River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1899-04-06
CHESS FOR A SWEETHEART.
Dramatic Game of Chance That De-
cided the Fate of Three
Young Persons.

Dramatic game of Chance That De-
cided the Fate of Three
Young Persons.
The story, which comes from Ger
many, is that two young artists were
infatuated by the charms of the same
maiden, and neither was given more
ground for hope than his rival The
spoil clearly would fall to the lot OF
one or the other, and as each was
skillful chess player, they decided to
| put their fate TO the test of pawns and
castles. The fateful game was played
without spectator at the Kaiserhoff
restaurant and after long and exciting
struggle one rival succeeded in check
mating the other. The defeated play
er rose from the table and betook him
self to France, where news reached
him that the man who had mated"
him was himself more happily mated
in Berlin.
The university town of Bonn was, a
| few years ago, the scene of a most
/ dramatic contest for wife. Two of the
students of the university, who had
fallen hopelessly in love with a charm
| ing actress. were the most redoubtable
dueling champions of their year, and
their faces were scanned with traces of
the many fights they had taken part
| in.
The actress was equally Indifferent
to both sutors, but was al last so wear
led by their Importantly that in a mis-
| chievous moment she said to one of
| them: IF | am worth wooing, | am
worth winning; so if you and Herr
Schultz will prove which is the better
man with the sword / will marry the
| winner"
| Such a challenge could only have one
issue. The men, who were equally
matched, arranged meeting in the
suburbs, where a fierce duel was fought
with ''unbuttoned foils." At a critical
point in the duel Mr.. Schultz slipped
in making a thrust, and his opponents
foil pierced his lungs.
| The wounded man was taken away,
and for some days lay at the point
of death; the girl who was the cause
of the tragedy insisted on nursing him
/ with the tenderest care. When. after
valescent, the actress, true to her sex,
kept her promise by marrying him and
| leaving the victor to his thoughts.
| Schiller's story of the Glove which
fair lady threw into the arena
among fierce lions in order to see wheth.
/ er her lover was brave enough TO res
/ cue it, has had its parallel in Hungary
in our day.
Miss Weiss, the beautiful young
daughter of the proprietor of travel
1 ing menagerie, had almost as many
lovers as she counted years. Wherever
| her travelling took her lovers sprang
up to persecute her; and two men,
both of high family, were so infatuated
that they followed her wherever she
went
The fraulein was as brave as she was
beautiful, and the great attraction of
! the menagerie was to see her with her
fair hair flowing down her back, enter
ne lions cage and romp with the lions
rs if they were so many lambs. One
day when the menagerie was at Buda-
! Pesth. she decided 10 put her two most
| ardent lovers to the test: and, more in
/ Jest than earnest. said she would marry
| the man who would claim her hand in
he lions cage.
At the close of the afternoon exhibi-
ton she again entered the cage of lions,
and. seated on the back of the largest
and fiercest of them, playfully beckoned
TO her lovers to enter One of them,
without a moments hesitation. accept
ed her challenge, and, in spite of the
angry growls of the lions and the sight
Of threatening teeth. walked boldly up
TO the girl and took her protfered hand,
| which within a few days became his
own absolutely.
Early this year Peter Mile and Jo-
seph Hidcock won their wives in a
manner which is probably unique. Jo-
seph Folk had left his wife and two
daughters in Poland while he sought
his fortune in America. He had been
working in this country only a few
weeks when news came that his wife
was dead and his two young daughters
were in danger of starving. In this
predicament he decided to send for
| his two daughters; and, as he was I'M
able TO pay their passage money, he
borrowed 10 from each of two of his
fellow workmen. Mile and Hidcock.
The girls arrived in due course, but the
father was unable to save sufficient
money to repay the borrowed & 20.
\ happy solution of the difficulty,
however, presented itself, The daugh-
ters were so attractive that the credit
ors promptly fell in love with them,
and undertook to cancel their debts
in return for the girls as wives. Hidcock
married Mary, the older girl. in re-
turn for his so, and the younger
daughter Anne, made Mile regard him
self as a lucky man in securing her for
his share of the debt.-Chicago Chron-
icle.