The interior journal. [volume] (Stanford, Ky.) 1872-1881, 1877-01-05

0
Brooklyn Theatre, IL not positively
haunted. was ill-iated. and that the
vicissitudes which have attended its
management from the day that Mrs.
Conway took il in charge until the i'll
fated night when il was burned to the
ground, mark it rs spot Of bad omen,
and will, doubtless, have a more or
less effect upon the future. The name
Of Mr.. aud Mrs. +. b. Conway are
familiar to all old theatregoers. Bright
stars were they in early life, and some
fifteen years ago they opened the Park
Theatre in Brooklyn, where they had
career which was peculiarly brilliant
and successful. They gave series Of
legitimate entertainments so well as to
induce thousands BrooklynItes to pat
ronize home amusement instead of
csmiug-as the majority of them now
do to New York; aud it is said they
saved something like s,00,000.
The site on which the Brooklyn
Theatre was erected, was formerly
occupied by an Episcopnl Church and
burying. ground. When the church
WAS torn down the great msj"rity Of
the bodies buried there were removed
br, there were many others--the re-
mains Of people long since dead, whose
friends were poor, or had moved away,
or died theniselves-which were left in
the ground aud, unless we are mi.in-
formed, there were several vaults more
or less filled with bodies which were
allowed To remain. In damp weather
il is said that the exhalations from
these made the actors dressing.roooms
almost unbearable When the site
was selected for the New Brooklyn
Theatre, Mrs. Conway, although n
woman OF sound, practical sense, gave
way to anatural superstition, oppressed
great aversion to the selection, and
made nc secret Of her belief that dis
sster would result from it. However,
the building was put mp, and the Con-
ways took possession of it. From that
moment ill.luck followed them. They
sank all the money they had made in
the old house Ia the new. There was
some little public feeling, popular
prejudice, against the theatre being
e.ected on the site of an old time hon
ored church. Then il was circulated
about that the place was haunted. 1t
was stated that when closed at night,
with every door aud window shut to
preclude the possibility of a draft, it
was filled with strong breezes and
lightning.likc winds, which made the
fiies aud scenery on the stage flap ami
creak ms if a gale were blowing And
people passing On the street have said
that noises could be heard within and
some peculiarly bright-eyed people
insisted that they had seen weird forms
floating in and out of the doorway.
There is one thing, however, very GER
tain-Mrs. Conway never went into
the theatre after the lights were out,
and, although she lived il the upper
part of the edifice. never felt at home.
Accident after accident occurred at
the theatre. Her husband fell on the
stage, struck with mortal illness, and
died two weeks afterward. Before he
died he owned up to his wife that it
would have been better is he had la
ken her advice. and that they had
never gone to the Brooklyn Theatre; !;
aud further expressed the belief that
if he had left the haunted place before
he might have lived To a good old age.
After Conway died John Z. Smi.h be-
came Mrs. Conway's manager, and.
although he is concededly one of the
ablest and most experienced managers
in the profession, things went on from
bad to worse until Mrs. COnway's
health gave way, aud she was con-
pelled TO star through the country in
order to make money enough to pay
the salaries of the people in her own
theatre. Little by little she went
down, and the business of the theatre
with her. Finally, just two years
after her husbands death. Mrs. Con.
way died in her private apartments
over the theatre. 1t is said that some
of the employees and few friends
were standing together in the room of
the janitor at the moment Mrs. Con-
way died, and raps were made upon
the wall aud sighs were heard in the
air. True or false, the janitor, who
reveres the memory Of Mrs. Conway,
insists upon it, and evidently believes
it. After the death Of the Conways,
Minnie and Lille attempted To run
the Brooklyn Theatre. They failed.
Shook a Palmer took possession OF
it; aud surely il any management
could have made success, their
would. They made no money there.
The Thorpes gave circulation To the
story that ghosts we're there. In hct
all who have ever had any intimate
connection with the theatre gave more
or less cre'lence to this phaslly story.
/. | l..,a 80, f.I.a The 1.dt.nntol a.