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About The Loup City northwestern. (Loup City, Neb.) 189?-1917 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 5, 1909)
RICH YOUTH HAS “GONE THE PACE” Picturesque Career of Young Man with Plenty of Money What Has Happened to Frank Snowden Ridgely Brown, Son of Maryland’s Former Governor, Who Is Now Facing a Suit for Divorce, With Many Charges of Cruelty *m T^VV York. — Give an av- i erage American toy, with- 1 out the restraining intiu- | w ence of a mother, $10,000 a | ^ year at the age of 14 and a j <“■ * million when he reaches his majority, and what will be his future? This is the story of stlch a boy whose young wife is about to bale him into the divorce court at the ten- j der age of 24, as related by the Sun- I <laj World. This boy lias laced many j charges—homicide among them—but j it is extremely doubtful if be has i ever passed through an ordeal so dis- ; tasteful as that which awaits him ! when he answers to the many charges ! of cruelty, brutality and infidelity his pretty girl-wife mentions in her bill of particulars. Frank Snowden Ridgely Brown, son of Maryland's former governor, is the unhappy youth who has sacriiiced his brief and once happy married career court to a Baltimore girl at that time, and his father told him if he did not accompany hint to Europe he would have to go to work. "Fine," said Frank, ‘‘nothing could better suit my purpose.” At dinner the same evening he announced that he had joined the reportorial staff of the Baltimore American. Frank's ad vent into journalism will long be re membered in Baltimore, and to this day the soubriquet of "Millionaire Re porter" clings to him. When Frank reported for his first day's work he drove up to the office of the Baltimore American in his beautifully appointed stanhope. with coachman at his side and footman seated on the rumble. His horses, Brandy and Soda, wore blue ribbons, and Frank was justly proud of his turnout. The '‘millionaire reporter" was told to accompany another and humbler' reporter oh his rounds through Baltimore’s East side, but \ FRANK ^ J on the altar of pleasure. "Young Frank.” as he is familiarly called in Baltimore, has been pleasure-bent since he was a boy of ten. and his pleasures, more often than not. have been purchased at terrific cost. He has had his fling, and when a boy of 17 he was blase and so satiated with the g.:yeties of the Old World that he cast about for new sensations and new fields to conquer. Life lor him. even then, was one mad whirl, and what he did not know about the "but terfly life” wasn't worth knowing. Ai Ostend he was the petted darling of women of title, and otborw ise, and ii was a prank that he played on one of these while in her bath house at this gay resort that made it necessary for his father to spirit him out of France and back to Baltimore. The hoy abhorred books aud rarely studied. He had the choice of any university in America or Kurope if he would but say the word, hut instead he preferred to run wild, do as he pleased and give little, if any atten tion to the studies prescribed for him by the tutors his father engaged for hint. Started Work as a Reporter. About, this time his father and his sisfer. May Brown, who later married Gordon Hughes, a New York lawyer, and since his death married Alfred Dietrich, whose former wife had Hoped with Benchiey, one of Alfred G. Vanderbilt's stable managers, planned a return trip to Kurope. Frank was engaged In paying ardent when he saw “that, his protege intended to drive through the ghetto in his beauttrul equipage, the mere re porter balked and told Frank to meet him at a designated police station, as the street cars were good enough for his. The policemen in the station houses visited that day hy Frank and his mentor still possess souvenirs o'' Frank's first day as a reporter, for be scattered golden gilts with a lavish band. It was just three years ago that “Young Frank" saw and met Miss Mabel Michael of Baltimore. The two families do not move in the same set and there w-as opposition from both sides. The Browns had always moved in that social circle which was known far and near as the "Brass Band." while the Michaels, in every respect the social equals of the Browns, be longed to a more conservative ele ment. Frank’s courtship was brief and ardent. Serious opposition from both sides hut served to fan the flame, and when Frank proposed to Mabel that they elope she witli some hesitation consented. Elosed in Touring Car. Just before midnight on October 22, 15*06, Frank and his fiancee met by appointment. His touring car was in readiness and was geared up to its highest speed. Frank was attended 1# one of his many chums, while Miss Mary Grismer accompanied Miss Michael. The party bundled into the automobile and Frank instructed his chauffeur to cut out for New York and "get tnefe as soon as possible.’’ Arriving in this city, they went to the Waldorf-Astoria, where Frank had spent much time in the handsome suite of apartments his lather used to maintain there the year round. Frank was anxious to have Rev. Henry M. Warren, the hotel eliaplain, marry him, and. finding that Mr. Warren was then living in West Ninety-fourth street, Frank, his liancee and their at tendants repaired to Mr. Warren's heme end there the ceremony was performed. Their marriage came as a great sur prise to their respective families, but the young pair was soon installed in a beautifully appointed home and many predicted that Mabel would make her young husband more con servative. But her charges against him do not confirm this hope. Accused of Killing Child. Automobiling was this boy's passion and lie was never satisfied unless he was bowling through Baltimore’s ten derloin at top speed. His arrest was | of almost daily occurrence, and when ! Baltimore awoke about eighteen months ago to be told that Frank's car had killed a negro child the night previous the "1 Sold you sos" got busy. It was not openly charged that Frank's car had killed the boy, hut the newspapers hinted so strongly at the identity of the driver and owner of the car that within 24 hours the trail led to Frank's door and he was arrested and formally accused of run ning over the little pickaninny and then running away without the for mality of stopping to ascertain the seriousness of the injuries inflicted. The parents of the dead child re ceived $10,000 to drop the case against Frank. This frightened Frank for awhile, and he did not break into print again until his friend Lester Bresee. who had figured in almost all of Frank’s escapades, was committed ! to Mount Hope, a private asylum for | the insane and inebriates. - T-cster had been going the pace for several years and when his mind gave way none was surprised. Frank sore ly missed his chum and often motored out to the beautiful retreat on Charles Street avenue to spend an hour with him. In the course of one of these visits Lester complained of his en forced confinement and begged Frank to devise some means of effecting bis release. "I've tried that already," said Frank, “but the courts won't stand for it, so 1 guess the only thing l can do is to kidnap you.” "Go as far as you like," said Lester, "but for God’s sake get me out of here. I haven’t had a drink for a month.” Kidnaped Chum from Asylum. The next day Lester, while out for his afternoon airing in the hospital grounds, eluded the keeper, climbed over the high fence and dropped into Frank's waiting car. Frank was at were many actors and actresses, and then it was that! Vrank conceived the idea that he would like to enter upon a stage career. He joined the stock company con ducted in Baltimore by George Faw cett. and was given small parts. The verdict of Frank's many friends after witnessing several performances in which he appeared was that he was far more capable of steering his au tomobile, or tooling his coach and four than of playing roles upon the stage, no matter how inconspicuous they were. Wife Tells of Midnight Orgies. It is the alleged midnight orgies at her homo that Mrs. Brown most bit terly complained of in her bill for di vorce. Frank and his Tenderloin friends, she declares, would wander into the house at all hours of the night and from then until the gray dawn make night hideous for her and her neighbors, it was impossible far her, she declares, to make her escape from the house, as Frank would in sist upon her presiding at the table and serving him and his guests with whatever their fancy dictated, despite the unseasonableness of the hour. Then, too, Mrs. Brown asserts that Frank preferred her to be at the head of the tabic during these bacchanalian feasts, inasmuch as she made a good target for his ribald jests or the plat 's or glasses he chose to hurl at her. Sometimes, according to Mrs. Brown's complaint, the glasses were empty, but more often they contained cham pagne. for Frank was ever jealous oi his reputation as a "wine opener," and he would never for a moment have it thought among his Tenderloin Iriends that anything else but. cham pagne graced his table or his wife's bathtub, for that matter. Another sport of whicli her husband was passionately fond, Mrs. Brown charges, had to do with a most, vil lainous-looking and savage bulldog whicli is ever at Frank's heels. Mrs. Brown asserts that when Frank was especially deep in his cups lie would set the dog on her. For some reason. Mrs. Brown declares, the dog entertained a violent dislike for her and was only too glad to do his master's bidding. Finally Driven from Her Home. it was the dog episode that proved to be the p.arting of the ways. While in a drunken frenzy, Frank, it is charged in the complaint, set the dog on his wife, and it attacked her so savagely that she fled in her night clothes and never returned. That was last January and since then, she vows, Frank has not contributed a cent toward her support and this in the face of his wife's statement that he had torn and cut. up all her hats, gowns, lingerie and pretty boots and slippers, just prior to having the bull dog charge her. Mrs. Brown says it is lack of homo influence that is responsible for her IV THE TUffiOUr HE HIS W/EE CHARGES THAT N^as a° ”OR* ,N HE THREW CARDS AT HER HEADK^P0Pr£p ---- HE FORCED HER TO TAKE OFF HIS SHOES the wheel, and he let it out, and in an hour or two was beyond the jurisdic tion of the Maryland courts. And once more it became necessary for Brown pere to get busy and