Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1877-01-17
luoILLE WEaTRRx.

can Stage. A"eri-
Now York Herald. January 18th
Lucille Western, the actress, died at
seven O'clock last evening ia the Pierre.
point House, Hicks street. Brooklvp.
from congestion Of the lungs. She opened
in the New Park Theater on Monday
night last, playing Nancy Sykes" Ia
her WI dramatization OF Oliver Twist.
AT the matinee performances on Wednes.
day she was so hoarse at its close "a TO
be barely able to speak. In converse
sation with Colonel William E. Sim, the
manager, she said that she caught cold
ut the Walnut Street Theater, Philadel-
phia, on the Friday night previous
through the root Of her dressing room
leaking and letting in the rain She
regarded the cold as a severe n
aud requested that Miss Annie Ward
Tiffany play her part on Wednesday
evening. Yesterday evening at 5 o'clock
abe called her agent, Mr.. A. C. Cam
bridge, and said: What time il il p
de told her and she answered: "It's
time to 90 to the theater. Has the bas-
ket boy come yet ?" He answered;
You are not in the bill tonight" when
she said: Who takes my part 2" He
answered, Miss Tiffany" and she re-
pliedi 20, yes; l remember now" She
gradually grew worse, and at I o'clock
called Mr.. Cambridge to the sofa on
which she was lying. She threw her
arms around his neck and said: "You
have been kind and true to me. Good.bye.
| rest at last" The next moment she
was dead. The news was ct once sent
to the theater, and Miss Tiffany played
Mise Westerns part last night.
Lucy, or Lucille, Western was born in
the city of New Orleans, La, on Janu.
ary s, 1913, and was, consequently.
lhirty.four years old Her father Geo
Western was one Of the best eccentric
Comedians and d~elineators of Yankee
character on the stage, and her mother
q clever and accomplished actress, so
that Lucille and her sister Helen were
bred 10 the i~ootligbts from infancy.
After the death Of Mr.. Western. jane
Western, her mother, married Mr.. VIM.
3 English then manager of the National
Iheater IN Boston, and there the girls
made their first success in a play STYLED
the Three Fast Men. For some wears
Lucille played nothing but soubrette
business L it was not until her en-.
gagement ct the Holiday Street Theater.
Baltimore, in 1861, that she made herself
q success as a dramatic actress. By
chance she was cast one night Tor "Cyn-
thia, the Gipsy." in B~uckstone's piav
the Flowers of the Forest, and from lhat
time Der true line Of business became
assured. Clifton w. Tayleure, the ORA.
matist, was then q reporter on The Balti.
mora Sun, and drsmatized Mrs Woods
nsvel of East Lynne for Miss Western.
Her impersonation Of "Lady Isabel"
and Madame Vine took the town By
storm, and she woke up famous. She
theu became a star and played in every
city of the Union.
The dramatization of Oliver Twist af.
torded her an opportunity of again dis,
playing her peculiar power, and ner
Nancy Sykes was generally regarded as
her best character. In reference 10 this
i may be interesting to recall the cele.
DRAFTED Wallaek cast Of the pl~ay--James
w. Wallaek, il, playing Fagin; Il. l..
Davenport, Bill Sykes, aud Miss Western.
Nancy. From 1861 to 1869 she Yves re.
garded By managers as one of the hest
paying cards in the country. She made
? great deal of money, but owing to her
lavish generosity died comparatively
poor. Colonel Sim states she played for
more charity benefits than any actress
on the stage, and hat in the event of a
case OF distress occurring in the profes.
sion she always headed the subscription
let. In early life she married Mr.. James
b. Meade, but was separated from him
some years ago. In social life she was
unreserved and genial, and her kindly
nature gained her hosts Of friends, both
on and of the stage. Every step appro-
pirate to the occasion has been taken bv
Colonel Sum and Mr.. Cambridge, Miss
Westerns agent. Her remains will be
taken this afternoon to the residence of
her mother, Mrs, Jane English, in Bos.
ton.
The career Of Lucille Western was one
OF the most remarkable on the stage.
She rose not merely from obscurity, but
from a style of acting from which 1t is
difficult to rise at all. The school in
which she was educated actually unified
her for the serious drama she atterward
interpreted, but she triumphed over all
difficulties. Her native force was checked.
but not repealed, by the adversely of cir
cumstances. Although her grammar
was often bad, her pronunciation faulty,
her mannerismS beyond cure, her ex-
traordinary passion atoned for her def.
Gent culture. The great characters Of
the stage-Lady Macbeth, Medes, Queen
kstherine-she could not reach, but in
those parts which are more emotional
than intellectual, she exoelled. The cry
OF a mother fer her children does not 70.
quire 10 be uttered in classical forms.
Miss Western as NINE. Vine" alwavs
had magnetic influence over an guidance.
and as Leah was equally effective.
Her Nancy Sykes" was strong, but too
coarse, and a similar example Of tragic
energy ~unsoftened By poetry, was her
performance Of the Child Stesler, In
which she initiated a drunken woman 90
closely that the effect, instead of being
artistic, was entirely repulsive. She was
literally a rough diamond" aud it she
bad been better trained III her early DAYS
Nigh have reached a much higher rank
in her profession.
The real stage is more dramatic than
the mimic. Lucille Western was not
cold in death before the curtain rose
upon the picture Of the wretched crea-
ture whose woes she had so often ex-
pressed. An in another theater an au-
dlence was moved to tenderness and
tears by the same cry Of Rachel weeping
ovsr her children. Actors and specta.
tors ignorant that the lips that first
uttered it were mute forever, and that the
feigned agonieS and the true sorrows of
the actress we're equally still in death.
The Hartford Courant saws the minis