The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-03-14
CHOCHEM'S BLACK
 HAND LETTERS MOshe saItpetre Gets Very
 Suspicious THE MYSTERY IS SOLVED The Great Isnatz Einsteln Gets Busy On the Job and Makes Master
 Solution of Dark
 Doings.
 


 yesterday. oy, such frightl' said Mo she saltpeter as he met Ignatz Fluegel- mann at the Chochems Poker club.
 F1uegelmann was pale and smoked as if his cigarette did him no good. With trembling hand he counted money.
 ''Didnt I get one, too?" said MT. F1ue- gelmann. in a husky tone.
 Mr Julius Rosenzweig entered at this minute with look of horror in his face .'They are after mer' he cried. Him mel Crosse zooros!
 He fell on the floor and, graspfng his watch with one hand and his diamond scarfpin with the other, said in whis- per that he feared he would faint.
 .swhat are you? A Chayim Yoina?' asked Mir Saltpeter
 "No, I am not chump, either; I'm full of the fear" said MT. Rosenzweig, recovering himself slightly.
 well ain't we?" said Mir Fluegel- mann and MT Saltpeter "Get your nerve back" added MT. saltpeter. What is it, anywayY'
 'rThe Black Handr cried Rosenzweig 'HThe Black Handr' repeated Saltpeter and F1uegelmann. "would they kill us all?r
 The three men stared at each other for minutes without speaking. and then Abram Schaumberg, Yulius Shabbos- deckel, Alfred HershfeAS, Isador M. Pa trekovsky and Levi Blaustein entered ,in body.
 All of them seemed to be the verge of prostration. From their broken excla- nations 1t was learned that they, too, had been threatened by the Black Hand sWe're up against it, Stiegenr' said Moshe Saltpeter as with trembling hand he clipped the end off cigar and fitted it In his holder This calls for action all together, shouldn't itT' he asked Let us get calm. They can't get us here. can they?'
 Cant they get you anywhere?" said How can they?" asked MT. Saltpeter. Then there was a pause. MT Saltpeter looked around at his seven colleagues of the Chochems Poker club and said:-
 This is the way of 1t with me: been having sleep in my room this forenoon and when I get up got letter by mail and it reads like this:
 I" Morris Saltpeter: Put $50o in bills in a package and deposit by midnight to- night at the northeast corner of One Hundred and Sixteenth street and Am sterdam avenue, opposite the old house. or we kidnap you and cut your ears off and put your eyes out and cut your nose off and take all your money
 ''The signature" continued MT. Salt peter Ifs The Blach Hand and there is picture of skull with bones crossed under It. Finnsteri" There was an exclamation of horror from the other Chochems, and each of them produced letter the duplicate of the one MT. saltpeter had just read
 We are marked men said Levi Blau- stein, in whisper. These fiends heard we had been playing poker so much they think we got all the money. Don't know we are poor men,"
 s"Well. we must keep our nerve" said MT Saltpeter Stand by each other'' 'I been in favor of that, too," said Mir. Ignatz Fluegelmann, "but what are you going 10 do with those assassinators? They wayay you when you can't see them and got no chances to run"
 "Nu, I think we should stand together that way like Natzi says, aver if get Kidnapped. I will not let my ears be cut off as they say; I ransom myself" said MT, Rosenzweig.
 "IIow would you do 1t? How would you do it?" cried Moshe Saltpeter. Sup pose this Black Hand gets you; should you carry bank roll with you and say to him to take 1t and let you go? He'd take it and want the ransom, too. You speak all the time Narrishkelt, Julius. >
 q been not such a fool person as you think" said MT. Rosenzweig. "I give my house in Bayard street for se- curity for the ransom. It would be easy for me; but for you geld1os Chammers 1t might go hard. I own the two-story brick house in Bayard street, No. 401; got my own ransom''
 You say you own the house at 401 Bayard street. that two-story brick that Risenstein lives in?' said MT. Saltpeter. Sure say What you got to say about it. you Schlamie?" said Julius.
 ''I say you don't own it. My brother in-law, Benno Israel, owns that house. ' shouted Moshe saltpeter, "and you are one untruth teller" M
 'I am did you say? What else?'
 "A Litvoch Chasser!' shrieked Mr. Saltpeter.
 ''Brueder," said Mir Rosenzweig in a deep voice, 'Brueder, I own that house. bet you my life on 1t; bet you my brothers life. I own that house, and I bet you the lives of my brother and me on it.'
 ''In bet you s1o you don't" said MT. Saltpeter
 MT Rosenzweig waved both hands in a deprecatory manner. "Oy money I would not bet" he said.
 q like to say few worlds" said Ig- natz Fluegelmann. "Al1 this talk does not save us from those prosecutions of the Black Hand. I been in a shudder chronic whenever I think of falling in their clutches and having my ears sawed off by those hends, who would not let us go unless we give up money. How do I know I got enough of the gutes gelt to ransom myself? Have you, like to Inquire? Then why don't we get togeth- CT and form one of those mutual asso- ciations-a Chevra that shall insure us and our families against the Black Hand? Let us unite, brueder, and if any one in our families get Kidnapped or one of us, the others shall take the collection to pay for that ransom. How does it strike you?'
 Tt strikes me all right, all except that family idea" said Moshe Saltpeter. 'I got no family to get kidnapped. I know you got children, Fluegelmann, and so has one or two others. But If we look out for each other every man ought to look out for his own family. But let us get this done orderly Let's hold a meet ing why not?"
 Julius Rosenzweig was voted into the chair, and after consideraD.e discussion 1t was decided to draw up a paper pledR- ing the members of the Chochems Poker club to ransom any other member who might fall into the hands of the assassin- ating Black Hand. Families were n- .cluded in the agreement after some de- bate and solemn pledge from each fla ther that he'd keep his children indoors 0x,1k vuy1,f ~-~s