The Canton mail. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 18??-1882, 1876-02-19
STAGE ACCIDENTS.

STAGE ACCIDENTS.
In Interesting Chapter on Theatrical Mis-
h0ps.
In the excited and exciting lives of
actors, dancers, and singers, so constantly
before admiring audiences, the feelings,
nerves, and muscles are sufficiently on
the strain, without the addition of ex-
traneous agitations. Considering the
amount of sword play and other dam
gerous Situations" incidental to the
efficient acting and setting of plays, and
especially of tragedies, the accidents that
occur are wonderfully rare. Still there
have been unintended effects, I'M
rehearsed situations, which have brought
the tragedy of real life upon the stage,
under circumstances calculated to cast a
gloom alike over actors and spectators.
Instances are on record in which per-
formers enter with such iervor into the
story of the play, or the portraying of
an individual character, that their
hearts or brains become affected in a
way never intended. A performer of
the character of Lusignon. in Voltaire's
Zaire," allowed his feelings to run riot
in the scene where LusignOn blesses his
children; he became so forcible and i'm
petuous that he tainted on the stage and
died soon afterwards. Over-excitement
and exhaustion together, caused the
death of leading actor in the time of
William and Mary; he was taken i'll
during the fourth representation of the
long and fatiguing part of Cyareres, in
stage during the fifth. In the early
half of the last century, there was a per-
former Familiarity known as Pat Hulett;
he often overstrained his lungs, and
doing this once too often, broke blood
vessel, and died in consequence. The
same fate befell the French actor Brecourt,
while performing the role. of Timon.
In the time of Louis XIV, when Mad
emoiselle Champmesle was acting in
"Orestee ct Pylade. she was so exhausted
on the fourth representation of long
and fatiguing part, that she was taken
i'll on the stage, and died from the
malady which supervened.
Not Immediately connected with the
character represented at the time, but
thinking more of the audience than of
the drama, performers lave i'll some in
stances been affected in distressing
way.
To be killed with joy is not unknown
in the profession. Angeleri, a Milanesc
actor, was so excited by the applause he
met with on his first appearance at one
of the Italian theatres, that he fell down at
the side scenes and expired. To be
killed with mortified pride is also known
in the annals of the stage. At Caen,
about fourteen years lago, Madame
Faugeras was suddenly called upon to
enact a character, in Auber's Claimants
de Ia Couronne," which had been allotted
to another vocalist. She acquitted her
self well under somewhat difficult cir
cumstances, but slight hiss was heard
amid the applause; she suddenly fell
dowr in fainting-fit, and expired soon
after being conveyed to her own resi-
dcnce.
Many cases are on record in which
performers have been struck with para
lysis or apoplexy on the stage.
Moliere, when acting in his celebrated
comedy of the "Malade Imaginaire,"
was seized on its fourth representation
with a cOnvulsive attack; he tried to
conceal it with a laugh, and went on
with the part, but sunk into the grave
few days afterwards. In this case he
had been warned by his friends, and adj
vised to desist from acting for time;
but he did not like to interrupt the run
Of the new piece which was likely to
benefit the manager and the company.
The actor Montfieury had an attack of
apOplexy on the stage; so likewise had
Mondory, when playing Herode in the
drama of Marianne he resumed the
stage again, but before long broke down
altogether. During the time of George
l., an actor named Spiller was struck
with apoplexy on the stage of the
Lincoln's Inn Theatre. About twenty
years later, at the Norwich Theatre,
tashel the actor was similarly seized,
while performing the part of Frankly in
the Suspicious Husband" and died in
few hours. Near the close of the reign
of George H.. the celebrated Mrs. Wof-
fington, the kind-hearted d" Peg Voting
ton," was one evening enacting the part
of Rosalind in AS You Like 1t; :" when
she came to the epilogue, she was sud
denly rendered almost speechless by
paralysis, and never fully recovered.
Foote the comedian was man who
would have joked even under the gravest
circumstances. Although struck with
paralysis while acting in his own farce
of the Devil on Two Sticks" he con-
tinued his habit of punning and practi-
cal joking during the few remaining
months of his life.
Later years have not been without
their instances of sudden attacks of i'll
ness on the stage. Miss Linley, related
TO the Sheridans, was struck fatally at
Bath while singing az know that my
Redeemcr liveth," in HANDLES Mes
siah." When Baddeley was acting