, 1877-03-31
MATILDA HERON.

DEATH OF AN OLDEN-TTME]
TRAGEDY QUEEN.
MEMORIES OF A PIONEER ACTRESS.
In the city of New York on the 7th
day Of this OF piring month. departed the
soul of woman whose name has been
houssho.d word among lovers of the
drama for nearly thirty years. We
remember in 1854 when she was playing
at tho old American Theater on Sansome
street, San Francisco and we were
comparative newcomer in the country,
q friend asked us If We had ever seen
Matilda Heron in "Camille When we
replied in the negative our friend said
18th res half your life gone" In vain
We protested that We had seen Miss Jean
Davenport in the Same character With
F. B. Conway as Armand Duval. Our
friend looked down upon rs because we
had never seen Matilda Heron play the
erriug Parisienne and pitied our ienor-
ance. This was our first fall in hfe A
few nights later we went to see her in
this very character. supported bv such
actors as j. B Booth. Ch arley King J
W. Lonergan. D q. Anderson and the
old ''thoroughbreds' Of the California
style of twenty five years ago. A dark
and anxious face was that of the i'll.
then but
HER CREATION OF CAMILLE
Was an isolated portraiture. drawn
from no model before it and leaving no
copy behind. Julia Dean Hayne. two
years later. arrived in San Francisco
and gave us another original Camille.
a gay innocent creature who did not
seem to realize till the Shadow of Death
overepread her features that she had
"fallen. never to rise again" But these
three women. Jean Davenport Lander.
Julia Dean Hayne and Matilda Heron
were the only three exponents Of any
thing original in this character of
| ruined girl who wrecks her own nappi-
ness to save her lover from disgracing
his family by marrying a wanton. Their
renditiOns were clear hewn ard as dis
tinctly modelled as the bas reliefs of
Thorwsldsen. All other. were but imi-
tators of these three women of whom
but,one survives. We al'ude to the Chris
tian lady, the widow of the heroic Lam
der. who furnished Dickens the model
for his character of the phenomenon
1t was about this time ESQ ne say in
February Others in June, thatthe shad
ow fell upon this gifted woman's life-
path. She secretly married a young and
ambitious lawyer named
HENRY HERBERT BYRNE.
Then District Attorney of San Francis
co and afterwards famous as the pubic
prosecutor in the Fair Crittenden muir
der trial. The marriage was solemnized
with the utmost privacy and but few
OF his many friends knew of it. Shortly
afterwards an estrangement took place,
in manner nowise creditabie to Mr..
Byrne. He came to her one day. telling
her of a remarkable discovery be had
made. In reply to her question what 1t
was. he told her he had found ont that
she was the sister of a noted New York
procuress. known as Kate Ridgely wh"
kept house called the ''P Palace of Mir
rors." Pursued by the shadow of an
erring SISTERS shame poor Matilda He
ro~ went forth into the world again sin
gle-handed. A separation was agreed
and if divorce was granted the records
of the Courts do not show i. We knew
Harry Byrpe we'll and admired him for
his talents, but this estrangement was
very discreditable to him. 1t mattered
not what her sister vas. 80 long as her
own name was pure and free from STAIN
And in her professional career, a con-
slant struggle with poverty,
| The BREATH OF SLANDER
Had neve. tarnished the name of Mntil-
da Heron. Like Jean Davenport her
heart hitherto had no room for men. for
her love of her profession alone had
filed it to repletion: Byrne was her idol
and upon the little black>haired man
whose glance was like that of the noun.
tain eagle. she lavished the ripe love
that had SO long withstood the allure-
ments of matrimony. She went East and
produced her version of "CamilIe." dis
pleasing the oyster house critics but
delighting the people. Four years later
saw her possessed of an ample fortune
and the pride of St. Louis, and the
other Southern cities. Again a suitor
knelt to her, a German musician and
composer. Robert Stoepel by name
and . brother of Frank Stoepel of the
Alleghani ms who married Kate I.ovar-
ny. By this union she had one daugh-
ter. now nearly eighteen years old and
attached to one OF the New York thea
ters. She subsequently ascertained that
her husband was squandering her hard
earned money upon worthless woman
and obtained divorce from him.
her SECOND VISIT
To California was in 1865 while we were