The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-11-20
THE BERLIN GAMBLERS.

Capital.
 The proceedings against the "Inno 4 cents Club" an association founded b, number of smart young men il Berlin for the purpose of playing bac carat have taken singular turn. Tn case for the prosecution had been go up by police official named Won Man teuffel, whose speciality as detectiv' appears to have been the investigation of gambling and card-sharping eases Won Manteuffel set up the theory tha the three prisoners Herren Vor Krocher Von Kayser and Won Schacht. meyer, all young men of good family
 and former officers, not only lived by
 gambling, but also made their winnings
 by cheating. Many witnesses were call
 ed to give evidence as to the possibility
 of telling particular card by the feel
 of the back of it. Although one witness,
 conjurer, assured the crown counsel
 that in one days time he would teach him to tell cards by touch and to cheat
 at baccarat, the court manifested con-
 siderable scepticism on this point
 It also apparently came to the con- clusion that great deal of the evil
 dence collected by Herr Von Manteuffel
 was worthless, and in particular it
 brought the fact that the father of one
 of the accused, the well known General
 Won Krocher, had not described his son
 to Von Manteuffel as "a professional
 gambler" The excitement of the un-
 happy father on hearing of his son S
 arrest probably led him to express ap-
 prehensions regarding the past conduct
 and the future of his son, but not to
 make fatal charges against him. The
 court therefore decided that, although
 the case must proceed, the accused
 should in the mean time be set at lib- erty. The prisoners had been under arrest for eight months past awaiting their trial, and no small indignation Is excited against the detective, Won Man. teuffel, and against witnesses like a Count Konigsmark, whose inadequatey supported evidence had subjected these
 misguided youths to this hard treat ment.
 Whatever may be the end of the case, it has revealed picture of sordld social life and genteel vulgarity which excites
 the comment of the whole press of Ger
 many. These young men, whose lam
 guage is the polyglot phrassology of the IdCGCbulSt anu Ol lHt Setiilpiib6 toibicb interlarded their evidence with such
 English expressions as flair" unfair,
 tgentlemen" (pronouncad "shentleman."
 However Anglophobe smart young Ger
 mans may be in politices, they affect
 to be Anglomaniacs in matters of what
 they designate "shport" The surroun-
 dings of the gambling table and too ot-
 ten of the racecourse are sordd enough
 in any country, and it would be phar- saism to deny that in England we have
 plenty of humiliating disclosures in spheres.
 But the almost beardless youths who founded the "Innocents Club" in the Berlin Central Hotel would provoke a disdainful smile or the faces of those whom they themselves would fain con- slider to be their English prototypes.
 You Von Krocher, for example, had an allowance from his father of 110 marks month--that is In English mon- ey 955 a year. He also had his pay as lieutenant in the artillery, which might perhaps amount to as much again. With an income, therefore, of little over G100 year this young scape- grace proceeded with his similarly situ- ated friends to found baccarat club They succeeded in attracting to their haunt in the Central Hotel not only over a hundred young officers ranging in soc- ial rank from Prince Max von Thurn und Taxis to simple lieutenats of the active army and of the reserve, but al- so convicted card sharpers like a certain Wolff, who has opportunely disappeared. and Dr. Kornhlum, of doubtful repu- 1,o ed one of the chief witnesses for the l prosecution. A Count Egloffstein was also one of the sponsors of the infant | circle; he has recently been sentenced to | a term of Imprisonment for fraud.
 Tn all two hundred witnesses have been cited to appear in the case. | Among them are many officers of the | army, members of the aristocracy In its higher and highest ranks. women of the demi-monde, valets de chambre. [ Jockeys and trainers. What attracted | suspicion to the young gamblers was the difficulty in accounting for tbe!r expenditure on lodging, dress wine, mis- tresses and on their other extravagances assuming that their income from the card table must have been above what the ordinary of the game could bring them in. It is true that their unhappy rola- tives, as in the case of General Non Krocher, were often mulcted by hav- ing to pay their gambling debts. Put General Won Krocher, for example, could only testify that he had dsbursnd !. 900 marks or 9250, for this purpose. Tau Won Krocher also went into the witness box, but the unhappy woman -ould only pathetically state that she was in the habit of giving her son small sums from time to time, and that he 'opald her by little birthday presents, ike q pair of gloves or case for her spectacles. The evidence was in part ouchinr, but if was also revolting, as when the potations of a Baron Won , 2ocum were described, who frequently frank five bottles of champa gna at a sitting, and on one occasion lost G2,000 , 1t cards.
 I have dealt with this case Ut some $ ength because it has features which f asst a lurid light on all the splardor z lnd strength of the German military { ystem and on certain aspects of Ger I nan commercial prosperity. In vain f lid the Emperor, after the Hanover t case in 1893, issue a stringent dict against gambling and extravagant 2 wing and declare that an infantry Y