Omaha daily bee., 1910-01-16

After Tide retired his place was taken by
the famous Francatelli. whose suppers at
the club were so excellent that they
prompted Theodore Hook to apply to
Crockford the scriptural quotation: He
hlieth the hungry with good things and
the rich he hath sent empty away"
When Crockford retired in 1870 he was
rated as worth S.OONO0, and & was said
that his aristocratie clients owed him at
least &,5oo,OOO more. which he spent the
rest OF his life trying to collect.
Any person walking westward on Pail
Mall and crossing st. James street at that
end would run plump into 81. an I'M
pretentious looking house, but one Of the
most famous in London This was orlgl-
nally Graham's club, named after the
father and son that owned It, and its
members devoted themselves exclusively
to cards, whist being the principal game.
About twenty years ago the same build
ing was occupied by the st. James club.
Of which Cavendish was a member. play
ing there almost daily. but the new tenant
made little change in the building. which
is just about as It was when It was known
as Graham's.
1t was at Graham's that Lord Henry
Bentinck invented the signal for trumps
and II was here that the sharp eyes of the
whist players first detected the crooked
methods Of Lord de RIOS, which were
afterward aired in the courts. Such was
the difficult of keeping undesirable char
acters out OF proprietary clubs that It
was found necessary on December 81.
1886, to dissolve the Graham's club and
then reorganize It, simply to get rid OF
some ten or twelve persons who were not
wanted.
The reorganization does not seem to
have helped matter much as the club did
not prosper afterward and finally the
Graham's determined to close UP, because
they could not collect the subscriptions due
from members. Such was the end Of the
most famous whist club in the world.
Every bridge player knows the Port.
land, from which have emanated many
excellent codes of laws for card games
The first home OF this club was in Blooms.
bury square, near the British museum
Then II went to Jermyn street, which
runs parallel to Piccadilly, and from
thence to stratford place. That buildinl
has been torn dow and the club is nov
snugly housed at the southwest corner O
York street and st. James square.
1t is at the Portland that one looks fo'
the most famous bridge players Of todal
and It Is to the Portland tina every Ameri
can with pretensions to skill as a brldg'
player naturally turns his face upon hi
first visit to London.
| 1t would be a hard matter to pick on
the most famous Of the cracks that hav
3 played at the Portland. Probably the bes
E known among the whist players wa
1 Charles Ross, who was lord of the treasur,
in 1885 and died in 1860. This is the playe
4 described by Disraeli In "Coningsby" a
Mr.. Earwig.
I Another conspicuous figure at the Port
r land was John Bushe. son of the chic
justice Of ireland, and who figures 1
Miss Edgeworth's story of Patronage.
T Stnl another was General Windhan
8 famous in connection with the storming {
Y the Redan in the Crimean war.
4, Only a few doors from the Portland
r tucked snugly away in a corner of tn
r square, is the Baldwin club, which wa
u formerly on Cockspur street and is name
; after John Lorraine Baldwin, the father
5 the present code of laws for whist an
o bridge. To this club now belong the birds
players that used to gather at the BIRTHS
o Chess club in Whitehall.
The card room Of the Garrick club hS
probably as many associations connectC
n with It as that OF any club in Londo
Anthony Trollope and Charles Reade use
d to play whist here together without e
h changing a word, Trollope having been .
Tended at Reade's dramatization
Trollope's novel, Ralph the Heir"
The rubbers at the Garrick club are We
10 portrayed by the Bancrofts in their &c
Is and Off the Stage" 1t was while Jol
8 Heneage Jesse was absorbed in his gar
is OF whist at the Garrick that Sir Jol
Millais made that famous pencil sket,
ID Of him on the back OF an envelope.
One card room in which Americans a
lg always interested is that OF the Refor
a club, because it was there that Gener
re Grant, during his visit to London in IS
ed played whist with Lord Granville, w.
10 Forster and Colonel Strobe and won eve
BY rubber.
o. Two famous card clubs Of former da!
he both Of which had a large influence
ch shaping the path of scientific play, q
nd now no more. These were the Cavendi'
e. which met in the Polytechnic on Rege
e. street, and the Westminster, which had
Iy home in the C~alendonian on Adelpf
Terrace, near where the Savage club
a now. Mossup, Cavendish, Mogul and Pc
To- bridge were among the players in them
to the old days.
lis There are two clubs in London that ha
II made the experiment of having both SCI
he admitted to membership and inducing tn
,te to play for medium stakes. These are
ist New Bridge club in Knightsbridge and
ne New Almack's in Berkeley square. ]
points are limited for both bridge and a
VA ton, but their success does not seem
re- have been so conspicuous as to ten
others to follow their example. A gem
or man who visited both last year with
al view to starting something of the k
per nwla. 49, a. CO., 1ondon
- would not go in New York.
OLYMPIAN GAMES THIS YEl
Ter c... s