PART THREE
FINANCIAL NEWS
AND WANT ADS
The Omaha Sunday B
EE
PART THREE
AUTOMOBILE. AND
SPORT NEWS
VOL. XLIX NO. 43.
OMAHA, SUNDAY MORNING, APRIL . 11, 1920.
1 C
SINGLE COPY FIVE CENTS.
were
haps
CLUB HOLDS
3STH ANNUAL
DINNER FETE
Washington Newspaper Cor
respondents Celebrate An
niversary With Banquet In
Form of Convention.
vvasningtosr April iu. Having ar
rived at the presidential age of 35
years, the Gridirpn club, celebrated
the event tonight by turning its din
i ner into a national nonpartisan po
litical conventibn. at which 1920 can
didates heard their claims presented
in a fashion new to party politics.
.Many were nominated and more
were discussed in such a way as to
suggest to all the candidates who
present the notion that per
they take themselves too se
riously.
lne Undiron convention was
called to order by the clanging of a
dinner bell, and when the delegate's,
who also included guests, filed into
the hall and took their 'seats at the
dinner tables they discovered that
both sreat : oolitical parties were
were heavily represented by some of
their most distinguished members.
Among those present were becre
taries Colby, Meredith, Houston,
Payne and Daniels, Attorney Gen
eral Palmer, Speaker Gillett, Gen
eral Pershing, the Japanese ambas
sador, tne tonsn minister, loriucr
Secretaries Lansing and Lane;
Homer S.; Cummings, chairman of
the democratic, national Committee;
Will H. Hays, chairman of the re
publican national committee; Sena
tors Watson of Indiana, Oweri of
Oklahoma, Harding vof Ohio and
Poindexter, of Washington; Gov
ernors Sproul of Pennsylvania and
Morrow , of Kentucky, and Col.
George Harvey.
Bar Taft and Bryan.
The convention was opened by the
selection of a temporary chairman,
following which it proceeded to
elect a permanent chairman, who
proved to be W. W. Jermane, the
new president of the club. The pro
ceedings were mixed and fast and.
while touching upon many phases
of the 1920 campaign, really settled
none of them.
A press section was filled with
working newspaper correspondents,
and a large number of editors and
publishers tried to crowd in. Dr.
Albert Shaw could not get a seat
among the correspondents, who also
rejected applications from William
II. Taft and William J. Bryan. A
pair of "spb sisters" who applied for
seats met the same fate.
The - 'working correspondents,
however, were not , without their
troubles.
"I was told to describe Herbert
Hoover," said one. "To what party
does he belong?" 1
"I, don't know," was the answer.
"I haven't asked him since yester
day." Platform planks on prohibition,
labor, the tariff and the war made
their appearance.
'My papers wants to know," one
correspondent asked, "whether Mc
Adoo is for or against government
ownership of railroads?"
"Answer 'Yes,'" he was advised.
Ouija Board Appears.''
A session given over to the min
istrations of three mediums, who
summoned spirits and made them
talk by means of a ouija board,
operated mysteriously without the
use of hands and in full view of the
The spirit of Charles E. Hughes
.remarked: "I woulud have been all
tight if Will Crocker had not fed
me those California ripe olives."
P J - A TAl..nUi,a' flan.
iels: "I am being punished for my
Sims."
The spirit of Vive President Mar
shall observed: "What the demo
cratic party needs is a fool killer.
Then the few of us left can form a
new party." '
Frank Hitchcock's spirit told the
delegates: "It pays to advertise. I
put an ad in the paper, reading as
follows: 'Situation wanted as politi
cal manager for some candidate.
Terms: Florida delegates on deliv
ery. Fast color guaranteed.' Now
look at the job I got."
The spirit of Robert Lansing sol
emnly said: "May I not suggest to
you, my dear Colby, that :t would be
the part of wisdom and discretion to
move your office to the ground floor.
It is much safer., Cordially and sin
cerely yours."
The spirit or secretary rsaKer sent
this message: "It's all very well to
insist on your love, but why didn't
vou kick me upstairs into Lansing's
job?- '
Musical Interlude.
From the spirit of Henry White
came this: "Ah. The peace confer
ence I loved it. It was .there I
was cured of insomnia."
