The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1909-04-21
RUSSIANS PLAYING
GAME OF DEATH
terribly Fascinating Forms OF
Amusement Used by a
Decadent Aristocracy.
the TIGER AND HUNT" A THRILL
Six Shot In the Dark at Human Prey
with Thinking Bell About His Neck
Suicide Clubs In Which Poisoned
Goblets Are Used at a Feast.

London.-Playing blind mans buff
with death is the latest and most ter
ribly fascinating form of amusement
that the long decadent Russian aris-
tocracy has come to indulge in, ac-
cording to the st. Petersburg corre'
spondent of the London Daily Mail.
In certain circle of the empires
fashionable set men and women seem
to have gone to the last ditch of des.
peration in an effort to get thrill of
pleasure. The members of this circle
seem to have become utterly jaded
with all normal forms of pleasure and
recreation and to have become bored
with the attempt to safe abnormally
developed appetites. In truth, this
set has come to the brink of destruc-
tion and is willingly jumping into
the grave.
Strange clubs have been formed,
and one of these devotes itself to a
game of life and death which Is called
Tiger and Hunter" In this game
lots are drawn to decide which mem.
Der shall play the tiger and which the
has bell hung about his neck and
the hunter is blindfolded and given a
pistol. The room is darkened, and
from galleries above the other men,
bers of the club enjoy the sport.
The hunter is given six shots at
his human prey, and if he hits the
terrified man with the tinkling bell
about his neck he is the winner. If
the prey manages to escape and come
out of the pit of darkness alive then
he is proclaimed the winner.
In the galleries above the members
of the club applaud and cry out
bravos to the hunter when he brings
the tiger so close TO the grave, and
wagers are laid on the outcome Wom-
en- of the same sort as the men clap
their hands with delight, and the sport
with Death continues.
From the cheers and expressions of
encouragement from his hackers the
hunter knows when he is doing well,
and either jumps nearer to his human
prey for close shot or stands still
and takes more deliberate aim, as sug-
gestions warrant Sometimes the tiger
knows that his antagonist in the sport
will get him, and stands as if petrified
in the gloom of the pit, watching the
muzzle of the pistol aimed at him,
fearful of moving because of the tell.
tale bell, and hoping to jump at the
last moment and avoid the fatal shot.
While such organizations are prac-
tically suicide leagues, the very peril
OF death from another hand than of
ones own raises in the heart of the
hunters target hope that death will
not ensue-and then, too, there Is the
sport of winning out
The game has become amplified and
still more exciting, the latest rules
formulated being that in the event of
the hunter failing to bring down the
tiger after six shots, he shall change
places with the tiger and be shot at,
and so on, until blood has been drawn.
The next step seems to be that the
game shall continue until one or the
other man is killed, for the lust of the
members in the galleries knows no
sating save in death.
But this is but one of the clubs that
are suicidal in their purpose There
is another at which the company sits
down to feast Of champagne.
one OF twenty bottles is mixed with
morphia. The guests glasses are
filled, they lift them high and drain
them. Over the faces of those who
have received the poisoned draught
comes the pallor of death, and SOM
nolence comes over them. They wilt.
droop, die as the lucky ones look on
with pleasure at the spectacle.
Some of those who have not par
taken OF the poisoned goblets, and who
wanted to die in such sport, frequent
ly cry out in their disappointment.
The correspondent of the Daily Mail
says that the frequent unexplained
suicides are being laid to these terri.
BILE orgies with death, and that, more.
over. many persons of fashionable so.
ciety are journeying to Finland to
throw themselves in the romantic I'm.
ira Rapids, to be swept against the
rocks and battered to death in the
swift currents.
While these terrible practices are
prevailing in certain sets of ultrafash-
ionable st. Petersburg society, the
Nails correspondent adds, neuresthe.
mia is claiming more victims every
day among all sets of the rich and
the idle and the over-indulgent luxu-