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Show H, WOULD HONOR VON MULLER K A special from London to the New York Tele- Hi graph says: K Commander von Muller, of the Emden, would H'i be given the biggest ovation he over got in his H life if ho wore to come to London at the pres- B ent timo, despite the fact that ho is an alien enemy B and has been playing ninepins with British ship- B ping. He has proved himself a gallant foe, treat- B ing his victims with all courtesy and Inflicting B upon them the minimum amount of suffering H which circumstances would permit According to H all accounts he has played the game like (to use H a very hackneyed term) "an officer and a gen- B tleman." So hats off to him! H When the news reached London that tho Em- B den had been brought to her final account there H was, of course, great rejoicing; but considerable Bj concern was felt over tho absence of news regard D ing tho fate of liar commander. The newspapers B could scarcely have paid him more flattering H tributes had he been a British naval officer who H had scored a big sea victory There was at once H a popular demand that, in the event of the cap- H turo of Captain von Muller alive, the British gov- H ernment should accord all honors of war to him. H When tho news came through that he was alive H and well, there was positively a sigh of relief, H and general approval greeted tho admiralty's an- H nouncement that directions had been given that B he and his officers should not bo deprived of their H swords. H "By the way he- acted he might have been H an Englishman," a friend said to me when dls- H cussing the exploits of Captain von Muller. As B a matter of fact there is a very common belief B in tho British navy that von Muller is an Eng- H lishman, or at least of English extraction. Born B in this country he was brought up and educated K in Germany, the story goes, finally becoming na- H turalized in the land of his adoption. It is not H generally known that he spent a considerable K timo in London. Ho was a naval attache at the B German embassy ihero up to about eighteen B months no, and had a wide circle of acqualnt- B ances in both naval and military quarters. B Von Muller has an American wife. He was B married last July at Baden-Baden to Emily Skn B ihgton Taylor, daughter of Lieutenant Colonel D. B Mjorgan Taylor, of the United States navy, and a B niece of tho late Rear Admiral Harry Taylor, H U.i S. N. B War is no respector of persons. What a. man B happens to be in peace time matters little when B shots and shells are flying about. Friends and B foes alike, however, will share the hope that B Providence will protect the person of Kubelik, &B who is now fighting for his natl c Bohemia. The WM -world could ill ifford the loss of such a brilliant B artist. B Wilbelm Backhaus, the pianist, is also serving B his country. When war broke out he was at B Bayreuth. His whereabouts at the present time M are unknown, but there is little d ubt that he is serving with the Landstrum. Wt Apropos of the genius of Backhaus, the fol- Hff lowing story is told: He was booked one even- H 1 Ing to play at a concert in the north of England. L The train was late, and Backhaus arrived to find KB tho orchestra anxiously awaiting him. Upon be- B ginning operations Backhauso found a semi-tone B difference between tho pitch of the piano and B that of tho orchestra. There was no time for B retuning, so without hesitation he transposed the B whole of Grieg's Piano Concerto, and the thing H went off without a hitch of any sort. |