There was a musical interlude, also
political, in which Senator Harding,
Attorney General Palmer, Herbert
Hoover, General Leonard Wood,
Governor Lowden and Williara J.
Bryan fall found themselves carica
tured. Mr. Palmer was . sked:
"Were you a candidate for sena
tor against Penrose and Pinchot in
1914?"
"I decline to answer," he said, "and
plead the statute of limitations."
Governor Lowden, who admitted,
that he had been honored with the
Virginia delegates, sang "Carry Me
Back to Old Virginny."
Nearly all of the candidates sang
their claims . to sit in the White
house, after which President Jer
mane announced:
"After looking this bunch over the
chair announces the convention is
not yet ready to -ote. There are
some dark horses down in the pas
ture .which we wish to inspect be
fore taking decisive action.
Blinded Belgian War Heroes From Varied Social Categories Equally Taught Manual
TradesPlay Poker With Veteran Sureness Which Startles Most Ya
Masters of Pet American Game With But One Draw
back, Inability to Keep "The Poker Face" Dur
ing Tense Moments of a Game They Hide From
Each Other in Voice and Movement to Keep From
Exposing Their Hands Beautiful Blind Ameri
can Girl Gives Them New Lease on Life.
By STERLING HEILIC.
Brussels, March 25. (By Mail.)
(bpecial.) If it were not for their
faces," said the new American,
would back these men against any
tull-sight poker players I
"What's the matter witlr their
faces?"
"I don't say there is anything, but
l suppose they re out ot practice in
guarding their faces. Playing among
themselves, facial expression does
not count. A man with his eyes
should be at an advantage among
them. If they would consent to
play a little game in highwayman's
masks, I know a lad who really
needs a trimming!
The Brussels American laughed
"They have beaten sight players
every time they have met, he said.
"Cards and music are their strong
pleasures. They do not forget their
blindness; but, for once, it adds
new zest to the game. Once ,a full-
sighted player being cleaned out, al
most suspected that the dealer's
fingers, unconsciously, as it were by
habit, were reading the cards as they
dealt them!
To suspect a blind man of second-
dealing you is the limit; and it is
not possible, because '
"But. say, I notice they deal al
ways from the middle of the top
card, said the new American.
"Surely," replied the other, "but
they are ferocious about their honor:
and the mere idea, idly mentioned
was enough. Thenceforth thev re
fused to admit into the (tame any
player who has his eyesight and
seldom indeed permit spectators.
You were privileged. They must
have taken a fancy to you" he con
cluded, grinning.
I he blinded heroes ennned sym
pathetically. It is wrong to call them
blind men, but blinded they were
swift, ardent, athletic young fellows,
clear-eyed, ioyine in the beautv of
the, world one minute, rushing up to
tne defense or women, children and
manly independence; then, as sud
denly, their light was put out by a
bloody-handed trespasser for gain.
And yet they smiled when we
smiled.
'None of them has been blind
over five yeaj-s," he continued in a
low tone. "That one dealing erot
treaty also was considered. Three
chefs in full regalia appeared in the
center of the1 hall and proceeded to
concoct a peace pudding, which they
promised would be the last word in
artistic perfection. :
Peace Pudding.
The puddinsr. it anneared. was
planned to have 14 points of per
fection, but at the last minute it was
found necessary to eliminate a num
ber of the points. The trio of chefs
labored diligently explaining the in
gredients as they mixed. The pud
ding finally was covered with an ic
ing approved by 49 members of the
senate, but no sooner had the icing
settled into place when the pudding
exploded with a loud report, scat
teiing the contents .all over the
chefs. . '
"Now we can't even pocket it,"
observed one of them sadly.
At one point the convention was
interrupted by the invasion of a gor
geously dressed woman, who de
manded in loud tones to be shown
to a seat. The "woman" declared
that she had been elected a member
and that, if necessary, she would
throw a man out in order to get a
place at the tables.
"If the women don't get self-determination,"
she said, "there'll be
male extermination."
When finally informed that it was
impossible to admit a woman to a
gridiron dinner she promptly re
moved her skirts, to the threatened
scandal of the con-vention and it
was discovered that ' the "woman"
was a newly elected member of the
club.
