deep in his cups, unperved him so that he took several swal lows from the bottle at the urgent request of the owner. the runway s a was | theatrical performances. [ 10osening ropes with as much noise as pos- | sald & showman, | 1essons | ponies, etec. | strong | An awkward boy In a country town learns | or | claea | plicity to know how we could get rid of our bottle friend without a break in the performance The Texan leaned agninst the bar, per. feetly at home, and crossed his high-heeded bocts In a comfortable attitude. The auvdi- ence tittered. ‘Then our unsalaried actor saw several barroom loafers at a table playing an fraginary game of cards, but without real cards, as public card games In Texas were forbidden by law. The Texan pulled up & chalr, sat down at the table, drew a greasy deck from his pocket and dealt everybody a hand. The loafers had too much respect for the town marshal to take up their hands and moved gingerly away, leaving the friend of Joe Morgan alone in his glory The Texan finally became disgusted, walked down the runway and disappears Money in a Uncle Tom's Cabin” is sald to taken In more money at the box than any other theatrical performance in the world Outside the larger cities it seoms to be as popular as ever. Among its most devoted patrors are church people who could not be induced to attend other office The tent show has grown to be the most pcpular way of preserting ‘‘Uncle Tom," and is more easily managed than an opera house show. One man without experience in the theatrical business started a ‘“Fom™ show with a cash capital of §250. That was fifteen years ago in Nebraska. He now has a fortune of $80,000, The street parade with its ponies, alle- gorical figures, its Topsy, its Little Eva, its bloodhounds and its brass band is the strong drawing card. The shrewd manager serds & complimentary ticket to the head of each farmer family witkin a radius of ten miles of the town where he shows. “It is a certainty that if ma goes the children will go,” said a manager, “‘and the thing to do is to get the children to begin begging ma to take them. The compli- mentary ticket does the work. “A ‘Tom’' show seems destined by fate to be the target in the business of getting stung real good and hard, probably because of its humble story ' said a “Tom" vet- eran. “Now what would you think of a deal of this kind: “In Kansas my cars were in a rallroad yard where I was paying the railroad company for service and protection. In a lot more than a block away was a fool colt. Caught by Grafters. “One of my dogs began barking, the colt began running and went into a barb wire fence, cutting itself badly. In a Jiffy the town constable tled up -my show upon complaint of the owner of the colt, who sued me in a justice of the peace court, where 1 was stuck for $150 damages. I could have beat the case by appealing it, but the cost of delay and litigation would have amounted to more than $160, which I pald and left town with murder in my heart. “In another Kansas town the band In the street parade scared a spatined old scare- crow in @ livery stable lot. The skate tried to jump & fence and fell and broke its neck. Stung? Well, 1 guess yes; just $1% worth, 1f. there are grafters in the show business they are driven to it by this kind of injustice.” . The manager of & tent show pays close attention to the weather, especially in the southwest country, where a tornado is likely to. form in an hour and blow the feathers off a chicken. Threatening clouds are watched olosely and if danger is sus- peeted the audlence is warned to leave the tent. T Often there are jocular individuals who tell the people that they are being fooled and that there is no danger. The showman mests this with the bluff of having his workmen begin pounding stakes _and sible. If the audience is dismissed and the tent down and sent the performers to roasted. “1 missed it once in western Kansas, “and came near getting The clouds were the worst 1 ever saw—pea green and fuzzy orange all mixed together. 1 got the crowd out and the tent tdown and sent the performers to the car. * storm, In 1 saw 300 people lynched about twenty minutes headed by the mayor and the town marshal trotting toward the show ground. We heid & pow wow. made it plain we were on the square and offered to put on the show if the crowd would help put up the tent and the seats. agreed, and we put on a show that tickled ‘em to death.” Bloodhounds Unknown. The genuine bloodhound is unknown in a “Tom" show. He is so small In size and so lacking in appearance of ferocity that he would be a fallure as a drawing card. The dog commonly used is a Great Dane, and he fills all the requirements. The dogs cause much trouble by fight- ing among themselves and attacking strange dogs. Once locked In combat it is not easy to pry them apart. Ammo- nia is usually held to thelr noses to make them loose their hold. These dogs soon learn the business of the stage, and ten minutes before their entrance they begin an uproar of baying. The plercing scream of Liza as she starts across the Ice s the cue that makes their clamor wildest, and they never miss the cue. One