Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-05-30
WHIST.
Latest Reports From A. w. l.. and
Intercity Trophy Matches.

Latest Reports From A. w. l.. and
Intercity Trophy Matches.
The end Of the season has been reached.
so far as the playing for the American
Whist League trophy is concerned.
The Knickerbocker Whist Club of New
York defeated the Philadelphia minister's
May 10 by the score of 10 to Is, and last
Saturday night, in New York. the former
successfully defended the trophy against
the Albany four, winning by the score of
81 to II In the former match the Knick-
erbockers gained eleven singles, two dou-
bles and one quadruple, while Philadelphia
gained nine singles and two triples. The
match was very close throughout, and at
the end Of the first half the Quakers were
one trick in the lead. On the second half
the "Knicks'' got a good start of four tricks
and were never headed the remainder of the
match. A curious play came up on the last
match. The "Knicks'' were two tricks to
the good. and in an endeavor to make this
up the Quakers pursued a new line of play
and dropped two additional tricks, demon
strating the wisdom of continuing along IN
derstood lines of play
Last Saturday night the strong Albany
four faced the Knckerbockers. Both
teams play along exactly the same lines,
as to system, and the result was that the
'.Knicks' outpointed them on end play. At
gains being made by singles up until a few
deals before the end of the first half, when
the knickerbockers picked up triple. In
played good whist and picked up tricks
right along and gave indications Of winning,
but the "knicks" pulled themselves to-
gether and gathered in two triples in sue
cesson, which sort of fioored their oppo-
nents. AT the conclusion of the match it
was found that the "Knicks' had scored
four triples, two doubles and five singles.
The Albany team confined the winnings to
ten singles and one double.
The teams We're: Observation-Disclosures
son, Watkins. Eliot and Cramer. Albany
Snow, Rathbone, Hurd and Ocott.
The cup will remain the property of the
Knickerbockers until the annual congress
of the league at Niagara Falls in July,
when it must be surrendered for general
competition among all the clubs.
In local whist circles news has been very
meager and hard to get. 1t has been learn
ed that the Marlborough team, No. 1, cap
tanned by Mrs. Stewart, recently Journeyed
over to Baltimore and triumphantly brought
Women's Whist Club team of that city.
Marlborough team, No. 2. captained by Mrs.
Woodward, will probably be the next con-
teStantS.
Senator Gallinger and DR.. Walls recently
went to Baltimore and entered the compass
whist games of the Baltimore Whist Club,
which embraces many of the best players
in the country. Without a signal Of any
sort the pair came within two-sixths Of a
trick Of making high score. There was one
hand played by this pair that created a sem
sation. as four more points were made by
them than any other couple. To make it
more binding the senator and doctor played
against Harvey Mckay and Lot Ensey,
two players of national reputation. The
disastrous third round of trumps was what
Who are the top-notchers among the
whist players of the country? This Is q
question quite frequently asked. but the
to NOT II t., hot h
out an exhaustive competition. which is a
practical impossibility. the question must
remain unanswered. Still. attempts have
been made to seek. through the opinions of
ton of the query. The most recent effort
in this direction was made by the editor of
the Rochester Post-Express, who sent out
requests to thirty men in different parts or
the country for a list Of the twelve best
players. Twenty-one of these responded.
and the vote showed the following result.
the figures after the names being the num-
Der of votes received:
H. H. Ward, Boston. ........................19
George L. Bum. ST. Paul.
A. E. Taylor. New York.
]. B. Elwell. New York. -: ..............lI
Thomas A. Whelan. Baltimofe ..........-i ID 5
w. G. Bronson. Saltwater, MINI. ......-..2
David Muhlfelder, Albany II
Beverly w. Smith. Baltimore.
William Hudson, Buffalo. .......ll
Lander M. Bouve, Boston. ...-..lo
w. f. P. Duvall. Baltimore. 10
George w. Keehn. Chicago................
There are some interesting features about
this expression of opinion, although any
such record savors largely of guesswork,
for no man has anything like mere ac-
quaintance even with more than fraction
of the many fine players in this wide coun-
try. 1t will be noted that out of the four
men who head the list and received by far
the largest majority of the votes three are
prominent short-suit or common-sense play
ers This is especially significant in view
of the fact that the majority OF the judges.
probably, We're long-suiters. Naturally the
list Is made up from among the men who
have been prominent players on the teams
which have contested frequently for the
league trophies
In answer to Queries sent out by the same