Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1898-08-20

Would SuffOcate i'm House. Prefer
ring the Open Air. Where They Can
| Gaze Up at the Stars and the Blue sky
leaders Wife Recites the Mysteries of
Fortune Telling.
0AMPED in a shady nook on the
lis Robinson tract on Thirty-fifth
street, between Fifth and Sew
enth avenues, is band of genuine
gypsies. The head of the family is
Pooley Mace. who claims he is a
| brother of Jem Mace, the hard-hitting
Englishman who managed Corbett S
sparring tour in England.
That the MaceS are genuine gypsies
is evident to the merest tyrO in eth
nology. One glance ut the rugged
brown skinned boys is sufficient proof
of that. They are handsome. black
eyed lads. with the typical features of
their race, as seen all over civilization.
The tents in which the gypsies are
domiciled were evidently designed
wholly for comfort. There are none
more Supremacy happy than the occu-
pants. who hate houses and all that
they imply, and who love the open
air, and like to gaze up at the stars
and the blue sky, even when they
open their eyes at night.
The band is composed of ten people.
three of whom are women, Mary
Chambers, Madonna Middleton and
Jane Mace. They tell fortunes, while
the men folks buy, sell and trade
horses. The band is equipped with a
fine camping outfit. Everything is
neat and clean, and they are intelli-
gent, interesting and congenial people.
Mrs. Mace is middle-aged lady,
with thick, iron gray hair rolled up
around her head in careless fashion.
She says she has travelled all over Eu-
rope and the Americas, and has told
the fortunes of countesses, duchesses,
princesses, queens and even one EN-
press. She has been in Asia and de-
lighted the wives of khans and sui
tans with an insight into their future.
ForeteIIing Events.
Yes" said Mrs Mace, Il have
been travelling around since since
can remember. L am an English
gypsy, with dash of Irish blood in
sufficient, perhaps, TO make me
think Ireland the lovliest country in
the world. At all events, the Irish
aristOcracy treated me more gener-
ously than those of any other land,
and | have come in contact with them
all. l told a lady of the Austrian
imperial family that tremendous do
nestle misfoFtunes were impending,
but she pretended not to believe me
That was in 1888. and not very long
after the Archduke John sailed away
into the unknown as John Orth, and
Il, Iii
suicide or was murdered-who knows?
l was at garden party given by Lord
Plunkett in his grounds outside of
Dublin, and proPhesied that
Il great Englishman would soon meet
his death in or near Dublin Castle.
Soon after Frederick Cavendish was
assassinated by the Fenians. The
gypsies inherit the gift of foretelling
things. 1t comes down to us in our
blood, as clairvoyance descends from
father to son, from mother to daugh-
ter, in some families. OF course,
was not always Cassandra. l have
had the pleasure of foretelling many
happy marriages and suspicious
events-the marriage of American
girls to European noblemene though
certainly few of these unions have
turned out to he anything but happy"
Pooley Mace is Il man OF probably |
60 years. He follows events of the
prize ring very closely. and says he
has fought a number of battles in his
time.
.'Do / like gypsy life?" ne said.
Yes; / could not breath in Il house. |
| would be suffocated from smells |
and tormented with fear of fevers, |
and smallpox
The band will remain couple of |
weeks longer. 1--WE are simply wan |
dering from place to place said !
Pooley. In leaving town we take +!
the best road we come to-