from an emplo o has had five Evas the father being The “Tom" company the same family, e in the Chicago postoffice oldest 1s now happlly married and lives at Oklahoma City. When these girls reached the age of 11 or 12 years they were taken out of the show business and placed in school, where they seemed to be brighter pupils than other children. The Liza of this show was the wite of the manager. She looked after the wel- fare of the little girls, taught them their regularly two hours a day, and took them to Sunday scuool every Sun- day. At Saturday matinces the town children are asked to stay after the per- formance and visit with Eva and see the of wany it in tent-show life persons and unexpected has a many ways e fascingtion on into hoid are drawn the t a show need of a muslclan comes along, awkward boy goes on the road $10 a week, with expenses In “Tom" show the average salary of all performers is $10 a week and ex- penses, for of about twenty-five weeks. In Joseph, Mo., is the son of a minister ran away with a Tom’ show when a boy Afterward his father educated him in the Occaslonally he abandons his practice, and for diver sion plays four or five weeks with his old friend and employer. Then he goes back to briefs until the wanderlust seizes him again. BOYLE HEARING AT SHARON Preliminary win to play nbone or tme flute in the and at 88 a a season st who law of Femade Be eld Week. April 3.1t bas been Mrs. Boyle, charged with the kidnaping of Willie Whitla, will have a hearing at Sharon. It Is prob able that the hearing will be held toward the end of mext week, when the Whitla Kidnaper ext de- | MERCE that n APRIL | Home | when skits on | callea 4, 1909, H I , Half Tones The “Always Well Done’ quality. Thoroughly re-etched, sharp in detail and delivered with a guarantee. Zinc Etchings The cuts that a reputation for their deep etched lines and printing qualitie: Drawings Originality coupled with ability to execute, has made our art department the business center of our shop. Good cuts invigorate your literature and bring satiifactory results. ——] Baker Bros., Engraving Co. BARKER BLOCK, OMAHA. have made our house NEW BRITISH FUNMAKER H. G. Pelissier’s Show Makes London Laugh. FOLLY THAT AMUSES ENGLISH Consists Largely of Burlesque—1its Inventor = —tPotted Plays” a Feature of the Entertainment, TONDON, March 24.—The greatest fun- maker in England today is a German who is a naturalized English citizen and who has burlesqued and laughed at everything in the country. His latest joke was to outwit the censor. and so successfully aid he accomplish it that all Great Britain has shaken s sides with laughter. This was the burlesque on “An Englishman’s H. G. Pelissier, for that is the German Englishman’s decldedly French name, started giving public performances twelve vears ago, beginning with short entertain- ments at seaside resorts. His troupe of three women and three men were all dressed as Plerrots and they billed themselves everywhere as the “Follies.” Mr. Pelis- sier wrote all the words and music of the songs, and as far as there was any book to their burlesques, he wrote the book. As fortune continued to smile upon the venture the troupe found themselves in demand at privace entertainments, and at last they made thelr way to London and in the small Queen's hall gave thelr per- formance to large audiences. Then King Bdward sent for them to come down to Windsor and amuse him and they suc- ceeded In making him laugh till the tears rolled down his cheeks. After that the ‘“Follies” as the leading funmakers of England. Tifey took a lease of Terry's theater in the Strand and Mr. Pelissier proceeded to “pot plays” and burlesque London's mati- nee idols Joked His Own Show. His posters were original, for all of them made fun of his performance. One, for instance, had a picture of the theater with the audience rushing headlong out of the doors and into the night. Underneath wa: the Inscription, “Hundreds turned aw: nightly.”” The subtlety of this joke took some time to penetrate, but when it did people flocked to see the man who had a sense of humor great enough to laugh at his own show Now the “Follles” are a recognized Lon. don entertainment. And yet it is the sim plest entertainment after all ‘When the curtain first rises there are seven chairs in a row, ministrel fashion Presently out from behind a black curtain come the “Follles,”” three women and three men, then Mr. Pelissior himself. Songs jokes and storles follow in rapid succession for a short time. The second part of the entertainment consists of the potted plays. all the successful plays are glven by the company. Just now they are burlesquing the “King of Cadonia” and giving a slde-splitting version of Mr. Tree's production “Faust,” with Mr. Pellssier as a some what portly bit exceedingiy playful Mephis- topheles. As to the scenery, Mr. Pelissier advertises it as widely and plcturesquely as Mr. Tree did his, but the audience are In the joke and they are not a bit sur- prised when a ‘“grand transformation scene’’ turns out to be a canvas flat with an infoor scene on ome side and an out- door scene on the other, which is wheeled