There were speeches by Secretary
Colby, Speaker Gillett, Prince Casi
mir Lubowski, the Polish minister;
Cblonel George Harvey, General
Pershing and Governor Morrow.
Reporters, however, are never pres
ent at Gridiron club dinners so the
speeches were not reported.
his at Charleroi. Yet each would
notice the changed rythm in a deal
er's movements should his fingers
or eyes for that matter- be occupied
in reading the cards and his mind be
charged with remembering them."
Blind Heroes Club.
A very unusual-crowd.' ,
It is the poker game at the Blind
ed Heroes Club of Belgium. The
printed name is different. Go
through the lodge gate at Boitsfort,
through the ancient private park,
past the perfume of flower beds and
carlv flowerine shrubs, the dreamy
heat of sunny lawns and cool peace
of woods. It is their place, where
thev come for week-ends; where
thev live at will; where they return
on vacation from proudly -earning
their way in Brussels. Anyone can
earn nis keep nere. ine King sianas
by them. The queen stands by them.
The aristocracy why, some of these
same blinded bovs are of great name
and some rich merchants' sons; and
every one of them is intimate with
wealth and aristocracy thereby.
They are buddies together.
Many tolks will be surprised to
know there is a poker game at Boits
fort which is different from playing
poker. It is their game.
A special mentality, nerves, souls,
senses, intuitions, ine majority were
blinded in the early years of the
war. Young, vigorous, switt, aroent,
fired to frenzy by invasion, they
came to this blackness in an hour,
without any loss but eyesight, and
strange gain. Being keyed up to the
highest pitch, behold taut harp-
strings, resonant, responsive, super
sensitive to waves of mystery in ad
venturous twilight.
, Discard the Joker.
There are too many cards in the
deck!" observed the young count of
12 chateaux to a lad who quit with
84 notches on his gun. As a fact, the
joker was still in it they never use
the joker. This he told by "feel and
weight."
They are ordinary American poker
cards, but with embossed points
added - in the upper lefthand and
lower righthand corners. But when
these two consummate blinded men
play ecarte (the 32-card deck, from
sevens to aces inclusive) they make
it a fad to play with unpricked cards
ther supersensitive, intelligent fin
gers feel the print formsl
Anv of the club, it seems, can dis
tinguish the feel of a picture card;
and many can call off the denomina
tions of pipcards, ace, deuce, trey,
four, five and so on. Feeling the
suits is more delicate; and calling
suit and value of a picture card is
said to be the acme of this "sight
unseen" stunt. )
Regularly, using the embossed
points, they read the corners betore
you or I could see the value of our
hand because they read by touch
as they pick the card up.
bix other Diina ueigians, million
aires older men, not blinded in tne
war and wise from old-time patience
taught them the fascination of this
poker in the abyss. J. hey call them
selves the Elder Brothers, dress with
meticulous coquetry and put up an
astonishing front of appearing to see
everything. They wear the monocle,
glance around as if takyig interest,
and pat their paid guides gaily over
the shoulder. not .to have the look of
beinsr led! All but one the most
powerful in name and fortune, who
goes morose in neglec4ed clothes.
His only real companions the new
blinded ones of lVM-mo cannot
see him.
Hides From Blind Men.
Six blind players handled their
cards with smiles of satisfaction or
frowns of impatience. All had learn
ed the game of poker since their
tlindness. They have felt no need
to train their faces.
They use their voices for decep
tion, or keep silence.
One tall, bronzed plunger, scion
of a Jewish family of international
finance received ace high on the
deal. The man knew each card be-
t T - . 1 ,l !i TT'J A f.
iore i, at nis eioow, saw it. ru aeit
fingers read their corner prickings
with a nonchalance that might have
baffled the late Mr. Sheedy.
His face lit up with humorous pur
pose, as the others drew four, one
V Wv) 4 .JfiSPN .Jb-L ""A .
.
The political status of the peace
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and three cards, and two dropped
out. In monotone he raised "three
hundred" and asked for two cards.
Silently, the three men sat intense,
alert to sense impressions beyond
ordinary human delicacy, waiting
waiting for a clew.
