The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, January 29, 1899, Page 25

SAN FRANCISCO, SUNDAY, JANUARY 29, 1899. A Notorious Card Sharp Introduced Into| One of Berlin's Most Exclusive Clubs| by a “Fast” Young Nobleman ERLIN, Ja 10.—Ch ) a card, his cards were marked ef- < Iy the most subtle fraud | The banker has the cards | If the fi ard, that on d min- 9 Reichstag and ¢ nd Bourse ® club, the ® he loosest ¥ ither & scrip- triends o 1y y baccarat in 4 > widened the club g ive hotel. Of- o rietors from the o 1 to its revelrie Z proportior n dangers that g the outside. already with 1ad joined the Club ® A young 1 and Mor players t.” Two ca oreed to resign their I E: it said that two from the Guards had taken ® sion to the man, distin- & s His entrance ient, for his gray such youthful, ;. He was so frol that his age was soun lost large sums. He won & I v case, he was a o He would win all o ETE S nged” loans in ® 1 became ex- & h certain member ced to be winner ertainment: ning personage e rumors about definitene C In this cha R that Club der Froh- on a new and in other mem- ¢ ed about. Men watched Choparc ke alt 6000600 and nines night | o ; ‘ . | top, is a nine, the chances of the right- L hesamons fins |hand group of playe to whom he ‘1“"‘,‘1.] -»"‘}‘}1 should deal it, are remarkably aug- One of | mented by the fact. For suppose the second card given them turns out to be up, side by | 5 ten g jack, a queen or a king, the as it nllyf”;‘l - | right-hand group will call “nine” and Nddenty. - ’u.‘l up | Win. It is true that the banker ma B ARy e e also have a nine, but the chances ar 15 “Gott in Himmel!” | | immensely the ther way. » trick. | going into the mathematics of the thing . Yet mot |t will be sufficient to that the 1 knowledge of where rat is most honest- | jines are coming, just before each turn, 1k games in this, is equal to a rebate of n nge frequently | the game of baccarat. Of course d to hand. One moment your | ;qyantage is all against the bank. ? banking. He appears that Chopard was willing I U By, T should be so. When he banked he I as much as he won. But the as that the large winners s his confederates. 1 Now they are wander- E K ers with ruined reputations. Chopard group—called kept a strict account with them. He two cards to him- | o0k the lion’s share of their wicked | i u(;llfi the num- | gaing. When Chopard entered there was al- ture card, Onls | ways a great stir. His influence was in = i in favor of high play. Rich \ple—which ’ : face A who would have been quite as ¢ comes | content with smaller stakes, were | drawn into higher play by his example. side con- ide COB- |\, "} onest man would be dealing. Without | | win a ¢ard 18 | sharper would ccll out “Five hundred 5 for | marks on the left!” He had an even < : A 6 is | chance to win or lose. When he saw \ $ and 9 win | What nobody else could see—a nine on 5 the first two |top—he would lay down 2000 mark s : when's | ubon the right. 1 8 the es.| The men he played against were not tia T reat es- | simpletons. Chopard has been called | 1 ller of the | the king of card manipulators. This is | Club ¢ 1is associates | true, for there is no trick in the hand- The | ling of a pack he has not at his finger- His success is, howev | more to his diplomacy. How to win two large bets in every three and yet not be suspected was his triumph. When he and his confederates had broken up |a bank Chopard might then take bank himself. | to win as any other banker. Little little his confederates would draw t money out when they could see a lucky nine on top the pack. *Yes, Chop won enormously,” the crowd would say the next day, “but he lost it all with the next bank he took.” interest in society now ceaters in 1te of the accompiices of Chopard. of them—young men of good family—are in flight. It is whispered there are others trembling to-day upon the ve of suicide. ends. He had the same chance by ught g the club is now branded as a known dler. As he is far away th do hesitate to give his story in full. before the advent of the great rtist this young man, a member of one of the oldest families in Germany, be- Aame famous for his winnings at “Der Frohlichen.” At that time he was an or | officer of one of the regiments of the ck of cards you will se the backs, or. account ¢ the rel: will place. to t nearer to one I In | Guards. ¢ e time later he was placed this way, all playing fcar ter | on half pay and then transferred to the v th »vh‘ Ju\.