Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1892-03-11
DEATH WON THE GAME.
Two Great Chess Players Leave Mar
Vicious Contest Undecided.

| Two Great Chess Players Leave Mar
| Vicious Contest Undecided.
Eight months and q half the game had
gone on. And such a game my children!
tom Penny, Britisher, against Jonathan
| Ppm, Yankee; England against America;
he Old World against the New.
Between he Club Electric of New York
and the Club Eccentric of London emula-
| Jon had exalted itself to patriotism On
she day of defeat the flag of the vanquished
nation would float reversed from the bal
cony of the dishonored club and all the
cheSsboards for six months at least re-
main yelled with Grape.
Thus openly must be carried, and as
frankly borne, these tokens of mourning
and affront, which no revenge should eff
| face.
For such vas the condition of the COM
5at-the match to be the only one of its
kind
The momentous question of the battle
decided upon, then arose the subsidiary
question, " here should the encounter
take place?
They sought a ground of Cancellation.
| But where find it?
Cornelius kevick, the impresario, in
charge of the affair, proposed to charter
steamer, which should be stationed in mid
ocean, equidistant from the American and
the English coast, aboard which the two
adversaries should betake themselves and
there remain while the match lasted. In
| genious as it was, however, this idea was
forced to the wall They must find some
| other way.
They found tin the electric cable,
which once more was going to merit its
name Of "hond of union" between the
| Old and New Worlds.
| This is how it was that for eight months
and half Jonathan Pym and Tom Penny
had disputed 10y dots and dashes for the
glorious title Of Universal Champion Of
the Noble Came Of Chess
At II O'Clock, say, Tom Penny would
telegraph to J Jonathan Ppm.
And one hour later } onathan Pym would
respond.
Dating from Oct. Is, 1889, the game for a
| long while hal been indecisiye. Toward
the end of December Tom Penny showed
| signs of weakness throwing the partiSans
of Jonathan F. m into a state of excitement
that set them to quarreIing among them
selves like pol teal bosses"
| But suddenlr, in the middle of January.
the English champion by a genial ruse re-
conquered all his lost advantage Down
went Pym! up went Penny!
At last, on the 18th day of May, 1882 the
American had one of those inspirations
that conquer even destiny. On the re-
ceipt of his dispatch Tom Penny had cold
sweat.
But he did not give up-oh. no!-aud five
days later, on the Both of May, had posi-
lively CLEAN of hope. A sudden move of
his adversary Ia td opened to him a door of
safety. One such blunder at that moment
was decisive. Could it be possible?
|
closely. The bunder was not certain 1t
might cover supreme stratagem. What
should he think? What course to pursue
of the two in view? Was it sham or error?
Should he pass the door that had been
| opened to him. If error, Jonathan Pym
was lost; if sham, Tom Penny was routed.
| That day Tom Penny wrote out his own
| telegram; he played his last stake and
knew it.
An hour later, unfolding his message,
Jonathan Ppm smiled triumphantly.
Gentlemen" said he to his colleagues
of the Club Elect rio, wait until tomorrow!
In twelve hours time England's champion
will have signed his own condemnation
The next day in London members of the
| Club Eccentric found Tom Penny on the
| floor of his chanber struck down by apo
plexy and still rigidly clutching in his
| hand the dispatch that had killed him.
And already for two long hours in the
grand salon of the Club Electric Jonathan
| Pym had awaited from London the tele-
gram of his vanqIIished foe.
Jonathan Pym frowned and fidgeted
That telegram be must have-then, and
then only, could t ne game be ended. With
| out it the match would remain unfinished.
The door opened and a flunky appeared,
bearing on a salver folded paper.
"a dispatch for Mr.. Jonathan Pym"
He seized it, opened it and read aloud
the following four words:
Your adversary is dead"
The paper escaped his fingers and fell to
| the floor, caught Up ut once by those be
side him to verify the text.
THAT is not allr' they cried; they de-
mand a response"
"They shall have it, said Pym, and
with firm hand writing beneath the
line Your adversary is dead the two
words Il also!" he drew a pistol from his
pocket and sent a Tall through his brain.
The game was still a draw between
them, but was no longer an international
affair.-Boston Globe.