BRIDGE
A bridge too far?
Susanna Gross
I'M NOT sure what it says about married life, but husbands and wives famously make bad bridge partners — they almost always end up squabbling across the table. Indeed, bridge-playing couples should be warned about the case of Myrtle and John Bennett, who in September 1929 were playing at home in Kansas City with their friends Charlie and Mayne Hofman. Halfway through the evening, John went down in a contract of 44. An outraged Myrtle told him he was a 'bum player', John slapped her cheek; Myrtle stormed off, returned with a Browning automatic and shot him dead. Amazingly, when the case came to trial, the verdict was Accidental Death. One can only presume there were several married bridge players on the jury. This is the hand that cost John Bennett his life. Decide for your- self whether you think he deserved to die: Dealer South Neither Side Vulnerable
Myrtle
4 A 10 6 3
♦ 10 8 5 ♦ 4 +6 A 9 8 4 2 Charlie
4 Q 7 2 IP A J 3
♦ A Q 10 9 2 • J 6 N W E
S
Mayne
44
♦ Q 9 4 ♦ K J 7 6 3 + 0 7 5 3 John
4 K J 9 8 5
♦ K 7 6 2 ♦ 8 5 ▪ K 10
South West North East 14 2♦ 44 All pass West led the ♦A, and switched to the +J. John won with the +K, and played the 4K and 4A. Next, he cashed the +A and ran the +9. East covered with the +0, which John ruffed. West overruffed and exited with a diamond, John trumping in dummy. He then cashed the two winning clubs, dis- carding two hearts, and played a heart towards his rK. But the NPA was offside, so he lost two heart tricks and went one down. Of course, if John had begun by cashing the 4K and finessing the 410, he would have made his contract. But with both opponents following to the first trump, the odds slightly favoured a drop — so he can hardly be faulted. Perhaps it was Mayne Hofman who should have ended up in court: had she made the sensible sacrifice of 5♦ (which goes only 2 off, non-vul), John Bennett might have lived to play another rubber.
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