(; m\-;«‘r. ll}v.‘s' l;f-«vk\- May | reserve. He made several attempts to be, - axe elvinible cinto gD o t Testored, even to the ranks of a with an casily distinguishe 2 s chic regiment, but all in vain. .No By patiently sorting hundr actual charge of a disgraceful nature Chopard produced & number of packs | could be brought againet him, He was suited to his purpose. The backs of |simply “fast.” He continued to frequent | the cights and nines had always an ir- | the “Club der Frohlichen,” lived in regularity. The backs of all the others | brilliant style and was soebrated. even were perfectly regular. Thus, without |in Berlin, for his horses. Even his putting so much as a scratch or erasure | One of those who | had helped to introduce Chopard fnito | Rezeiss | Winnings at poker and baccarat could | ill due | a | not save him from debt, and he would have been already lost had he not man- aged 10 draw two young Princes—who are namele into the great American game. affair of the “Prinzen-jeu” was rapidly hushed up. The youthful scamp ppeared to make a short tour of the Continent. And when he came back it was in company with Chopard. STERLING HEILIG, N. Y. Press. — e To be invested with the Order of the Golden Fleece and have a Russian Grand CSES e e S S M gt S ONE OF THE @ ) ¢ HARDEST FIGHT s I Ever Had. g By Frank Erne. o Rising Middle-Weight ~goooo'oooooooooooooooooooog or profession which w of their prowess or fitnes faster than any man in the busines: the bic riors. They have won and kept their When I called on them last week at the Palace, I was most affably received. specimen of humanity striking characteristic. lines: HE hardest fight that I ever hard in my life was with Jack Skelly. As everybody knows, Skelly was a fight- er of no mean ability in his St be recalled by th who are well posted in the history of the ring that it was Skelly who fought George Dixon in New Orleans at the time that Corbett ended the career of John L. Sullivan. At that famous carnival Skelly gave Dixon a clean, hard and sclentific argument, and the litde negro had all he wanted to win his victory. Well, I was matched to meet Skelly in 1895 for ten rounds and a decls- ion in the light weight class. I had heard a good deal of Skelly and his prowness as a fighte: , like all youngsters, I had 2 ca elled head and I did not reckon on any especial trouble in posing of my g I knew that I I a fight on my hands, but I thought that in two rounds 1 would be able to finish my man. I want you to undersf that this fight taught me a lesson. 15 that 1T had my man easy 1 did not train, so that when I entered the on the night of the fight I was not v in the condition that I should have d Be- f ng all 11l never forget it. Tim Hurst was feree. In the betting I was a 3 to 1 favorite and I since understood that there were few takers even at that pric y. 1 had given my friends the quiet tip that I would finish Skelly in the s third round, and I ond or honestly ex- pected to do so; but, as you will see, I had underestimated my game, When time was called [ sailed in. My plan of action was to go right at my man and never give him a moment’s rest. : I nted to make quick work of him and end the fight. This was about the way I had sized it up, but there was something I had failed to count on and that was the cleverness and staying powers of Skelly. I went at my man in the first round, but he was not there. I chased him, but he Kept out of the way. This nettled me, so in the next round I was hot. I rushed him hard, but I could not reach Skelly, and what 'was worse, I got badly punished for my trouble. The third round saw me with a badly swollen eye. I want to tell you that in all my experience in the ring 1 was never so badly punished as in this fight. My left eye was lying out on my ch?k, my lips were cut and swollen, cle tournament shortly to be held here that he has no equal. Duke for sponsor constitutes the nearest approach to regal dignity to which the chief of a republican State can hope to pire. M. Felix Faure, in his counting iouse at Havre,could never have dreamed of climbing to so glddy a pinacle of earthly ambition. Wicked wags among s asserted that the President emorate the event by a per- formance of *‘Le Bourgeols Gentilhomme' in the evening, but no such item figured on the programme. M. Faure must al- ready possess a great many more stars nd ribbons than could be displayed on y bosom. however capacfous, but he is long way from being the most. deco- ated man in Europe. That proud dis- Sulenburg, with ty-three | such vanitie e thus beats Bismarck, | who could boast of fifty-four only, and | Moltke, who fell ten below that total. But { it must be remembered that these heroes | declined many offers and refused to pay | the customary fees.