square things for Frank. Meanwhile Frank’s affairs at home had been going from bad to worse. His wife says she was left much to herself, for Frank was so busy with his other friends and associates that he had little or no time to devote to his girl-bride. Frank's gay friends of both sexes were ever welcomed at the youthful Browns’ home—that is by Frank. Among these, his wife says, husband's waywardness, and she further avows that “the governor'' is mainly responsible for this. She de clares that he has alienated Frank's affections, and now she is suing the governor for heart balm to the tune of $100,000. In the mean time Frank is continu ing on his merry way. -With ample funds at his command, and with the prospect of sharing with his sister the several million dollars Gov. Brown is said to possess, young Frank has a lively future ahead of him. Will he reform? Ask his wife. WON ALL THE BOYS’ MARBLES. Minister Proved Himself an Expert and Incidentally Got the Youngsters to Church. ‘Many interesting stories are told of the late Bishop Wilmer of Alabama, who was noted for his wit and sharp repartee," said Robert W. Kennedy of Birmingham, Ala. “A story which is considered characteristic of the man was told by a Virginia minister at a private dinner in Richmond not so very long ago. “ ‘When Bishop Wilmer was rector of the little Protestant Episcopal church at Upperville, Va.,‘ said he, ‘he whs much worried by the non-attend ance at service on Sundays of the ma jority of the young men of the com munity. On inquiry he found that in stead of going to church they were in the habit of playing marbles for stakes—marbles In those days, it must lie remembered, was a much more ser ious game than it is now, occupying much the same position in the rearm of sports as do billiards and pool in these days. “ ‘Bishop VVilmer, then a parson not well known, determined to break up this practice.’ He himself had been an expert marble player in his boyhood. Accordingly one Saturday he came across a number of the young men en gaged in . a game. The good bishop asked several questions, and finally challenged the lot to play him for "keeps.” They readily consented. “ 'Much to their astonishment the young minister won steadily, and soon they had to go to the stores to replen ish their stock. Toward the dose of the afternoon Mr. Wilmer ha4 won every marble in the town of Upper ville. Putting his ’’winnings" in a bag. he remarked, as he walked away, “Now, gentlemen, since you can’t play marbles to-morrow, I hope to see you all at church.” And he did.’ ” A Logical End. “I started out on the theory that the world had an opening for me and I went to find It.” “Did you find it?” “Oh, yes. I’m in a hole.” -r--T-T-T--T--T--rT--r-r-rT-rwvVVVVVMVMVMV CAN MOBILIZE IN A HURRY. Perfection of Detail Is the System by Which German Army Can Be Assembled. Nobody who has visited Germany can fail to have been struck by the large official signboards at the entry to each town or village. These contain full information as to exactly which official in the commun ity to apply to should the magic word “mobilize” be spoken. Wherever the German reservist may chance to be when the order to mobilize is given— assuming of course that be is not out of the country—he has only to ask the first inhabitant or walk to the end of the village and look at the directions on the signboard to find out his own particular place in the military scheme. He will see that he must go to Herr Schmidt at 40 Schutzen street. Herr Schmidt will tell him exactly in which town he has to go in order to rejoin his own unit and, what is still more important, will give him the money and the railway pass to take him there. Arrived at his destination, he will find his uniform, arms and accou trements piled neatly in a heap with a label bearing his name and regimental number on the top of the heap. He has only to put it on and-take his place among the comrades with whom he did military serviee some years ago. This destination was arranged upon many years back, and the exact time schedule for marching and rail way journeys was compiled long since. Education of Women and Men. It is, however, a plain fact that in this country women are more cultured than men; on the average are better educated. The boys quit school earlier to go to work and the unpleas ant fact is that they too often cease studying as soon as their books are closed. Now there are many highly educated and cultured men and wom en In this country who have never at tended college. There are many op portunities open for those who desire to improve themselves. The unpleas ant fact is that so few use the oppor tunities open to them. a CLEVER THIRD BASEMAN OF THE CUBS Harry Steinfeldt, whose batting and fielding around the third sack has heiped the Chicago team win three straight National league pennants and two world’s championships, was severely grilled when he broke into the big league with the Cincinnati team when Owner Charles Murphy was a baseball writer in that city. This grilling seemed to have a good effect on. Steinfeldt and transformed him from an ordinary player into a star. Wfien Murphy obtained control of the Cubs one of his first acts was to se cure Steinfeldt, and he has