across the stage by two solemn scene shifters and twisted slowly around so both sides can be viewed In turn. “What Every Woman Knows,” with Mr Pelissler as John Shand, n a costume consisting of & tartan, a workman's coat a high hat and court shoes, with buckles and long silk stockings to show all the stages of John Shand's career at the same time, is very funny also The third part of the performance is Everybody's Benefit and is a variety show. Absurd Salomes, singers, dancers and contortionists perform It is foolish, absolutely foolish very often but it 1s the funniest sort of foolishness were stamped current burlesque family returns from Atlantic City. England has ever had Pelissler himself is the head and shoul- ders of the whole thing. A large, stout, unwieldy man, he manages to dance and fiit about when he imltates certain char- acters in an amazing fashion. The instant he comes on the stage with twinkling eyes and “an eight-hours-of-sunshine-registered- today sort of smile” his audience laugh with him. As for him, he chuckles at everything. He makes fun of his own fun, ridicules his own performance. As for the book of the play there really is no book. The rehearsals are madder #nd funnier than the performances, Every onc says and does what he pleases and Mr. Pelissler watches it all, and when scmebody makes a particularly good jok he says, “We'll have that”’ and it goes into the performance. 8o the burlesque grows until it is ready for production. Mr. Polissier will not even be seriously interviewed. He takes all efforts at this as a joke and talks to his would be inter- viewers In this fashiop “I see, you want a picture of the house I was not born in and photographs of my aunts, and that sort of thing. 1T can read you an appreciation of myself by myself if that will help you any. At an astonishingly early age 1 showed unmistakable signs of hamor and created shrieks of mirth among my brothers and sisters by tripping up blind old ladies In the street, kicking the crutches from the grasp of a passing crip- ple and a thousand other innocent drol- lerfes. “At the age of 9 a family council was held to see whether T should be educated or sent to Kton After a time I went abroad, and on my return from the voyage 1 was cheered by an enormous crowd, with both of whom I gratefully shook hands." And so on he continues ti!] the bewildered interviewer takes his leave, not knowing one bit more about Mr. Pelissier than when he came, but having had a delightful time all the same. Roosevelt a Scrapper. Four grimy urchins sat on the street curb eulcgizing President Roosevelt. “Say, dat guy Rocsevelt 'll fight at de drop of de hat!" declared one youngster, with widened eyes. “I read in de pape: only last weck where he bit a man's ear ne of the others had read that, how- ever, #0 they eagerly requested the speaker to give the detalls. “It was like dis, accordin’ to de paper, explained he. “Durin’ a discussion in de White House over a measure de president was in favor of, one of de party started to say somethin' against it, when de presidont quietly leaned over and got dis guy's ear! —Circle Magazin FOR USE AGAINST ARSHIPS Novel Gun t the D t Has Been Placed osal of the Germ: War Ofce. at LONDON, March weapon of offence, been followed with against its attacks. .~Like every other the airship has soon a weapon of defence The German War of- fice has had placed at its disposal a gun manufactured and designed at the Krupp works at Essen especially for use against airships, and 1t is understood that the British War office is also considering cer- tain inventions devised for a similar pur- pose It has could The been easily argued that naval gunners disable a Zeppelin airship. target presented broadside on is & large one, but stem on the Zeppelin offers only a forty foot circle. If the height of the airship be 1000 feet present naval guns could not be trained upon it at less than a distance of about & mile and a half, and at this distance a forty foot mark it not a certain target, even on the level, to a moving ship. At the elevation required it would be not only exceedingly difficuit to estimate the rangs, but even If the range were known the al- lowance for curvature of trajectory would be 8o great as to render a hit the merest fluke. The new type a of gun manufactured by Messrs, Krupp, it is asserted, will destroy steerable airship. The shell which It fires has a diameter of sixty-five milli- metres, weight nine pounds and fs ais- charged with an initial velocity of 1841 feet The gun is raised to an angle of sixty de- grees and the profectile can reach a height of 18,150 feet. The ahells are filled with & highly inflammable gas which will cau the gas bag of an airship to explode when it comes into contact with it a REMOVAL SALE, We are forced to move, and as we are determined not to take any of our present stock into the new location, we have in- augurated a 20% DISCOUNT REMOVAL SALE . This will be an exceptional opportu- nity to buy your Easter outfit at a genuine bargain, as our entire stock of Clothing and Furnishing Goods are included in this sale. BOURKE’S CLOTHES SHOP, 319 S. 16th St.