—London Chronicle. tinction belongs to Count von record who holds the GAMES oocQQoQQCQOQO 000000000 laurels by sheer right of their protvess. no larger than a pin. but a manly little fellow, while the modes Following is what the while the blood was running from my nose in such a stream that I could hardly breathe In a very little while I realized that I was up against it. T had started the rush- ing tactics and I knew that I had to keep it up or lose the fight, as Skelly had out- pointed me. I was aware that if I altered my game the pubfic would say that Skel- ly had made It so warm for me that I had o quit. You can imagine my feelings when I tell you that as I came up for each round T knew that I was getting weaker, while, as far as I could see, there was 10 let-up on Skelly's part. He showed up fresh and appeared to be . getting stronger as the game went on. I was des- perate. I knew what defeat meant, and I summoned all of my strength to my aid. For the first time in my life I realized the bitter meaning of the word “overcon- fident,” and I resolved that I would never again underestimate my man. This was how the fight stood up to the beginning of the seventh round. When round opened I knew that if 1 was T had to get to work. Skelly strong, and, let me tell you, he showing I0ts of cleverness. He came like a whirlwind. He punished me e than I had ever been punished in I felt that vie- s slipping from my grasp. 1 was . T was mad. In fact, I felt that the of my life had come. In my despera- summoned to_my aid all of my I went at Skelly and, for some reason, he allowed himself to be drawn or rushed into his corner. I saw my one opportunity—indeed, my last opportunt I feinted for Skelly’s stomach. This w his weak point. When I made the fein he lowered his guard and in‘an instant I shot my right to his chin. I threw the welght of my whole body Into the blow. He went down like an oX. As he tried to rise I put him out. before or since. wild. end tion 1 strength. s t I did not get over the effects of my punighment for a month, but ‘the fight was of great benfit to me, as it has taught me the lesson that a man should never underestimate his opponent. FRANK ERNE. —_———— “What makes Patterson so gloomy all the time?"" “Well, he's a self-made man, and he says he'd give anything If he could blame i;ms job on somebody else.”—Detroit Free Tess. Yy have to say of the hardest contests they ever had in their respec How Aguinaldo Boldly Won His Leadership ENERAL EMILIO AGUINALDO y FAMY, the President of the Filipinos, is little more than %0 years of age. He was born in Imus, a little village near Cavite. | His father was a planter, and the son was first sent to the College of St. Jean His father was a planter, and the son | sent first to the College of St. Jean de Lateran, then to the Unive y of | St. Thomas, in Man The youth's edu- cation' cost the father much privation, for the cost of pursuing a course of | study at these institutions is not less IN THE CLUB DER FROHLIGHEN. 0200600000000 000000000000060000006000000000000000000000000000000000000000606666° TWO FAMOUS STRUGGLES FOR CHAMPIONSHIPS. HARDEST RACE I Evtgn"R@@lg, By “Jimmy’ Michael, Champion Middle-Distance Rider. 000000000000 00000O0O000O HENEVER a man or a woman obtains in this world © [+) (] © (4] © (4] [+) [4) © < [ 4] .that prominence or distinction in any particular line s fame and renown, the word of that man or woman becomes of alue. By right whichever you choose to term it, they have the priv words are as truth. Last week there arrived here Frank Erne, weight fighter of this country, and Jimmy Michael, who ege to kK and Spe their who some say will be the champion light- at middle Erne comes here to fight Dal Hawkins, while Michael will demo: In their particular lines they hav distances on the bicycle can ride Michael I found to be a wee v of Erne was his most tive HE hardest’ middle distance race that I ever rode was with Tom Lin- ton on the Manhattan Beach track. In my humble estimation it was the hardest race ever run in this or any other country. Mv reasons for saying this are not a few. There were many condi- tlons that made