Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-11-21
" MARY WARNER. /"
Batemans Of New York, Check
macs Aiken, of Chicago.

From the Chicago Times, Nov. Is.
Two weeks age new and beautiful
play was produced for the first time in
Chicago at Aiken's Museum. 1t was
touching story, exquisitely told, of wo-
manly tenderness ard fidelity and the
cruel nature of man, 'Mary Warner, "
the title of the melting, domestic drama
in question, proved very popular, and
the theatre was crowded nightly. The
play had been the theme of no ineonsid-
cradle amount of journalistic comment of
favorable nature in London and New
York, the only two cities where it had
been previously given, and its continued
success In Chicago was another and crown
ing proof of its intrinsic excellence. 1t
was presented every night of last week
and at the matinees, and was underlined
for the whole of the present week. The
surprise, then, of the h16itues of this
favOrite resort of amusement seekers may
be inferred at their beholding the an
nouncements that appeared IN the morn
ing papers on yesterday, to the effect that
"Foul Play" would be given for the next
two nights at the Museum. The dramatiZa-
ton of Charles Reade's romance referred
to is known to be regular standby of Mr..
Notwithstanding to fall back on in a
sudden emergeney-hence the curiosity TO
know what had become of the prosecuted
MARY Warner The explanation of
the mystery was found in the United
States District Court in the shape of bill
praying for an injunction to restrain Mr..
Aiken from producing, playing in, repre-
senting or aiding to represent" the play in
question. This petition was fled by
Messrs. Clarkson & Van Sehaak, we'll
kown attorneys of this city, in behalf of
Mr.. George Grove, of New York. The
document alleges that the play of ''Mary
Warner was written by Tom Taylor, of
London, and by him sold, in the manu-
script, to Kate Bateman Grove, the com
plainant's wife; that the sum of e400
sterling was paid for the same, and that
the exclusive privilege of playing it for a
period of five years was also included in
the purchase. The petitioners for the in
junction also state that no authorized COPY
OF the drama has ever been printed, and
aver that parts of the different characters
have always been given out in manuscript,
so that if any printed copy exists it has
been obtained surreptitiously and by fraud.
The complainant did not stop with his pc
tition for an injunction alone, but has
taken the necessary steps towards the
producing of full and complete damages.
As the play has been greeted with crowded
houses from the first night of its presenta-
ton, this is in reality the most important
part of the suit The Injunction was
granted yesterday afternoon by Judge
DrummOnd, and a summons, made re-
turnable on the first Monday in December.
was placed in the hands of the United
States Marshal to be served by him.
This of course is an effectual check
upon any further performance of the pla
at the Museum, but Manager Aiken had
doubtless foreseen that the Injunction
would be granted, and had fallen back
upon ''FOul Play He made no en-
deavor to prevent the order in question
being issued by the Judge, knowing pro-
badly the faulty of so doing, but he is
probably saving his ammunition for the
sharper legal battle 10 come. Tom TAYLOR,
the author of 'Mary Warner" being an
dAlOAir d4u 4 uOA-ItsluGul Ol AIHeIlCh, mas,
of course, no claim to protection from our
government in this matter. The absence
of an international copyright law allows
mutual preying upon the productions of
each country by all who may he disposed,
and, of course, no action could be sus-
tanned if this was the point at issue. What
the complainant and his counsel really
bring suit against is an alleged violation of
the common proprietary law" of this
country. The play was purchased in
manuscript for Miss Bateman; first pro-
duced by her at the Hsymarket Theater in
London last spring, and sfterwsrd at
Booths Theater in New York in October,
and has never been played by any other
person until it was brought out here 1t
Is understood that Mr. Aiken claims TO
have printed copy of the drama, but Mr.
Grove states that if there is such a COPY
extant it must have been obtained illegally.