New Britain herald., 1917-07-06
MARKED THE CARDS
 ON RUSSIAN PRIEST
All Goes Out, None Comes In to
 Rev. Alehin

Garfield, IN. J.. July GA deck of marked cards with which a. worldly wise person might accumulate four aces on a pinch, or acquire a work ing knowledge of the potential force of an opponents hand, alleged to have been found in the rectory of the Rus sian Church of thesThree Saints, forms the basis for three arrests that last night set all the political. business and religious elements Of the Passaic re- zion on the wire edge of excited eos- sip.
 The Rev. Alexander Alehin. rector of the church, charges that three of Passalc's best-known men sat in a friendly game with him at the rectory upon numerous occasions, and that he yielded more than $500 in the coin of the realm for the poor return of such vocal exercise as was afforded by the repetition of the stock phrase That's good According to the priest his three friends could at will draw to a shoestrlng and catch lanyard, while he couldn't make a full house bring home pot if he caught it pat
 The story was told to Prosecutor Huch1n Of Bergen county, who turned the facts over to Justice E.. M. John son. Warrants charging forgery were issued for Isaac Rubin, a justice of the peace, of 19O Monroe street, Pas saic; Frank schnell, a poultry dealer of 243 Monroe street, and Alexander Levy, an auctioneer of 25s Monroe street. Additional warrants were is- sued against Levy and Rubin. Tho three are charged with forging the priests name to checks, and the last two with defrauding him at cards.
 The defendants were held under bonds for $1,oo0l each to await subse- quent developments. They denied with one voice the charges. but ad- mitted that they had frequently gath cred about the priests table to daily with the pastboards and to fondle the red, white and blue evidences of pa triotism following the ante.
 The Church of the Three Saints Is a new edifice that replaced the build ing which burned more than a year ago. Its rectory is new and charming. The church ministers to the Russian colony
 The priests story to the public pros- ecutor runneth thus:
 He had known Rubin, who holds the scales of Bergen county justice, for some time, and he told the prose- cutor Rubin introduced him to the other two men as gentlemen who had some skill in passing upon the rela- tive values of three of kind. They came often to his rectory, and the riff filing of the pastboards went along with pleasing monotony as they wan dered among the jackpots seeking di- version and profit.
 One evening, said the priest, his wife came along after one of the polk CT parties and examined the cards that the men left behind. She discovered, he says, that their backs bore such marks as no perfectly gentle and i'm partial deck of cards ought to carry in polite society. From these marks. he averred, one might as we'll pick an ace from the back as from its honest 1 frontal view. The Rev. MT. Alehin 1 had just dropped the trif1e of $2S9 in 1 the game preceding and had paid $113 in cash and given check for the re- 1 mainder.
 He says that when he rushed around l to the bank to stop payment he found | that the others had beat him to it, and that he had in addition three other checks to pay, none of which, he 1 swears, he ever signed.
 The three checks called for total of s329 All three of the accused men l asserted that the priest had lost his i mind over the departure of his funds | and that they had no part in any 1 forgery or fraud transaction. They | a greed that the priest was consistent 1 loser in their many games.