The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1877-09-10
NEW ORLEANS MONDAY, SEPTEMBER TO- 1877.

When such men as Byron, Hszlett, Brougham
Moore, Sheridan. McCauley, gsffreys and Sidney
Smith courted him In their society he must have
been great.
Booth had the same style, the same figure, the
same natural msnner They were both magnetic
In their acting, they we're rivals, and were
| p1rrED AGAINST EACH srHER
by the managers. They were once unfortunately
: put In the same oast-one played tsttetos aud the
other Ingo. Kean happened to be sober, while
the night. Just about that time Price. the
American manager OF the Drury Lane and
Park Theatre Of New York, offered Booth
an engasemsnt % in America which o.v;ns was
bis first wife, and bringing with him
q girl who sold flowers in Covent Garden. BY
her he had five children: l.. yunius Booth, q
daughter, Edwin Booth, John Wilkes Booth, and
Booths Theatre. The sister married q come
dian named John Sleeper, who goes by the name
of J. y. Clark. CLARK came back to this country
few years ago. Everything wss done for him by
| Ed Booth, but he did not prove much OF q sue
| cess and returned to England, and now manages
theatre in London. As to DR.. Booth, of Charles.
| ton, never heard from him. lived in Baltimore
for nearly ten years, just around the corner from
| the old mans, and used to sit and talk and par
tioularly listen to him. He WAS true Democrat,
Der that he used to say, II was born in England,
but I'm for all that an American.
JESUS CHRIST WAS BORN
III astable; that is not saying that he was
horse" The old man Booth was a scholar. He
read Greek, Latin and Hebrew, and was per-
feotly canyersant with the Koran, the Tamud
and the Bible.
You will remember how he appeared at the
Orleans Theatre, on Orleans street, then under
the management Of Davis. He played in French
some OF the plays Of Moliere and Racine, and his
success with the native and French population
was immense
Booths broken nose WAS due to q mad wag,
fellow actor named Tom Flynn, while they were
in Charleston, s. O. It happened during drunk
on spree, when quarrel arose and Flynn struck
Booth with hand iron on the nose. Both were
craSy drunk. Booth, although he carried the
mark to his grave, never bore Flynn any malice,
for. ss he told me, Flynn was one OF the best OF
good fellows.
Booth was fine comedian as well as trags-
dian, and frequently
PLAYED THE COUNTRY CLOWN,
in the farce Of 'rhe Review"-Join Lump. and
sang the popular song Of the day, The Podehers.
He also played Is,vy Sneak, hen. n.pecked hus-
band, in the farce OF the 'Mayor Of Garrett"
u was very funny. He made him eross-eyed
fellow who allowed his wife to beat him with her
parasol. He was q kind hearted man, q good pro-
wider for his family, and lived upon his farm near
Baltimore, and would sell his potatoes and tur-
nips In the market or from his cart during the
day. aud then play "Richard" at night. One
night remember seeing him come on the stage
In the first act to speak the lines snow
10 the winter OF our discomfort" with lighted
Cigar in his mouth. You may picture to yourself
the effect. first saw Booth play ut the Waiaut
to I, :. Hambins Jqtier in Otway's great play
of "venice Preserved Old Jefferson, the
grandfather OF Jee, was In the cast as Ren,t. IT,
was q great performance throughout. Shake
have seen him frequently as Rtc.ard III, Iago,
John Lump Jerry Sneak, Sir Giles ODetreach,
Romeo. The Stranger, lShyoch, Macbeth snd
Pae,T1, and IN neither have I ever seen him
oil graceful in his gestures, and generally very
slovenly in appearance, but when you looked into
his intellectual face, you forgot all the rest. His
acting was
ENTIRELY WITHOUT TRICK.
He was all actor, and required the aid OF no
his acting tell. As to his being always drunk, it
is untrue. have seen him playa sober engage
mens for three weeks. He was only periodical
drinker. The last time l met him, 1t WAS in
Charleston, 8. O., 10 the winter Of 1852 Edwin
1--WE called him Ted then) was with 1him, taking
care OF the old man. We met at The Pavilion
Hotel An Indian woman happened to come to
the door carrying on her back load Of
light pine wood for sale. I remarked, "Lo, the
poor indian" Booth took up the lines and read
them as l had never heard them read before, and
am certain have never heard since.
Booth made very good, or very bad, attempt
at murder once. 1t ID q true story. When q
young man he was playing at Brighton, England.
position theatre. The acrobat had the best of
the public, which disgusted Booth 80 much that
he went over to the theatre where Signor An
tonic Diavolo (that was the rope dancers name,)
was performing. or course he got drunk before
going there. He hissed the performer and was
turned out OF the theatre. Afterwards meeting
Diavolo on the street he called him amountebank,
ETC.; they had fight and Booth got badly licked
subsequently they met again and made 1t up and
had supper together. After parting An-
tonic was shot while on his way home but
survived his wound. Booth left England, and
they did not meet again until many years after
IN Ph1ladelphla. Antonio died subsequently in
st. Louis Philip and Alphonse, his sons, keep
saloon under the Olive street Hotel in st. Louis.
They told me the story and still have in their
possession the bullet with which
THEIR FATHER WAS SHOT.
Edwin Booth travelled with his father all over the
country playing small parts with him. In Cali
fornia, prompter, ben Baker, took Edwin in
and then in San Francisco, where he made great
deal Of fame and money.
Old Booth left for the East, played his last part
In New Orleans, and started for home on the
Chenoweth, and died on board near Louisville,
Ky. His remains we're taken to Baltimore
lied" went to the Sandwich Islands and came
back to the States, acquiring more fame and more
money, still under the management OF Ben
Baker. VIM. Burton was the first to bring L Twin
Booth before the New York public. He proved
success. Fortune smiled upon him and he put
s250,000 in his theatre on Fourteenth
street. Here he failed to make
money aud became bankrupt. Ted,
however, can console himself with the knowl-
edge that Charles W. Macready, Charles Kean
and Charles Kemble made the same mistake
trying to educate the public up to proper
APPRECIATION OF THE LEGITIMATE
Jarrett. Palmer and WhAatleY mada Sl2n lQl with