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Show I VOLUNTEERS WHO STOPPEDOOL II GAME TO GO TO WAR PLAN fV v m MlO iI?mm n v I F -B fUIIII I X Mw88b85 1 ZZrsy RANK ALLEX, who owns a y .sSx" dairy farm five miles north of Manhattan. Kan., camo f J into town the other day. "p Allen took It easy. lie had J a few ciTands to run. and ho - 1 attended to those first in a K leisurely way. lie went - Into one of Manhattan's de partment stores and matched some silk poods. Then ne drifted down to the music department and bought some music Then Allen went down the street to a hardwnie store. His crranda -".ere done. So frank Allen bethought himself of a fitting nay to spend a few minutes of case. He wandered wan-dered to .East Poyntz avenue and entered the billiard room conducted by W. L5. Carlson. Allen found Elmer Holbeit In the billiard and pool hall. He sauntered over and watched Holbert tiy a hard one at three cushions and miss it, and then he explained to Holbert why he had missed it, and Holbert agreed with him. Pretty soon Geoige CrevJHton camo in. Thoro were some desultory questions about the dairy tm-jincas and how. the town wa3-gottlng on and I how each other's people were doing. I Finally Frank Allen asked Holbert about the annKersary celebration. "Gotten out the invitations yet, George?" he Inquired. George said he hadn't, but meant to. -Tnat's good," commented Allen. "Better have them out early. Somo of the boys are a long way off." Holbort agreed this was true. So, being sec- rotary of tho Pool Gaino Thirteen, ho busied ( himself that night and sent letters to tho sur viving members of the Pool Game Thirteen and 1 reminded them that the Thirteen have an anni versary celebration coming to them next August, Au-gust, Will tho thirteen all be there? Hardly. Somo of them are dead. Somo are loo far away to make the trip back to Manhattan. But enough of the original Thirteon aro expected to gather around a dining table in W. B. Carlson's billiard and pool parlors next August to fittingly commemorate com-memorate a real event in all of their lives. Tho boy3 -who gather there no longer boys now- Iwlll be thinking of the absent ones, of Eddio Van Antwerp, who was killed In Juarez, Mexico, Mex-ico, of Wilbur Samuels, who died by a native's hand in tho wilds of tho Island of Jolo In the Philippines; of Judy Williams, who disappeared In the Philippines while a member of Uncle Sam's army. The boys will eat and be merry as merry ns the memory of departed years and friends will allow and thoro will be speeches and sontrs and 6tory telling. And then, solemnly, when tho anniversary dinner has beon disposed of In the way all good dlnnors should bo disposed of, tho ! celebrating members o; the original Thirteen I will got thumsolvos to a pool table and call for balls and kelly pool peas. j A boy will bring them, and with much cere- mony Elmer Holbert will call tho meeting to order. He will shako out a pea for each man and the high man will break. And after tho ! mannor of all "breakers" in kelly pool games, he will boftly curse his luck because tho fourteen four-teen ball dldu't fall in on tho second shake, and on opponent, after tho manner of opponents, will announce that ho isn't fooled a bit. They'll finish the game and go home. Somo will roturn to the distant points whence thoy came for tho anniversary celebration. Others Will go on living tho quiet life of Manhattan. The quaint celebration is of quainter origin. There's a deal of romance back of it. Romance "j of tho kind that sends hot-blooded boys to war with a song- or a Jest on their lips; of tho kind that hurls boys, turned men, at the mouths of cannon, fiom which they return gloriously to Bwcothearts and friends in Manhattan and othor towns, or don't return. To the original thirteen their yearly celebration celebra-tion is a sort of rltuaL It brings back to them the stirring days of the Spanish-American war, when a dUHty and very excited boy ran by with a a copy of an extra. And some one stopped him and seized it from him and read, streaming across tho top of the page, that President Mc-f Mc-f Kluley wanted the men of the United States to j volunteer to fight for their country against Spuin. And then somo ono of tho thiiteeu said: B' "We'll do ltl" And tho cry was taken up, and I But why get ahead of tho story7 Tho Btory is worth the tolling. 