the race a hard one. To me the purse was no consideration. To begin with, there was between Linton and myself the keenest rivalry; such ri- valry, in fact, that either of us would have given all he possessed in the world if any one could have satisfied him be- fore the race that he would win. Back of the rivalry of which I speak is a story, and it is a story that will explain why the race was the hardest 1 ever rode. Tom Linton and I were schoolmat were born and brought up in the town. It was in Aberamen, Aberdare, South Wales, that we lived. Our homes were not a quarter of a mile apart. There had existed between Linton and myself a rivalry from the time when we were little boys. As we grew up and were able ta take part in sports and games this spirit of rivalry grew stronger. This As. the state of affairs between Linton and myself in 1891, when we both took to the wheel. Then it was that the fight harder for me. This was difference in our occupations. Linton was a miner, while I was learning to be a butcher. Naturally my rival had the greater following. The miners in the town greatly outnumbered the butchers, and they stood by Linton to a man through all his ups and downs. -During the first few vears our greatest ambition was to defeat each other. When we finally branched out as full-fledged pro- fessionals, I belleve that either of us would rather be beaten a dozen times by any one else than by the other. In 1895 under the management of Choppy Warburton, the famous runner, T gained many victories in Paris and other parts of the world, among them being el im victories over Tom Linton, who always had some plausible excuse to give for his defeat. It was in Paris that I met Champlon Zimmerman, and it was from became due to the 'Bhot the Spanish Officer fent to Arrest | Him and Appealed to the Native Sol- than 1200 francs a year, and Aguinaldo had great difficulty both ends meet. | At St. Jean de Lateran the student is | drilled in Spanish and Latin "and the the elder to make R O O R R R R RO R O RO R R CRORCY POV 99900000000 09090 him that I learned how good the Ameri- can riders were and how much harder the game was rope. In 1896, when_Johnson, McDonald and Weinig visited Europe, I met them, and it was then that I decided to come to_America. On my leaving Europe Linton at once started the report that I had crossed the pond to avoid meeting him. You can run over my records of that year. I raced until late in the fall, and T placed many to the credit of the N After such a long straln of hard records ew Orleans t 1 work I thought I was entitled to a res It was just at this time that the six da. race, which was managed by Kennedy 3, and Pow began in New York. Hale, the winner of : race, and many other noted bicyclists, came to' this country under the manage- ment of Plummer fo participate in the ce. Well, just as bad luck would have it, T had to go to England, being sud- denly called there to appear in a case hich was in the courts at that “time. I had to go to exonerate a friend of mine from damaging blame that had been laid at his door as the result of an accident to us while training with a triplet on a road in England. Of course, just as soon as T left Linton at once began to say that he had driven me from Europe and that he had also driven me from America because I was afraid to meet him. You can imagine how I felt when I knew what a false game he playing. Just to show vou how he was bluffing, Linton met defeat at the hands of J. I, Starbuck, the Phil- adelphia crack middle distance man. In 1867 Linton failed to show up in this coun- try, but last year the desire again to meet his old schoolmate was so strong in him that he came to this country to meet . I met him and McDuffie. In the ce with the latter at Boston my han- dle-bar broke, and, of course, feated. My hard luck kept with me, for when I met Linton I punctured a tire and he won a victory. These two victories were so hollow that another race ae- manded, which resulted in a victory Ior( me. Now to sum up my story, for I am go- ing to tell vou of the last, race. You 1 understand what were my feelings when 1 entered the race. have said, I was to meet Linton af the Manhattan Beach track, The conditions of the race were of the hardest kind. To begin with, you know the state of my i Now the Manhattan Beach one of the most difficult on which to break records or follow pacemakers, because of the sharp turns which will al- most unseat a