been with the team ever since. JOSS KEEPS THE BATTERS GUESSING WITH NEW BALL "Human Weather Strip" of Cleveland • Uses "False Rise” with Suc cess Against Hitters. Acidic .Joss, the Cleveland twirling star, has batters guessing with his "false rise” ball. The "false rise" is not new. Jt was a favorite with Uad bourne, and at various times since that star’s day pitchers having great speed have had the "false rise" in their repertoire. The "false rise" is delivered as a straight ball, thrown overhand and released when the hand is at the crown of the arc described in deliv ery. The ball is thrown with a sharp backward spin, caused by whipping the Angers downward as the ball leaves the hand. For 55 feet the ball shoots down an inclined' plane, headed for the bat Addle Joss. ter’s knees. Hut the descent ceases about eight feet in front of the plate and the ball travels to the catcher horizontally. In other words, the ball ‘‘breaks’’ from the downward to the horizontal. The scientific explanation of this delivery is that the vertical spin given the ball at delivery produces air friction, and as the ball travels this friction packs the atmosphere be neath the revolving ball, until, follow ing the line of least resistance, the ball loses Its initial impulse and trav els, not through the cushion it has formed, but over it When mixed with his curve, fast ball, fadeaway and slow one, the “false rise" gives Joss a bo;. of tricks unequaled by any other man in the business. And when his calculating brain is added, the human weather strip becomes perhaps the most dan gerous pitcher in baseball. , BIG ‘"SWAP'' BETWEEN CUBS AND BROOKLYN IS PLANNED i __ If Exchange Now lending Is Brought About Four Players Will Be Involved. j One of the biggest baseball deals ol i the year is pending between the Chi j cago and Brooklyn National league : clubs. The swap, if it goes through j will involve the transfer of four play j ers—Johnv Kling. the great catehei ! ot the 1908 world's champions; Catch er Bill Bergen and Outfielder Ai Burch of the Superbas and Heinit Zimmerman, the Cubs’ utility man If Kling can be secured by Brooklyn be will replace Harry Burnley as man ager of the W'ashingtor Park-athletes Though the trade would be a big tiling for both clubs, it isn't at all cer j tain that it will go through. Kling ! says he will never play for the Cubs I again under any circumstances, and 1 Charley Murphy seems just as deter | mined to keep him on the Chicago re , serve list. Murphy, however, needs a j good catcher to alternate with Pat | Moran, and in Bergen he would get i one of the best in the business. The j Chicago outfield, too, needs patching j up, and Burch would fill it nicely. He i is hitting hard, is fast on the bases | and ranges over whole slathers ol | territory in the field, dim Sheekard ; appears to be going back, and is neither hitting nor fielding as well as j he did last year or the year before j If the Cubs secure Burch Sheekard I will be benched in the present Su ! perba's favor. President Ebbets lias not publicly j found fault with Harry Burnley's I work as manager, but he is not satis I fled with the team's standing by s long shot. Before the season opened the Superbas looked like a surt enough fifth place outfit, with a fight mg chance of landing in the first di vision. This promise was made good for a couple of weeks, but since then it has become a great deal of a joke j except to the Brooklyn rooters. Kling would jump at the chance t( join the Superbas as manager. He has long wanted to run a team. Bast winter he had it all cooked up with Garry Herrmann to manage the Reds and Murphy had promised to release | him. Charley, however, took it all back, and told Kling he would have tc put in another season at least with the Cubs. It is understood that if Kling is traded to Brooklyn he will go into partnership with Ebbets in the owner ship of a bowling academy. Donlin Demands High Price. Mike Bonlin. once the pride of New York baseball fans, but now a real actor man. may still be lacing out those much-needed runs for the Giants before the end. of the season It is all up to John T. Brush, and il he comes across with the price the star outfielder will postpone Ills trip to Europe for a spell. "If they will pay me the salary 1 asked for, $S,000. I will agree to finish the season with the club.” said Mike. "They offered me $t»,000, but I think I am entitled to what 1 have asked lor. I have not heard a word from McGraw since February 1 and if they want me to play ball I will be glad to do so ii they will come to my terms." Unconditional Release for Bowerman. Frank Bowerman, until recently manager of the Boston Nationals, has been given his unconditional release by President John S. C. Dovey. Ru. mors have it that it is unlikely he will soon be back In any uniform. President Dovey has asked for waiv ers on Bowerman and if the other clubs in the big league waive claim, the ex-manager will be a tree agent! Busyness the Refuge of Small Souls. Extreme busyness is a symptom of deficient vitality; while a faculty for idleness implies a catholic appetite and a strong sense of personal Identity. There are dead-alive, hackneyed peo ple about, who are scarcely conscious of living except in the exercise of some conventional occupation. Bring these fellows into the country or set them aboard ship, and you will see bow they pine for their desk or their study. They cannot be idle. Their nature is not generous enough, and they pass in a sort of ccma those houip which are not dedicated to furl ous moiling in the gold mill. When they do not require to go to the office, when they are not hungry and hare no mind to drink, the whole breathing world is a blank to them. This does not appear to me as being success in life.