New Britain herald. [microfilm reel], January 23, 1915, Image 9

About New Britain herald. [microfilm reel] (New Britain, Conn.) 1890-1976

Image provided by: Connecticut State Library, Hartford, CT

                
"NEWT5KirAIN UA1LK "HJgKALU, AlUKUAl, JH1SUKK1 , ..itfur
3
II
THE BEAUTY AHD THE
KHiiitri ' o ' nnniiiAr
y wwillvrk -f KllmANfl.r
I UliUiULii n nurmnuL
Jecnan, "Ilie Benica Boy"
"He's only a bruiser."
The speaker was ayouth whose f aco
expressed, vacuity and vainglory, but
r whose ' slender body was clad in all
the sartorial embellishments that a
"smart" tailor of the '50s could de
vise. He was seated at a smalt table
in a flashy restaurant frequented by
the "sporty" and theatrical set. Across
from him sat one of the most ravish
ing:, flashing-, dashing- beauties that
masculine eyes ever gazed upon. Her
dark, glorious, expressive eyes were
-iKt&ed, in scarcely veiled admiration
upon a tall handsome, athletic man
wno had just entered the room, xno
newcomer was a veritable giant, for
he stood well over six feet, but he car
ried himself with an easy grace, and
Without a trace of awkwardness,
r; "A bruiser?" repeated the lady.
VA pugilist?"
!j The empty-faced youth nodded as
sentR It was plain that his little soul
was, filled with peevishness, for ho
was ma,I!y in love with the little
beauty who sat so near him, and yet
was as distant as a star. That an
other man, and that man a profes
sional fighter, could arouse her inter
est, was to him gall and wormwood.
'The lady snoke again.
f "A bruiser? That makes him all tho
I more interesting. Bring him to me."
. Reluctant sulkly and petulant, the
1 gilded youth obeyed. A moment lat
er jonn carmei neenan, oetter Known
Vto the "fancy" as "The Benicia Boy,"
was introduced to the lovely, charm
ing, talented actress, Adah Isaacs
Menken, the reigning beauty of Amer
ica, and soon to be the pet of two
continents, and the most celebrated
heart-breaker of modern times.
v HUhe bruiser and the beauty talked
only in commonplaces, but when they
I parted it was with the light of mu
tual admiration burning in their eyes,
and, with the whispered promise to
meet again soon.
It was hurried, impassioned, violent
wooing1, and before the New Year of
I860 liad been ushered in Adah Isaacs
Menken had become Mrs. John C.
Heenan,, the wife of the famous
American pugilist who had just chal
f lenged Tom Sayers, the champion of
I England, to do battle for the world's
'The bruiser who thus captivated
the heart of the women who had re
fused dozens of the richest young
bloods of America was described by
a college professor of that period as
"a tall," grave, urbane gentlemen, with
(I
VI
I
AS
Mew
reddish-brown hair and a dark mus
tache. He wore black broadcloth and
a tall hat, and diamonds sparkled
here and there."
Exit tlic 'Fickle Adah.
A dashing couple they must have
made but not for long. The bruiser
soon left for England to prepare for
his battle with Sayers. Incidentally,
the American was victorious, but was
robbed of the world's title which was
rightfully his. The gifted Adah was
as fickle as she was beautiful, and she
soon tired of her stalwart fighter hus
band.' "Within three years she secured
a divorce, and again returned to her
destined task of breaking masculine
hearts. The gallant "Benicia Boy."
defeated by Tom King in another bat
tle for the world's championship, de
prived of his charming wife was for a
time inconsolable. Time healed his
wounds, however, and he married an-v
other actress, Sara Stevens, in Eng
land. The whole career of Adah Isaacs
Menken was a mingling of folly and
tragedy. A woman or rare intellect as
well as remarkable beauty, she was
fickle and restless in love as in ev
erything. She went through her brief
life like a flaming meteor, unsatisfied,
heart-hungry, seeking always for i
change.
