THE GAME OF LIFE.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLVIII, Issue 8242, 14 June 1905, Page 4

THE GAME OF LIFE.

Joseph Halpern, a cigarette maker, 30 years of age, entered a restaurant in Whilechapel road, London, on April 19, and called for a cup of tea, which was supplied. He was been to drop the contents of a whiio paper into the cup, and after drinking exclaimed to the waiter: j "Don't use it ; tliere is poison in it. Take , 1110 to the hospital." A constable who wa;. called gave Halpern an emetic, and took t him to the London Hospital. He died on ( the way there. At the inquest the following letter, writ- ( ben in German, and addressed to a Jewish journal, was read : "As I have travelled through three parts of the world. I have had all kinds of ! friends— "good, bad and indifferent.' I have stood it through all, but everything is a dream — in fact, the whole world is a dream. Many of my friends will have sympathy with me, and those that know me will say that 1 could have been the luckiest man on earth, why has he taken his life? My enemies will say, 'Why | hasn't he done it long ago?' | "Life is a game — some play it well — I have tried to play the game. Whoever thinks ho has got. trumps thinks he is the best player, for me it is the best to end Jit all. in all my writing I have not men1 tioned my nnmc. 1 declare, to all my | friends in lioumania, Turkey, Egypt, East ' and South Africa, Austria, Germany, Franco and England, the places 1 have spent 20 years of my life. "For 15 years I did not know what cards wore; then I became acquainted with cards, and I have lost in a short period : My thoughts, my money, my character, the the trust of people, and Heaven only knows what else I should have lost if I had not rescued myself. Tho luckiest man on earth is he that does not know the name of 'faro' ov 'stuss.' "This voice calls to you, a young ventiirin 1 , Joseph Ualpem, boviv in Roumania, brought up in Cairo, and a cigarette- maker by trade. My friends and acquaintances, 1 am warning you all. Keep away from tho cards, and your head will Iks clear for work and business, iind you also remain with your money and your health, and not have Ilm same end as I have. — I remain, yours faithfully, Joseph Halpern." The Coroner : There are numerous other papers and letters — ono about explosives — an invitation to a wedding, and I have also been informed that he was wanted by tho police in connection with a robbery. The jury, after hearing evidence of iden- ! titication ami medical testimony, returned a verdict of "Suicide whilst of unsound mind."