9 ' Thirteen boys of 19 or 20 years old were play- 9 ' ing kelly pool in W. B. Carlson's parlors on East Poyntz street in Manhattan, Kan. j Tho thirteen wero playing for tho smokes. H ' The game had progressed to tho point where all 9- I but three of the players had been "killed." g Then a boy ran In with a copy of an extra edl- t tion of a newspaper. President McKlnley bad ls- gjf ( sued a call for volunteers. Ono hundred thou- E ' sand men wore needed at onco by their country'. En Homebody snatched the paper from tho boy and fFt read to tho others. a4 "Let's go all of us!" somo one said. R&.I "How about tho game?" another suggested. 3j "We'll finish that when we como back." K Carlson, who owned the parlors, stopped to '4ffl the front now. a- "You boys go ahead ana enlist," he said. "You leave your pool balls Just tho way they are now. For my part I'll seal the table and keep anyone from using It until you got back, or some of you get back. I don't want any profits from that table ta-ble while you boys are away fighting." That solved the pool question. "What shall we tell our parents?" some one queried. Remember, they were all boys, none of them over 21. "And our girls?'' another asked. Another baffler. "We'll have to call 'em up," some one said, decisively. de-cisively. "What's the use of delaying things?" One of the boys looked at his watch and found that it lacked only llfteen minutes of the de-pal de-pal turo of a train for Blue Rapids, whoro thoy would have to enlist. He told tho others. There wero cries of "llurryl" Why should youth delay when thero wore deodB of daring to be done? There was a hurried trooping to tho telephone and many, yet brief, wero the messages to parents, sweethearts. "Yes, I'm going to go to Cuba." "No, I won't got shot." "1 couldn't tell you sooner, for I didn't know about It any sooner." "1 promise I'll write to you as soon aa we got there." The more eager dragged the more sentimental from the telephone eventually, and there was a quick consulting of watches and a computing of the tlmo needed to get tho next train out of Manhattan for Blue RapldB. "We've got to mako a run for it," some ono shouted. And out of that Manhattan poolroom ran tho thirteen, dogs barking'aftor them along tho quiet Btreots, and older heads, who had forgotten for-gotten their youth and its lmpotuoueness, marveling mar-veling at tho madness that made a crowd of boys run like mad. Ahead of them as they ran thoy saw the railroad rail-road station, and far down tho lino thoy thought they could catch a faint puff of smoke on tho quiet air that told of tho coming of the train thoy wantod. They made tho station with the train still far up the tracks, and there wero gathered their well wishers, who had tlmo to como to see thom off. As the train for Blue Rapids pulled in and waited with seeming impationce, the thirteen bade good-by to mothers and fathers and "girls." Then: "All aboard!" The train for Blue RapldB pulled out with tho thirteen bound for war and gloryand death X r i &rfH ,, .. -fSm; -Ml i for oomo of them. At Blue Rapids tho thirteen enlisted In Company Com-pany M of the Twenty-second Kansas Volunteers. Volun-teers. Tho enlistment was not without Its difficulties. difficul-ties. Tho recruiting sergeant found that thrco of the men wero too short of staturo and two of the others had minor physical defects that might bar them from the sorvlce But the thirteen wero prepared for this. On the train over to Bluo Springs from Manhattan they had sworn that all of tho thirteon must bo onliBted together or nono of them would go. Furthermore thoy had agreed that all would servo In tho same company of tho same regiment. regi-ment. So, when tho recruiting sergeant lookod up gravely and Bald that ho wa sorry, but that Uncle Sam cpuld only uso eight of the thirteen to fight against tho Spaniards In Cuba, Georg Crawford told him of their oath to stiok together, to-gether, and suggested that it would be too bad to lose thirtoon patriotic soldiers. Tho recruiting sergeant had an Irlah twinkle in his eye and tho twinkle was working as ho hoard Crawford's words, and as ho bent again over the papers that contained tho measurements measure-ments of the thirteon volunteers. When ho looked up he was again