The florid blonde lad would not
pay "three hundred" to draw four
cards; but, very gently, the two
others pushed their chips in. The
athletic younger brother of the sec
ond duke of-rever mind, they call
him "Louvarn' grinned when he
filled his flush; but the white-faced
1 ' r t a
:nvana passed tor good; never
relaxed the refined strain, as ht
caught a third ten-spot to his pair.
The original bluffer, holding his ace
high and two useless kickers, picked
up his draw two more aces.
Humor and hesitation striipclpd
on his face: he was no bluffer nnw
he had three aces. He spoke no word.
ne seemed careful not to move a
bone ot muscle of his body. He was
hiding from the other blind men!
Display Deep Reverence.
The player with the flush bet the
smallest chip. The pale invalid came
with him without a word. What
would the statue Joshua do with his
three aces? Hoist the one-card and
three-card draws as they deserved?
He must have waited half a min
ute, as they hid from him in the
Black Void; and even we, ourselves,
could seem to feel the immaterial
soul hook which he poked with.
Did he rub -against some indica
tion? Finally, he pushed into the
pot the single little chip that called,
no more!
Did he "feel" there a flush against
him? N-o--, they answer; all the
same, it was a standoff for those
demi-mind-readers. And in the oth
er hands we saw played, there was
the same mingling of sureness with
nerve and reserve that gives an
outsider the impression that these
supermen of the Void have triumphs
that we of gross sight sensations
do not know.
They play the game wonderfully.
They seem passionately attached,
also, to deminoes, checkers and
chess. It is queer. Sight players
have nothing of this what shall I
say this reverence. - Until 1
learned
"Games saved their lives, some
think their souls," said the Brussels
American sport.
Bring on Your Champion.
A blinded Belgian lieutenant his
two eyes shot out and neatly healed
up sat aimlessly in the hospital,
without family, property or means
to earn a living, rocking back and
forth, and muttering: "My God!
my God! my God!"
(It was in 1915, before they had
steel helmets.) -
A beautiful woman slipped into
his hand a domino. He felt it with
the pathetic politeness, the perfunc
tory curiosity of the newly blinded;
then came to his face a smile of
mild astonishment, to reward the
angel of goodness who might waste
her time on him.
' "Tiens." he said, "a five!"
It was no common domino, but
a new kind, from America, unknown
to Europe at that moment
dominoes for the blind, articulated
as well as raised, so that they can
be joined together in a row. while
blind men's hands feel over them
without mussing Up the game!. They
can even be played in bed without
falling apart.
"A five!" he mused, smiling vague
ly, sadly, but honestly.
"If you want a game," she said,
"there is a man her'e who thinks
he is a great player."
He shook his . head.
"He is not blind," he answered.
"You are right," she said, "the
man has lost his eyes but he is not
blind to dominoes or cards!
"Pardis, then I'm not, either!1
snapped the sad one. "Bring him
on, your champion. I used to be
something of a player myself!"
The beautiful woman was the
queen. The stool-pigeon was an
e.ticr brother, the millionaire Jew,
blind 15 years back, from a gun
explosion, shooting grouse, and a
wonderful game expert. (But he
did not tell this). The victim of their
plot of love had made three credita
ble attempts at suicide, and carried
in his vestpocket a newly-found
safety razor blade from which he
hoped much! .
Shivers With Gratitude.
The que'en, they say, possesses a
domino that saved eight lives from
suicide in three months. (The war
proved amply, I think, that blind
ness, at first, is to want to die)
These women! The youthful
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countess was a girl just out of con
vent school. Surely, she would not
have been seen without a chaperon,
before the war! ,
That staff of sweet women made
me think of the fair saints- of the
early church.' They carry, today,
such single dominoes as holy relics.
Originally, they came from Miss
Winifred Holt of New York. When,
in those days, the little countess led
the blind boy to his cab, he shivered
with gratitude, divining the young
beauty which he could not see; and
rude men in the street reverently
doffed their hats....
To such an one the surgeons
came.
"Will you do a miracle?" they
said. "Now. teach this man!"
He had lost his two eyes, his left
arm from the elbow, and two fin
gers of the right hand. He was all
doubled up. And silent! His poor
fingers were like that. She "prayed
to know what she could do with
that man!" She just slipped the
domino into his three good fingers.
