Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1876-09-22
Death ssaR GEae Stage.

Now that the stimulation of death on the
stage is a matter OF everyday converse
ton, it may not be out Of piece to glance
at a few Of the many cases where death, or
at least it's sudden approach, has occurred
on the stage, often from excess of feeling,
or the excitement in the real Zation Of
character.
Peg Wellington, acting Rosalind, MAY
s, 1885, became paralyzed ON uttering the
words: sgd kiss as many Of you as had
boards that pleased me-"
More famous was the case of John Pal
mer, the actor. He had a wife and eight
children, to whom he was much attached;
but within q short period OF time Mrs.
Palmer and favorite son both died, and
the shock greatly affected the unfortunate
widower7s nervous system. On August 2,
1888. he was playing the principal role IN
Benjamin Thompson's translation Of
Kotzbue's play, 1.-THE Stranger" at Liver
pool, and in the fourth act he had an
swered, II love her still" to the query of
Baron Steinfort (Whitefeld) respecting his
wife; and then, to the question as to his
children, he gave the reply, 81 left them at
a town hard by" but the words, faltering-
ly uttered, had scarcely passed his lips
when he fell dead at Whitefeld's feet. We
read in Dorans Their Majesty's Servants,
that to support the theory Of some pious
persons the story was invented that Palmer
was stricken after uttering the quotation,
ssThere is another and a better world !"
Palmer, the original Joseph Surface, was
q great actor in his day. A tablet inscribed
with his last reputed words, has been
erected to his memory in the churchyard
of Walton, near Liverpool.
Another remarkable case OF the same
kind is that of Moliere. He was acting the
sick man IN The Malade Imag'naire, and
On the fourth night of the run he appeared
weak and i'll. When he came to the place
where he IS supposed to fall dead on the
stage, he acted the part so naturally that
even the audience became alarmed, He
was at once carried to his house in the
Rue Richelieu, and before his friends could
be summoned he expired in the arms of
two strange priests who were lodging on
the floor above and were hastily called in.
A striking case in point Was that OF
Moody, the actor. He was performing
Claudio in Measure for Measure. When
Isabella commanded him to prepare for ex
ecution, and he began to answer, ''Ah
but to die, and to 60 [ know not where !" he
tainted, and shortly afterwards died be-
fore he could be carried from the stage.
Samuel Foote was seized with paralysis
in 1777, while acting il his comedy, The
Devil Upon Two Sticks. He rallied, spent
the summer at Brighton, and was ordered
by his physician to France. But at Dover
he was seized with a shivering lit while at
breakfast. and breathed his last in the
course of the afternoon, October q, 1777s
Edmund Kean, too, may be said to have
died in arrnor. He appeared for the last
time as Othellc and, in the passage begin
ming 80, now, forever, farewell, the tran
ouil mind Farewell, content !" his artic-
ulation gradually died away, and he whis-
pered to his son, s'Speak to them, Charles,
I am dying"
A more recent instance may be mention.
| ed in the case of Harley, whose last words
! marked his identity with the old Shakspe-
rian drolls. Though not actually dying on
the stage, he was conveyed from the thea
ter in state of insensibility, after playing
Launcelot Gobbo, when he quoted Bot
toms words, II have an exposition of
sleep come over me-" and from that mo-
ment remained spcechless to the end.
Poor Clara Webster was fatally burned
on the stage of Drury Lane Theater during
the ballet while old play-goers may re-
member that Mrs. Glover was speeches.