—Robert Louis Stevenson. MINISTER TO CHINA Charles R. Crane Educated Without Aid of College. Has Visited Nearly Every Country on the Globe and Is Master of Sev eral Languages—Well Ac quainted with Orient. Chicago.—Charles K. Crane, newly appointed minister from the United States to China, is a rare type of citi zen In that he was horn to wealth and vet may be classed in the roll of sell made men. He was reared with tie* idea that a college education is not essential to the life success of a man who has a brain of his own and use* it. His schooling ended when he had done with the public school. What he has gathered of learning since then has been from books and from tin world and its people asatliey have ap peared to him in exten^ie travel. Richard T. Crane, Sr., father of Charles R. Crane, is vigorously op posed to modern methods of education as carried on in the great universities and many of the public schools. He does not believe these institutions fit a man properly for the battle of life, and says tiiey are too theoretical and not sufficiently practical. He went so far as to declare it would be a good thing for one of the states if its state university buildings were blown up. Whether Charles R. Crane shared the educational views of his father, it is a fact that, instead of spending four years in college and winning a degree, he jumped at once from his boyhood schooling into the workshop and started the business career which has made him a man of practical mind and alert powers of observation When the opportunity came he in augurated a program of travel whic: sent him to many of the out of tK way places of the world and gave hiu an intimate knowledge of affairs pos sessed by few men even in these day: of globe trotting. Jlr. Crane has set foot in nearly every country on the globe, has pen * trated to out-of-the-way nooks and cor nets, lias occasionally fitted out cam vans of his own to explore nnfre quented lands, and is as much at home in Russia or China as he is on his home street in Chicago. He is a linguist of considerable attainment. is a connoisseur in paintings, a collec tor of old and rare books and. whai is more, a reader of the same. He i proininent as a civic enthusiast and tor years has been a powerful factor in movements for the advancement o' Chicago commercially, physically and morally. During his travels Mr. Crane spent much time in China, his business in terests taking him into every pro, ince. He came into close contact wit! all classes of Mongolians. In his home is a large collection of curios ol his many visits to China. In all his knocking about the globe. Mr. ( lane was absorbing languages In liis library In his Michigan avenu, home are books written in a dozen different languages. They are not sorted according to catalogues as less scholarly owner would sort them but instead are grouped under sub ject heads. Friends of Mr. Crane sa-. that when he wants to look up a ref erence on a topic he goes to hU shelves and takes down books in sev eral ('ifferent languages and rea-l them without the aid of a lexicon Il ls said to read 12 languages ami t. speak with ease and fluency six 01 eight. Five years ago Mr. Crane added 110,000 of his personal fortune to "T1... Young Empress Fund” for Russian soldiers and sailors. This gift w;,;, made through Count Rostofstoff chau celior of the empire, and for ’it tht donor was the recipient of grateRil thanks from the empress. Long and close contact with official and civilian life of Russia has given him a friend!-, feeling toward that nation, but at th', same time he has a warm spot in his heart for China and the Chinese. The feeling is said to be reciprocated. Th (hinese have been drawn to othei members of the family. Professoi ULliams. uncle of Mr. Crane, was pro fessor of Chinese at Yale and he i the author of a book on Chfna Mrs. Crane was Miss Cornelia IV Smith, whose girlhood home was Pat J” wherG became the bride of Mr. Crane 28 years ago. Like her husband, her interests are in th more substantial things of life He. name does not appear in the member ship lists of any Chicago club The auiilj has a beautiful summer horn, at l-ake Geneva. W’is.. a„a another Woods Hole. Mass. .f'*ctr,®al Machinery in Mines Although in most of the mines in Japan the various operations are car ned out by the ordinary labor of met, and cattle, it seems trom a report on the mining industry in Hokkaido that at three coal mines and at one gold and stiver mine, electrical machinery employed. In all, nine ‘ e“ec,",e ngines are employed in the eon I mines, and one "electrical engine” i, a gold and silver mine The n!, or ,Mr work „ ^ould «VLM>f*ar J ^ h the transport of ore ‘ * Inain,y oi