Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-01-07
THE DUKE WAS Merry

| THE writer of that article published rs-
| Gently in The Star about some of the
| famous fakess that used to be sprung by
| the newspapers of Chicago overlooked con-
sideration of q lot of built-up, manufac-
| tured stories, not necessarily fakes. but
| ingeniousiy contrived incidents, that used
| to ornament The pages of Chicago's jour-
fais every ehee in while,'' said one of
the correspondents from the city by the
| unsalted sea. The arrival of Russian
| prince In San Francisco the other day re-
minded me OF one of these affairs Dye
remember when young Duke George (now
| heif apparentt to thu throne of Greece
visited this country on his tour around the
world In 1897? He landed from japan at
| san Francisco. While he was visiting ia
pan ne distinguished himself by saving the
| ire OF mis- cousin the present Gear of Rus
| sla, from the hands Of an assassin, and he
was good deal lionized on account of his
| rough-and-readiness and his nerve when he
| struck the Pacific coast. At all of the
| cues Where he stopped off on his way east
| In TACT he was the recipient of considerable
| attention, ana made good deal Of in gem
| eial His adventure with the Japanese as
| sassin was recounted over and over again
III TIE newspapers of all these cities, 80
/ that by the time he struck Chicago the
! newspaper men who were booked to meet
[ the young duke and to write about his
! movements appreciated the fact that they'd
| nave 10 hustle to get something original
| ABOUT the young princeling.
| Ihe duke. with his retinue. got into Chi
| Saso on schedule time one afternoon from
! denver, and put up in style at the Audi
| forum Ten minutes after h, went to / is
! apartments he was bes1eged by the news
| paper men, and he received them all in
punch, and very pleasantly. He was
| hCse young man Of about twenty-five Or
twenty,thres, close on to six feet six inches
| IN helght, and weighing about 275 pounds
a veritable giant in stature, bulk and
strength as well. He spoke English with
| OILY slight accent, was agreeable to
| fault. and apparently ready for any old
! thing. He asked the newspaper men how
| ne could put in the evening. They sug
gested the theater. but the duke shook his
| mead. He was a-weary of theaters, he
| SAID. A concert? No, he wasn't in a mood
FOR music. The newspaper men exchanged
] glances. and one of them boldly put the
| question to the smiling duke:
| what are you out for, anyhow? reg
| ular redhot tme?"
| =" That's it-a red-hot time replied the
| duke without an instants hesitation. is
such thing to be found In this city,
The newspaper men looked at each 9TH
| er, as much as to say, Well. is there?' and
| then they arranged the thing. Half a
| dozen of them We're to show the heir ap-
parent to the throne of Greece how the city
| of Chicago looked by electric light that
| night. The duke was decidedly taken with
| the notion.
| " We will have-what you call a warm
time, eh?' he said amiably, and after
| blowing the newspaper men off to the best
| IN the house, he turned in for short nap.
| charging the newspaper men to be on hand
| promptly at 0 O'Clock at the hotel to start
| out on the tour of the town.
| Now, an ordinary account of sum-
| ming expedition didn't look to the news
paper men as a particularly promising fea-
| ture for a write-up In connection with the
chicago visit OF the warm member of u
young duke, and SO they got together and
considered They came to an understand
| ing They gothic sporting reporter of one
| OF the papers to go out to purlieus known
only to himself and hunt up even half
| dozen Of hisky heavyweight pugs of local
fenown. Fhe sporting reporter CORA He'd
! his bunch 1pf heavyweights and brought
| them to th4, newspaper men who were as
| duke. '5i' 2
| THE pugsiists were told to be on hand at
| certain tough drinking place on Custom
| House place about 10 o'clock that night
| They were also told that when a certain
| party of hot members turned UP in company
with the newspaper men they, the mixed
| ale puss. We're to become suddenly ugly
| and to mako rush in a body for the big
man in the party. They weren't to hurt
the big. man.. but Just crowd around and
scare him half to death and see what he
would do. There to be a fve-Spot in
| 1t for each of the fighters. and they said
all .. IS: to- the proposition and it was all
| The newspaper men went to the Auditor
| ium and dug the duke and his. party up
promptly at . O'clock, and off they started
| They covered ii lot Of ground. in the course
! of which the newspaper men discovered
| that the duke could drink about five times
| as much red liquor as they could in a
bunch and not show it a little bit. All of
| the members OF the outfit were pretty COM
| fortab bic by the time the drinking place
where the scrappers were stationed was
| reached. except the duke himself, and he
| was as cool as cucumber and fresh as
| a daisy. All hands paraded into the low
| dive of a gin mill, with its sawdust cover
| ed floor, and the fighters were on hand in
| the back part Of the room. as per agree
| ment.
| "A drink was had all around, and then
| the rehearsed fighters began to talk loudly
| about cheap dago sports The duke tack
| ed back his ears and looked the men over
| This was the signal. and they made rush
| for him. thu whole six of them. Well that
| was an inteI estins three or four minutes
| The duke met them one and all with
| straight, stiff punches and knocked three
| Of them fiat. Another he kicked down.
| Then he leaped back. seized a chair in each
| hand and banged the other two on the top
| of their heads. That put them all tenn
| porarily out of business. As soon as the
| pugs that had been knocked down by the
| dukes fists could regain their feat they
| went at him again, and the heir aDpa rent
| to a throne let them have it with his chairs
| as they came. None of the other members
| of the dukes party tried to help him out
| They knew him, and felt that he didn't
| need any assistance. Five minutes after
the six fighters had tackled the duke, four
| of them We're having broken heads dressed
! IN the back room of the gin mill and the
| other two had bolted for 1t out of the back
| door. 1t sounded funny to hear the huge
young fellow say. with his Interesting ac-
cent, as he washed his hands in a corner of
| the saloon:
| - I'm having such a devil of a good time.
| you know
The affair didn't turn out exactly ac-
| cording to schedule. but the way it went
| eff confirmed all of the stories that had
| been published about the merry. of the
| young duke, and all of the newspapers of
| Chicago had big stories on the following
| morning of how the heir apparent to the
| throne of Greece had suppressed fierce
| riot among a lot of drunken Ion gshoremen
| on the night before
| Stronger Bid.
| From Puck ,