In her beautiful body mingled the
blood of a French mother and a Span
ish . Jew father. Dolores Adios
Fuertes was the name she bore in her
maiden days in her native city of New
Orleans. At seven she went on the
stage as a dancer, and at thirteen she
became a full-fleged actress.
From the first she was immensely
popular, and her masculine victims
doubtless numbered thousands. New
'irleans hailed her as the Queen of the
. outh, and Havana crowned her
"Queen of the Plaza."
She was a "merry widow," and
twenty-four years old, Avhen she met
and married John C. Heenan. Four
years before she had become the bride
of Alexander Isaacs Menken at Gal
veston Texas, and ever after she was
gen. known as Adah Isaacs Men
ken, . . ! er her first marriage she
quit the .stage and published a volume
or really creditable verse, "Memor
ies," under the pen name of "Indiir
ena." '
Her first dream of love was soon
rudely shattered, and in 1858' it ended
in the divorce courts, Adah returned
to the stage, and in the intervals of
her theatrical tours of the south stud
ied sculpture in Cincinnati.
Then came her romance with Heen
en. She went abroad with her hus
band, and, when they separated, she
remained in Europe. Playing In the
role of "Mazeppa," at Astley's thea
ter in London, she broke the hearts of
half the fast youths of the British me
tropolis. Men of title, and others in
ternationally celebrated as authors,
poets, and artists, were in her train of
admirers. In Paris she was the cen
ter around which flocked many fam
ous men. The elder Dumas was said
to have, been deeply attracted by her.
She carried on a correspondence with
A
MATTER
TUT
for
Qui records show
called -upon to feraisls gas
to . . occupants of most every
ID)
Charles Dickens, and her volume of
verse, "Infelicia," published in Eon
don in 1867, was dedicated to the
great novelist.
Adah Menken died in Paris in 185S
at the age of thirty-three, and oho
sleeps the long sleep, in a modest
grave in the French capital. Another
grave on the Troy-Albany road marks
the last resting place of John C. Heen
an, who was a native of Troy, N. Y.
He was "only a bruiser," but a gentle
man for all of that.
The romance of the bruiser and 'the
beauty was from the first doomed to
bring disappointment and disillusion,
for Heenan was a man of action, a
born fighter, and Adah Menken va
a dreamer and an idealist. In her
quest for the ideal she found only
emptiness. Shortly before her death
(he wrote these veraes:
Visions of beauty, of light, and of
love.
Born in the soul of a dream,
Eost like the phantom bird, under tho
clove,
When she flies over the stream.
Eeaves pallid, and sombre, and ruddy:
Dead fruits of the fugitive years;
Some stained as with wicn and made
bloody,
And some as with tears.
KIP B
A MILE I THE AIR
(Continued From Eighth Page.)
Juarez race course is a trip of about
ten minutes, the spectators crossing
the international bridge spanning the
Rio Grande, which separates the two
countries at this point. Once in Mex
ico the visitors will witness the novel
spectacle of a prize fight under gov
ernment sanction and control. Mex
ican troops will police the course and
the ring within. General VilJa having
agreed to assign some 2,000 soldiers
for this service on the day of the con
test. International Golf Match.
Contrary to early reports, there
appears to be a possibility that the
coming golf season will be featured
by at least one international tourna
ment. The entry of several of the
more prominent of the English pro
fessionals in the American open cham
pionship at Baltursol, June 15 to 18 is
almost certain in case the English
open, set for about the same period,
is declared off on account of the war.
The English golfing authorities have
not as yet made a definite announce
ment regarding their tournament, but
close observers of the trend of the
sport abroad are of the opinion that
the open golf championship will be
dropped for the season of 1915 as
has been done with the Henley re
gatta, the Oxford-Cambridge crew
CHAMP
01 1 1
Yow
race and other English sports classics.
With their principal home tourneys
abandoned these professionals would
would welcome the opportunity to
play in America for their sources of
revenue have been greatly curtailed
; since the beginning of hostilities.