"Tiens," he said, "a four!"
On her second visit, they played
checkers. At the third, nurse said
that he had dropped his awful silence
and had chatted (chatted about
checkers, cards and dominoes!) and
had taken the checkerboard to bed
with him at night! He beat the lit
tle countess badly, then apologized
for beatfng a woman! Tears came
to her eyes, as he boasted happily:
"Although blinded, I have not for
gotten my strategy 1"
Beautiful Blind American.
So long ago was all this, that
the poker game has almost forgot
ten it with natural ingratitude of
strong men.
What! these resolute, hard
muscled and hard-purposed fellows,
able each to earn his living at some
hand trade, "but most of them now
in business or professions, were
they possibly "maudlin," once, for
self destruction?
One of the most potent tonics, in
their "finishing off" days, after
armstice, was the visit of the most
wonderful blind girl in the world
an American blind girl of whom the
public has never heard a word,
young, beautiful, an orphan and an
heiress.
She pretends that she is not
blind!
Adorable courage!
Just before the war, when she was
18 yeats old, she had five servants,
a lady companion and a reader-secretary,
in the palatial Paris flat
which was fixed up for her by her
dying father. She had horses, auto
mobile, opera box, and doubtless
has them again.
She wears porcelain eyes of deep
and liquid blue, to maUh her blonde
beauty and deceive the world. With
the lady companion, she makes and
receives calls, enjoys matinees, runs
the shops, takes tea at the big dress
makers and does her morning con
stitutional in the park.
At the hotel in Brussels where she
stayed, she would enter the parlors
after dinner, confidentially, gaily,
the lace or tulle at her wrist or elbow
scarcely brushing against the lady
companion for contact wireless
direction.
A New England shoe company
made 101 per cent more profit last
year than the year before, the in
crease in sales being only 21 per
cent.
AMERICANS
DO HOT FLOCK
TO EUROPE AS
ANTICIPATED
People Who Are Wont to Live
Off Yankee Tourists and
Who Expected Big Influx
Are Disappointed.
By L. R. MURDOCH
I'nirerul Servlra Ktaff Cormponilrnt.
London, April 10. While Lon
don and Paris hotels are yawning
for the hundreds of thousands ol
American visitors upon whom tin
English and French are relying ti
pay the interest on the war debts
the English landlords, real e'stati
agents and others are rubbing theii
hands ajid licking their chops ii.
greedy anticipation of the Amer
ican "influx," the "influx" which wai
advertised to begin before this
time, has not yet "influxed" and tin
more pessimistic are beginning t
show evidence 'of dismay.
This is supposed to be "tin
greatest year in history" for re
cipients of income from the Amer
ican tourist trade, owing to its be
ing the first year when it was sup
posed Americans would- resume th
olci custom of coming to Europe
for their vacations, with the added
incentive of seeing the battle-torn
continent for the first time without
undue hardship.
, Europe Not Prepared.
But Europe is still ill-nrenared te
receive great numbers of American
visitors inclined on recreation, and
cannot even guarantee the shipping
necessary to bring them.
Only one of the super-liners, tin
Mauretania, is in commission, the
others either being at the bottom
of the sea or in dock for much
needed repairs. At this writing, the
Holland-American line was tied up
by a strike, : and other passenger
ships are in more or less distressed
condition . owing to overuse. The
ships in service are inadequate to
carry promptly even the passenger
traffic from this side to America,
immensely smaller that the poten
tial traffic from America here.
'Europe Still Seething.
" In Europe, the continent is still
in a state of social seething, things
generally being more uncertain than
during wartime, when one at least
knew where he couldn't safely go
and if he didn't know there were
plenty of soldiers and other guard
ians to, keep him from going.
Moreover, food and fuel are still
short,' or at least uncertain ol
proper distribution, and assured
comfort is uncertain, or likely to be
at a premium even if obtainable.
These things must have trickled
into the American understanding
and, if not, they ought to and this
doubtless accounts for the delay of
the American "influx."
Americans who come to Europe
this spring and summer will come
on a gamble. If they reach Eng
land, they are likely to find plenty
to eat at a price and, very likely,
to find the same in France, Belgium
and Holland at a greater price.
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