serious. "On Bocond thought," ho said, "I think theso figures are a little harsh, I soo no reason why all of you shouldn't enlist." So the thlrtocn wero given their uniforms and their new rifles. Thoro thon followed a period of training at Kansas City. Tho thlrtocn found thomselves merged with hundreds of other volunteers. Some were very awkward and held back tho progress of the rest. A drill sergeant worked patlontly with all of theih. Thon one day ho found that thoy would do, and tho thirteen went forward with Company M to Chlckamaugo. They didn't stay long there. After a week around tho great camp thoy were sent to Tampa. Tam-pa. Great companies of volunteers wero mobilizing mobil-izing thoro. Tho confusion of war was beginning to be more apparent than before. Transports sailed at regular intervals for Cuba, and ao each ship steamed away men gathered at the piers to shout their good wlBhos and to hope that thoy too, would Boon be on the way to action. Finally some one said that he had heard it from some ono else, who had it on the best authority, au-thority, that Company M would sail with the next detachraont. Tho grapevine rumor was officially of-ficially verified tho next day. And several days later thoy sailed and looked back to the pier whore othor volunteers woro gathered ae they had gathorod, waving their good wlBhos. On tho boat with thom was Harvoy Payson Hcbb, a Manhattan boy. who had been in the pool hall when the thlrtocn decided to enllet. Hess had Joined tho First Cavalry at Fort Riley. Ri-ley. Hoen had knockod around Fort Rlloy a good part of his Ufo and didn't nood much training. At prcflent Hodb Is a St. LoulBan and 1b employed em-ployed aa a conductor on tho Bollofontalne line. Ho haB lived horo for tho last flvo years. He now rcsldea at G21 Koeln avonuo. Hobb waB modest and dlslncllnod to talk much about his own adventures and Uiobo of tho thirtoon thir-toon oxcopt to corroborate tho story of their do-clalon do-clalon In tho pool hall to onllflt. Hcdb had wrung ilillf M V J permission to enlist from his grandfather, who had, fought in the Mexican war, and who finally war. prevailed upon to allow his grandson to fight tho Spaniards for McKlnley. Hess was destined to see a good deal of the others In Cuba. They all got into action rather quickly when rough bit of fighting, with somo close range work with cat bines The thirteen passed through safely, although two of Hess friends in tho First Cavaliy woro killed. After El Cancy and a brief period of rest the tioops ncre massed for San Juan H1IL Barbed wires and cunningly concealed pitfalls, with sharpened stakes pointing upward from tho bottom, bot-tom, and unexpected trenches wherein wero hidden rifles and machine guns, and sharpshooters sharp-shooters tucked away In the heavy foliage of the trees, made advance difficult. Those wero before tho days of scout aeroplanes aero-planes or dirigibles. The position of enemy troops was best discovered by stumbling against them and by sotting shot ut. This happened disconcertingly dis-concertingly to the members of Company M of the Twenty-socond Kansas Volunteers and to Hess and his companions of the First Cavalry and to tho Tenth Cavalry and the .Ninth and the other regiments engaged at San Juan. When it was over the poolplayers wero still among tho living, as was Hosb, but two more of his Intimates in the First were killed. The thirteon saw plenty of fighting In Cuba while tho fighting lasted, but managed to keep allvo, as, Indeed, they had promised their oweethearts they would do. And then came the luckless day for Admiral Cervera when he essayed es-sayed to get out of Santiago Harbor and had his ships sunk for his palnH, and "Fighting Bob" Evans gavo his famous command to his sailors: "Don't cheor, boys; tho poor devils aro dying!" It was easy for Uncle Sam's troops after that and for tho thlrtoen. And so, os all days will, came the day whon tholr dutios were ovor and they were mustered out Back they wont as thoy had como by way of Key Wost and through Chickamauga and to Kansas City. It waa high tlmo that thoy bethought themselves them-selves of Manhattan and tho girls they had left behind them. Homo and relatives and friends were noar. Thon there was the pool game they bad bo suddenly loft off. Had CarlBon forgot his promise prom-ise