Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1893-12-24
VAN TASSEL'S
CHRISTMAS Dinner
fcopurtoat. 1sas. .An RipAts Rsssrvea.l

ICopyriqht, 1898. AZ Rights RsserUedl
There have been many remarkable
dinners, but the dinner given on Christ
mas night, 1892, by Mr.. and Mrs. Cor
nelius Van Tassel TO their friends, Mr..
and Mrs. John Girard and Mr.. and Mrs.
Vincent CoWles. at their Gramercy
park home will probably pass into his
tory as the most remarkable dinner OF
all.
The table was cheering sight as the
guests entered from the drawing room,
its polished mahogany top cleaning
here and there between the snowy, web
like doilies, its glistening china and cut
glass, its bright silver and its floral dec
orations, forming under the soft glare
of the electric lights picture that
seemed eloquent in its augury OF good
things to come ID
Candelabra with dainty yellow shades
and vases filed with golden hued chrys-
anthemums stood at opposite corners OF
the table, and one Of the fluffy yellow
flowers lay at each place.
The maid had announced dinner just
as the grandfather's clock in the hall
sounded the hour OF z, but when the
guests and their hosts were seated she
failed to appear. Mrs. Van Tassl was
annoyed and surprised, for Betty was
always alert and never had failed her
when a dinner was to be served In state.
After waiting several minutes Mrs. Van
Tassel touched her foot to the button
beneath the table and rang the electric
bell, but no Betty appeared with the
! beated Blue Points.
The conversation was tagging, as 1t
will when host and guests are conscious
that the household machinery is not
moving smoothly, and Mrs. Van Tas-
sel's annoyance and indignation rapidly
increased as she rang again and again
in vain.
Finally, concluding that Betty must
have tainted, Mrs. Van Tasse excused
herself, with very manifest Rortifica-
ton, and started for the buffers pantry
| to solve the mystery of the maids nom
appearance.
AS she opened the door she screamed
and ran back toward the table. A
masked man, with a revolver in each
hand, stood in the doorway. He swept
the company with the leveled weapons
and then pointed one Of them al Mrs.
Van Tassel.
Don't exercise your lungs again like
that madam, please" he said politely,
''or ] shall be under the painful neces-
sity of perforatiDg them with leaden
pill, don't You see. The other ladies
and gentlemen present will also remain
quiet, or these pistols may go of by &C
cident, don't you know. There's going
to be big movement In silver here
pretty SOON as we say down in Wall
street, but don't be at all alarmed.
"No one will harm you If you are not
ungentlemanly or unladyliKe enough to
insist upon making scene, don't you
know-a thing which, Of course, you
will not even think Of doing. But par
don me for having introduced myself
before. II is trine late for Santa
Claus, but here l am-Mr. L. Brown
Jones at your service-silver service,
don't YOU know. Hal Hal Pardon
the pun; but, as you are aware, the ln-
iquitous habit Of play upon words has
gained strong foothold, don't you
know, even among the exclusive circles
In which we all move"
To say that the Van Tassels and
their guests were astounded by the ad-
vent of the masked Mr.. T. Brown Jones
is very conservative statement. His
sudden entrance, his daring GOODNESS
and matchless impudence, bis polite
manners and his excellent English, fair
ly stunned them.
Not long before desperate fellow
had held up and robbed money broker
in his Office on Broadway near Trinity
church at midday, but his audacity
paled into comparative insigni.icance
beside that OF Mr.. T. Brown Jones, who
had coolly held up an entire family
their guests and servants, in the heart
of a fashionable New York residence
Quarter at o'clock In the evening.
The ladies were deathly pale and on
the verge of fainting. The gentlemen
had half started to their feet, but sank
back into their chairs with dazed faces
as the revolver covered them. The
burglars chin and mouth beneath the
edge OF the mask had a resolute but re-
fined look. His voice was rich, musical,