The daily Alaskan., 1917-02-08
THE GREAT
 GAME {
 By M. QUAD Z Copyright, 1916, by the Mcclure
 Newspaper Syndicate. z

burg were four miles apart, and there had been rivalry between them ever since they were founded If one claim ed 400 population the other claimed 45O When the one built church building with a spire thirty feet high, the other built church building with the spfre seven feet higher.
 There was one point which had never been settled between the towns. This was the championship checker player. Sometimes one village held the cham pionship for year or two and then had to relinquish 1t to the other, There was talk for, several years of having the question permanently settled, but 1t hung fire until man named Bob Wittiker moved over to Chatham from village forty miles away. He had played checkers ever since he was five years old. At ten he could beat any man they could bring against him. At fifteen he won the championship of the state. But no one in either village knew of this. It was given out that he played pretty good game, and when the Coburg people heard Of 1t they sent to Chicago and hired a man to become resident of the town long enough to settle the question of cham pionship. Each town made up purse, and the victor in the game was to re- 1 ceive $25. ~
 Ten men went over from Chatham with their champion, and another ten men met them. The twenty were to see that the game was fair one. It was to be the best three games in five and was played In the town hall.
 The game began on Thursday morn ing, and that night nobody turned out to the regular prayer meeting. The first game lasted all that day and all that night and was not decided until Friday noon. The champion of Chat ham won it. This fact was telephoned over to Chatham, and it set the village wild with delight. New wagers were made. New boasts were made. A lec- turer was to give a talk Friday night, but he had to skip 1t.
 The second game lasted through Fri- day night and all day Saturday. Now and then the champions fell asleep for five minutes, but they were aroused by the bricks of pins. At ' o'clock at night the second game was won by the Coburg man. This made game apiece, and the excitement went up to fever heat.
 There were two churches in each village, and the Sunday congregations counted up about five women apiece. Not all the sermons eyer preached could have induced the men to come away from the telephones. About 2 o'clock Sunday afternoon both checker players were allowed to sleep for twen- ty minutes and then given a rub down with hot vinegar and red pepper. They started out playing again feeling pret- ty lively. The four churches were closed Sunday night.
 All day Monday passed and that third game of checkers was not yet decided. The champions were allowed a little sleep and given another rub down, and they got through the night fairly well. At noon Tuesday old Ephraim Watkins, eighty-fYe years, who was the greatest weather prophet for fifty miles around, sat on the post office steps at Chatham and said to the dozen men about him:
 Boys, we are going to have a change of weather within a few hours. I'll bet my old hat agin chip that we'll have the rippinest old thunder storm any of you have seen in ten years"
 "Wen, let Ger come" replied one of the men. Tt won't make any differ ence to the checker players over at COburg."
 Don't you be too sure about that" piped the old man. T don't say that a friendly game of checkers is wicked, but do say that keepin' up game of checkers until it interferes with prayer meetin's and sermons is kinder defyiD' the Lord"
 In about two hours black cloud arose in the west, and all could see that a thunderstorm was coming, The lat est news from Coburg was that the third game was about an even thing so far and would probably not be decided before the next morning. Old Ephraim had come back just as the announce ment was made, and on hearing 1t he exclaimed: -.. ... ....
 "That 'ere game of checkers will be decided within an hour, no matter what the telephone says"
 He would not say more, though hard pressed to do so, and half an hour later the first flash of lightning and the first roll of thunder came to an- nounce a hard storm. It was a hard one both in Chatham and in Coburg.
 The hall where the game was being played held a big crowd, and the light ming picked 1t out first. It struck on the roof, and most of the boards and shingles were ripped of, and the bolt knocked down every man who was on