There is another side to the
situation, however, which leaves
the question of ultimate entry in
doubt. While there are a number
of prominent professionals who are
not serving with the English regi- i
ments on the continent, a large ma- !
jority are connected with various
home defense organizations and are
loath to leave England thi?s spring
for fear their motives might bo mis- '
undcrtsood. If the Mar situation
clears sufficiently. Braid, Vanlon, ;
Taylor and others may yet he seen
competing in the American open in
June. I
TODAY IX PUGILISTIC ANNALS.
1 804 Henry Pearcc defeated .Too
Perks in twenty-four rounds near
Eomlon. By this bout Pearce, gen
erally known as "The Game Chicken,"
demonstrated his right to the cham
pionship of England. .Berks made a
game light, but in the end he had to
give in. ' 'Chicken," said the pros
trate giant, in his Shropshire dialect,
"tha's licked me. I reckon tha is
too good for me, laad. But 1 bear
no malice. Gie me thy hand." "Hen"
Pearce lie always insisted that lie
had been christened "Hen," and not
Henry, and wrote his name that way
was a Bristol lad and had his first
fighting experie7ice in that old hotbed
of pugilism. When Belcher retired
he called upon Pearce to uphold Bris
tol's honors, and the boy was equal
to the job. The London sports
dubbed him "Chicken," because of his
first name, but they soon lengthened
this to "Game Chicken." Peace died
at the age of thirty-two, and the ring
lost a gentleman as well as a tighter.
1902 Al Weinig stopped Dan Cree
don in the second round at Hot
Springs, Ark.
1903 Martin Duffy knocked out
Tom Wallace in the sixth round at
Milwaukee.
1903 Belfield Walcott and Patsy
Sweeney fought an eight-round draw
at Boston.
TO INVESTIGATE EXPLOSION.
Washington, Jan. 2 3. Under the
usual naval procedure, Rear Admiral
Howard, commander of the Pacific
fleet, will appoint a board of officers .
to investigate the explosion on board J
the cruiser San ' Diego, resulting in i
the death of five sailors and the !
wounding of eight others.
$670,000,000 WAR LOAN.
Vienna, via Amsterdam and Lon
don, Jan. 23, 10:05 a. in. The final
result of the subscriptions for the
Austrian war loan, it is officially an
nounced, amounted to $670,000,000.
Of this sum Austria contributed
$433,000,000 and Hungary $237,00o.
000.
0
Boildiinig
g Coitus
that sooner or later we are
Gutter son ILxpects to Break
'Broad Jumping 'Record
'' "Sy
vv
I -J' '
II i ,'fj j J
great
broad jumper, s preparing to break
the world's record this year. Tie is
building in
IK
FLAM EC0M0M1
for
ght
c
and declares he will
enty-fivc feet this year.
24 feet 11 3-4 Inches,
rennor.
The record is
held by P. O'C
training hard
Piped.
traeihiGiHi
and
fuel
this city
GEL.
Two Survivors r.
Claim Shifting
Ixss of
London, Jan. 22.)
two survivors of th
men of the Wilson It
i
pank off the Donpsra
Giants Causeway y
inclined to believe
the boat was pent to
submarine. They m
cargo wan probabl;d
the Iops of (he veaa
nWK of the remain
who when last nen
open boat.
Despatch en from
land, ptate that the 3
or Horda "ibb hen
of ten men off I-vJ
Because of the sir
ish steamer Durwar
two British merchant
about to leave the
have been detained!
thepe has 450 refug
for England.
VATICAN KTIIICI
) rvu tore Romai
of Belgian Ca
Home, Jan. 22,
Osfervatore Roma
organ, lis answering
Belgian Catholic paJ
It of conducting a
paign against conq
tyrized Belgium," s
maintained the stH
publishing impartial
municat'.ons from
Osservatore Roman
"If the Belgian p
suppression of pon
garding the announ
dinal Mcrcler, we
cause we knew, In
the news of that arrl
ONE MAN FATA
Four Others Hurt
Twenty
Hartford, Jan. 2
which were nevera!
tance of twenty-fix
house In procens of
Avere Injured, one
hurried to St. Fran
William Campbell
The other are Ed
seph Conet and ad
not yet known.