to koep tho balls as thoy wero and not to allow any one else to UBe the table? Did the people of Manhattan remomber the boys who bad dashed wildly down tho stroot to catch that train for Bluo napids7 Tho people of Manhattan did and with a vengeance Whon tho soldiers got into town thoy found a groat crowd at tho Btatlon. There woro the paronta and tho frlonds and the sweot-heartB. sweot-heartB. A brass band was blaring out the popular popu-lar war oongB of tho day, "Hot Time in tho Old Town Tonight" and "Dolly Gray." Tho mayor waB on hand with his carefully propared lm "For My Part, I'll Seal Up I This Table Until the War ft Ends," the Proprietor Said, i pi omptu speech of welcome Prominent cltl- fl'j zons beamed as they looked on, a I Willing bands seized them as they left tho 1J train and hoisted them to broad shoulders. The in band took the lead and the men who wero car- di rylng tho horocs fell in behind. After thom 4 camo the prominent citizens and tho mayor. Njl Straight to the pool hall headed tho brass M band and the rest of tho procession. Carlson fl hadn't forgot, cither. There he was in tho door- llil way, beaming a welcome. The procession found w lt3 way Into tho room and order was finally n brought about by some self-appointed torn- 41 porary chairman. Then the mayor made bis j impromptu speech. Ho tried to make it a lone jjfl one nnd sufficiently dignified, but the crowd ob- 1M Jectcd. Finally tho crowd prevailed. ffj By a mlraclo tho members of the procession ftf and the mayor and tho band woro qulotcd at the n jjamo tlmo, and CarlBon had bin chance. He re- f called tho day, mouths before, when tho thir- 311 teen had played pool In tho ball and the boy had jri run 111 WIUI luo uuniia:i iuui iuiu ui i mi- jfj dent McKlnloy'B call for volunteers. o Ho related how the thirteen had then and 3 there agreed to die for their country. If the need M be. He told how they bad stopped their pool jfn game midway so they could catch their train M und how ho (Carlson) had vowed to keep th H I balls under seal until their return. jj. The psychological moment had arrived. Carl- son walked to the mysteriously sealed table and W tho gathering fell back respectfully. Gravely, jjj j Carlson broke tho seals of wax and slowly re- W moved tho canvas cover. There were tho balls, Jj, dusty from long disuse 1 1 Whllo tho crowd waited Impatiently CarUon, j J j dusted off the bolls and tho table, taking car .j that the balls wero not disturbed. Thon he bada j tho soldiers got cues and finish the game ', Tho men had entered into the uplrlt of tho jj thing and ran to obey Carlson's order. Some ono !, recollected whoso shot it was. He shot. Tho crowd camo close around the table and watchedV I; I Gradually and slowly the balla were pocketed. j-J Handling a rlflo doesn't improve one's technique j j with tho cue I;! George Crawford, who later attained to tho j rank of lieutenant whon the election of lh$ j Twenty-second was hold in Topeka. waa th jj low man. 1 1 So. amid choors, Crawford went to the clg&C . stand and bought. The crowd wouldn't hear to jl , him buying for them, too. j j j Thon thoy all went to their homes. There they j ! ( mot the relatives and sweethearts who had j; waited for them. 1 jj' And 00 this summer Manhattan probably wllT !'; see the anniversary of tho historic pool gams ,, celebrated. Some of the original players ara I dead. Ed Van Antwerp was killed' In Juarez, J Mexico, mysteriously. Judy Williams and Wll- I I bur Samuels re-enlisted in the regular army and ijl' wore killed in the Philippines. Mff Threo of tho men now llvo in Manhattan fill Frank Allen, Elmer Holbert and George Crevla-- J If ton. Holbert owns a reBtnunint, Allen runs a jj dairy, and Crcvlston Is a paper luuiger. Georgo Mi; Crawford is somowhere in Colorado. Charles mj Palraor Is in Missouri. Frank Day is in Colo? jj rado, Arthur Merritt la a guard at tho Federal (ill Penitontlary In Leavenworth. jj The whoreabouts of threo Charles Van Pell, jtfj John Tricster and Frank Morris aro unknown Rj Hess Is a conductor on tho Bellefontalne line L j in St. Louis. i I Thus aro the men scattered. But if Manhat- j j tan knows anything about Jt, tho remnants of B 1 the original crowd will gather there this sum- 3 mor to commemorate the pool game that 'sent K them to tho war. ' o |