The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-03-03

From the Chicago Evening Post.
.,bave known all the prominent billiard
.-srs OF the United States and many for
y, eue pushers who came here to play.
-, tbe time of the experts of 1874 to the
sent day. is an honor of which few
.o can boast. To have been the de
.osr of nearly all the ivory gle5ules with
-.t,5 the great knights of the cue battled
-. Green cloth table spoils during the last
4 -,erteen years is an experience that can
i, claimed by but one man. To be the old
81 ivory cutter in the country may not be
-. wish of many, but it is the actual con-
aop in the case of G. G. Brittner of Chi
an a veteran of ~ years who presides
.sr the ivory department of one of the
,,ssst billiard ball manufacturing estab-
...nsnts in the Western hemisphere.
stated in a little room not more than
.,s, feet square, but provided with very
As5 ceiling, from which depend maze
# rooes not unlike the effect produced in
I'd hs fv-loft of a theater, the Old ivory
inner nonchalantly puffs his meerschaum
nine and descants upon the virtues of the
,41ous grades of elephant tusks which
anne TO his attention. Occasionally he
4 ,,ries the programme by requesting his
guests to venture a guess upon the age of.
the old residenter," as he calls man.
moth tusk that was sent from the north
n egst of Alaska. Interesting as the old
4 eenteman's conversation about ivory is
II "a his callers, the matter is generally for
gotten for a moment when Mr. Brittner
81 fills Of the limit in range of the guesses
81 that have been made as to the time when
81 the mammoth roamed the mountain val
81 fys in Alaska.
81 why. some say that the tusk is a mil
Non years old" said he. "Others think the
animal that wore it lived before the gla-
cal epoch, which time they set at about
b SEQ wears before Christ. 1 have set a little
plan in operation for striking mean, or
q acreage. My idea? Well, the mammoth
hat shed his tusks in that now inhospi-
q able region lived there when the climate
& was much more agreeable than it is now.
a l. might have been several thousand years
ago. Yet I can turn out a billiard ball
& from a portion of that old and blackened
ivory tusk that could be stained red and
II placed upon the table for almost any good
q player to use. The ancient ivory is not
as tough as rule, as the fresh product.
but where the cells have not thoroughly
& dried out they give to it sufficient elastic
ity to deceive even an expert. Frank Ives,
well known the world over as the Young
q Napoleon once played in Paris with set
Of balls that he thought were better than
anything he had seen in the French capt.
tai. He little suspected that they had been
81 cut from a tusk that had remained buried
for ages I had made these balls for a well
known billiard lover and he in turn gave
them TO the man who had the champion
play at his house"
There is a fascination about the profess
sion of the ivory cutter, especially if he is
the master workman who fashions the
halls that such men as Ives, Wizard
S2haefer student Slosson, DAILY, Wig
nauX Sexton, Sutton and others use upon
the tables in determining the problems of
The greatest of all gentlemen's games. Mr..
Brtner has not been in daily touch with
valuable pieces of ivory over half a cen
Jury without partaking in a measure of
re instincts of connoisseur. He never
found hunted elephants, yet he can make a
billiard ball so nearly perfect sphere that
ho oaliper made by man can detect the
slightest defect in the lines. Carelessly
wedding large turning tool he can touch
This steel to the ball revolving I'm spe
ciaIy constructed lathe so lightly that the
Ions, thin shaving of ivory taken off will
lal into white powder upon the slightest
s pressure. In the short space of an hour the
workman can fashion what it took an ele-
p-ant many years to produce into a shin
81 is ghstening globe that appears a thing
10 beauty The worship it might be called
10 beautiful piece of ivory is not con-
ilI5d 10 modern times and to the billiard
8 payer. Egyptians who lived 5000 years
4 ago did not play billiards, but they treas
urea combs and other articleS~made of
ivory
Inc public will excuse me for talking of
myself continued the old ivory turner
"Heh ne had settled himself back in q bow
CT OF elephant tusks, for L am a relic of
the ola school, so to speak, and but few
ever thlnk of the men who make the fin
lshed tools of the players liking. I think
am the Oldest ivory cutter in America.
hVery day since 1874 l have followed the
business OF course Sundays must be ex-
copied. Upon some days when not actual
~ Shaping billiard balls or working with
Qua designs in ivory 1 have been the SUI
perlnlendent of all work done in my de-
pdflment. At one time was the only cut
GER. IN Philadelphia, and possibly in the
lhted States, who could be trusted to cut
d piock Of ivory into ball for the billiard
ape That was SO long ago that it does
Aol appear very strange to me.
before serving my apprenticeship as
wood turner l had seen the old ivory tur-
Lef-Fhelps l think his name was-in
ora shop in Philadelphia. His work
,,H5nnShlp fascinated me. wanted to cut
ulAiard balls, but l was young. In those
avs Il was not thought that man less
ian % years old could turn out ball that
ouIu De true enough to play with. But
mere came a sad day for Mr.. Ford-by
Ne way, he died recently in the city of
otAerly love at the age of about 90 years
"Hen his Old workman died. There were
ViueIs for sets of billiard balls There was
.' one to prepare the ivory sphere for the
4-dyefs ] stepped into Mr.. Ford's office
euo asked TO take the place of the old cut
.l'' ~ course, l was repulsed. But l was
rol dsheartened. Mr.. Ford could not af-
iV'd, ne said, 10 let me practice upon ivory
',l"oKs although ball ivory was sellinssat
S' cents pound al that time. The future
vi my life was nodded 1 think, by my re-
wy, VIII you sell me enough ivory 20
-I'he a set of balls? l asked the dealer
ne was perfectly willing to do this. / |
lIhed faithfully and turned out four |
y us which L took to the expert of the
..'' lie said they were nearly perfect, |
4"N wanted to know who had done the |
'OIA' quite proudly 1 told him that 1, a |
.. Jung carver, had made the balls in my !
~ attempt at ivory turning. He com. |
! -lehied me and praised the work to Mr.. |
IRA The result was chat / became a |
~ illdrd-ball cutter Gince then 7 have o,ff [