rider. Then, again, there is the stiff breeze from the ocean that vou have to ride against. This in Itself is_enough to discourage a man. Well, we started from the opposite ends of the'track. We were each to have un- limited pacing, and let me teil you that the machines d were quintets. You can have some idea of the race from this fact alone. It was a hard race. At the erack of the pistol records began to fall by the wavside. Now. taking the track into conslderation, to say nothing of our intense desire to defeat each other, you can readily how little it would take to lose the race. OWing to the immense crowd that thronged the course I was unable at any time to locate Linton. T knew what to do, so I riding in a hurry. 1 never once let my self entirely out. This is a rule that I always observe, for when your opponent gets too close to ¥ou if you have not any extra steam vou are lost Well, we both went at se it determined to do or die. Only once during the race did Linton get within elfi:fl)' rds of me. I won ihe race, and the tory was dear and sweet, but I had to work for it, and I want to say right here that it was the hardest race that I_ever rode. JAMES MICHAEL. A pious Scotch farmer once remarked with regard to the potato disease that at first he ‘“thoct it was a dispensation of Almichty God, but now he believes it ‘was an insect. @ of the archipelago. © ures against it. @ claim and instantly chose him @ leader. @ @ flaming to join the standard of revolt. & _Aguinaldo s @ cast of face and wears & dour, which helghtens that_impression; ® @ the rebellion he was in hourly fear of as- © this prize had brought into his & host of mercenaries seeking a convenfent @ PPPPROPOOPOSPS in this country than in Eu- | I was de- | final and great | As 1| i got down to steady | diers to Strike for Freedom. | classics; and when he is able to trans- late the masterpieces of Rome with facil- ity he s ready for the University of St. Thomas. - This, like the college, is under the Dominicans. In the university the principal studies are physics, meta- physics, theology, jurisprudence, law and @ medicine. & Aguinaldo was adjudged o Student and gave no promise of distinc- tion. In fact, the Dominicans finally sent him home in sheer despair. Aguin: o @ then entered the normal school of the © Jesuits. Here he made some progress; & but at this time his father died, when the youth was forced to return home to take care of his patrimony, which was threat- ened by the lawsuits instituted by the @ Order of the Recollectos—an organization composed of the greatest land proprietors @ of the colony, It was in 1893 that Dr. Rizal created the a very dull PS Philippine League, the object of which was to unite politically the various parts Rizal was banished, @ but shortly ruftorv‘;urr] the order of Kati- punan was formed, which soon had more @ than 250,00 members. The object of tnig ¢ soclety was co-operation for the protec- @ © ance of this socie tion of the colonists. The Government then, fearing an alli- v with the Free Masons and the various secret orders hostile to Spanish rule, began to take active meas- Aguinaldo was suspected @ of being one of the leaders. A Spanish officer, with a squad of native soldiers, came to arrest him. Aguinaldo, when @ confronted by the officer, promptly shot him, then eloquently appealed to his com- panions to leave the service of their for- @ eign oppressors and strike a blow for & libert The soldlers recefved his words with ac- s their He then sought the fastnesses of the forest, where he was soon joined by thousands of his countrymen — all short of sature, He has the with a Japanese a black pompa well knit figure. his countenance is imperturbable; it is notable for its serious expression. During sassination a reward of $25,000 had been offered by the Spaniards for his head, and amp a opportunity to gain the coveted reward. He has unbounded influence with his own & countrymen, and no one betrayed him or attempted to make an assault upon his ¥ life for the reward. @ The headquarters of Aguinaldo were in & the former house of a rich mative of Ca- . vite. With him were his staff and_ his © mother and several of his relatives. These @ he kept with, him to secure them from Spanish vengeance. In front of the broad, roomy house, is a paved court, and on @ each side a trusted number of stalwart insurgents constantly keep guard. The ® uniform of these soldlers is a cheap na- 4-tlve homespun; their arms are of the @ crudest description; but they made up In loyalty what they lacked in training. The general himself usually wore a spot- & less sult of white linen, a white shirt, with a well-polished front, a high collar and @ a black necktte. He wore red velvet slip- & pers, embrojdered In gold. In his office was a modern desk, piled high with docu- ments, a large mirror, two large, strong irén boxes, which served as a safe for the moneys of the insurgent ‘sovernment, and a grand plano of Spanish make. Against a hatrack leaned the rebel standard, and on the wall hung a map of the province. This the general used to scan eagerly, tracing the movements and disposition of his troops. Aguinaldo was usually surrounded by varfous members of his staff, nome of whom, however, was impressive as himself. I belfeve Aguinaldo to be sincere and patriotic. He has surely proved him- self an able general. He is bravely per- sonified, and inasmuch as the Filipinos admire 'this abc all other attributes, Aguinaldo is always at the head. He is a born leader, and has just enough tact to | adopt expedien and make compro- mises, yet he does not seem to do so. In everything he takes the initiative. { In no event does he consult any one. He | brooks no opposition. He has had no | rivals in reality. There have been one or | two would-be ones, but they could not withstand him. He is perhaps not always | scrupulous as to the attainment of his | ends, yet his proclamations are wise and | moderate. his conduct all one would desire in even a European dictator. Moreover, | few have shown themselves so modest and so merciful. There is a tremendous magnetism about the man, and whenever he addresses his troops he holds them with a grip that would be spellbound but for the rapt at- tention and for the devotion that Is vo- | ciferously manifested. The natives, too, seem to he unable as well as unwilling to get away from his power, and, to all ap- | pearance, he is to the islanders the man | of the hour. : | " Of course, I do not agree with him everything he does, but, knowing his s cerity and believing that he makes his | spectacular display merely to tmpress the | natives and hold their allegiance, I there- | fore admire him, and hope that the | Americans will co-operate with him to | give us a stable Philippine government. | At all events, the man’s strong person- | ality and his large following cannot, I believe, well be ignored by the American | Government. e A Gentlzmanliy Brigand. A picturesque and humorous brigand is Bernardo Viola, whom the Italian author- ities are just now trying to catch. He is | not an ordinary vulgar cutthroat, but a | gentlemanly fellow, who has a host of | friends and who is described as being both generous and kindhearted. Viola expects parish priests to support | him, and whenever he finds himself short of money he informs the priests of the | fact and insists that it is their duty to supply him with the necessary funds. | The priests who comply with his request find Viola a pleasant visitor. He takes { just what he thinks the afford to give him and then goes his way satis- fied. | Those priests, however, who refuse to | comply with his demands very soon dis- cover that he is not to be trifled with. Viola wastes no words on them, but sim- ply lays hands on what valuables he can find in their homes and then makes off with them. Only once did he let anger get the better of him. That was when a | sturdy priest tried to prevent him from | plundering his home. Viola would not stand that, and so he promptly slew the unfortunate priest | Viola's great desire at present is to | form a partnership with another bandit | named Raimondo Pace, for whom the | police are also looking. These two men | are well known throughout the district | of Aquila. and many think that for that very reason the authorities ought to be | able to capture them easily. Viola, how- ever, has many friends and relatives there, and whenever the police or soldiers | show themselves these loyal fellows promptly send word to the bandits and | thus enable them t6 get into a safe hiding | place. As a matter of fact, too, the number of | policemen in the district is entirely in- adequate, and the result Is that Viola and other brigands do pretty much as they | Please. It Is sald that some of these lawless men have been plundering for the last quarter of a century, and, if 80, the chance of their capture in the near fy- ture seems rather doubtful, v