The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1881-02-17
A Talk with Judge Tourgee,
HE AUTHOR OF "a FOOLS ERaAND" AS A DRAMA
TIST AND LECTURER
From the New York Herald

TIsT AND LECTURER
From the New York Herald
! The announcement made recently in the Herald
| that Judge Albion w. Tourgee the author of "A
| Fools Errand" and Bricks Without Straw, would
shortly appear as a lecturer and also drama
| list OF his own works was received with interest
| The career of this remarkable man has been made
| familiar to the public through his books, which
are understood to be largely biographical or at
| least founded upon the authors personal expert
| ence and observation As successful lawyer a
courageous, upright and earnest carpet baggerr
and an able and irreproachable judge he is already
| well known. The sale of his writings has exceed
| ed anything known to fictitious literature since
| the days OF Uncle Toms Cabin "a Fools Er
rand from its novelty and power became in two
| months the talk of the country from Maine TO
| Georgia, and in the brief space of one year had
reached circulation of 10000 copies His last
work, Bricks Without Straw" was ordered in ad
vance of publication to the extent of % 900 copies
so confident were the book sellers that the public
that had been thrilled with the adventures of cone
| OF the Fools would welcome anything from the
same pen. But the merits of the book itself.
amply recognized by the press of the country,
stimulated the demand to such extent that du
pcate sets of plates in the hands OF several print
| ers have not ceased to turn out the book to this
day. When it was learned that an earlier novel
Of Judge Tourgee, Figs and Thstles,' contained
many incidents taken from the military and polit-
| ical history of the Republican candidate for Pres
| dent. General Garfield, this too, was so largely
|
| year from this authors fertile pen to achieve a
high place in the list of successful books not less
| than 200 900 of the three having been sold in
| twelve months-a record that invests the authors
personality with considerable interest for the pub
lie That he not merely writer of books was
Indicated by his extensive labor upon the platform
in the last Presidential campaign, during which, by
ms stirring eloquence, keen humor, ready wit and
clear. torclble presentation of the doctrines of his
| party he contributed materially to the victory
scored on the ID of November
Learning that Judge 'rourgee about to turn
his attention to other fields of activity and address
| the public from the lecture platform upon The
! Ben Adhemite Era" and from the dramatic stage
! through the characters made familiar by his books
| a reporter of the Herald called upon him at his
hotel IN this city recently to learn the particulars
| of his new efforts Judge Tourgee is Of medium
| height thickset and powerfully built-evidently
| the kind Of carpet bagger" that would have had
| to be dealt with from behind an ambush or over
| powered by numbers. His frank and even bluff
manner of speech, indicates the soldier of the ac-
tive field, and is marked also by an alertneSs to
what Is said to him and quick decision in reply
| that shows the training of the bench. He is a
| good listener, but when called upon for informa
ton that involves description he responds with the
vivdness of the ready writer. The intelligence
and spirit of keen blue eye leave no uncertainty
as to the ntentness of their possessor his grasp
of the subject under discussion. His natural man
ner is mild and even acquiescent; but he allows
no one to put words into his mouth. Full of an
|
to catch point and sure to make apt or hu-
in3roaa reply be gives evidence in an hour's chat
Of the qualities that enabled him to overcome diff
| ticuties that would have defeated many other
| men.
DID NOT WANT TO LECTURE.
Il did not want to lecture at all" said Judge
| Tourgee, IN answer to question. Il don't fancy
| the show business but | do like to speak, and
! people kept writing urging me to lecture. and, as
| | cant stand everything succumbed and now |
DoyI, =,
and stand up TO whatever he bargains for"
How does the drama come on Z"
That is another bit of forced labor | have al
ways been hard worker-three law books and
four novels in addition to busy professional life
| show that-and thought of going to Europe after
| the campaign. But became so interested in some
| Of the problems now requiring solution that | was
homesck before | started Then. several mana
gers and hat-a dozen actors were after to
dramatZe A Fools Errand. and in an evil moment
agreed to try Yes it will be called A Fools
| Errand, and will follow in the main the action of
that story. As to where it will be produced
| have not decided 1 shall finish it first and get
| the opinion of a caterer for the stage in whom |
have confidence If don't like if. shall throw
1t into the re-and there's end of it
| And leave the field to those who are perform
ing play based on your book without authority :"
NO. sir | took pains to secure the right to
dramaze that book and do not propose to let
any one else do it without my consent No one
| shall have chance to infringe my rights through
default of mine. shall see to it personally that
| every one who persists IN producing such play is
taken in hand, down to the of the hall even,
who is liable equally with the managers and per
| formers
"lf your play goes into the fire that would not
be the first manuscript you would have burned,
| beeve!
No 1t takes good deal of burning to get gold
out OF my drOss 1t was the manuscript of my last
| book, Bricks Without Straw, that went up the
chimney. You see it was begun long before
dreamed of "A Fools Errand | outlined the story
| to my wife. after my custom, christened the char
| acters and localities and wrote several chapters.
| Bishop Gilbert Haven wrote notice of it at the
| time, which reads very funnily now beside the re-
views that speak of Bricks as an afterthought OF
the Fool So far as it went it was the same as
the book Just completed | was in Denver
when agreed to finish it, but being unable to tell
any one where to find the manuscript set to work
rewriting it, and did to the extent of several
hundred pages, which | finally burned up in dis
gust. | began again, and after finishing the book
| | found the old manuscript, and then discovered
that had reproduced chapter after chapter almost
without change"
at is supposed that the charactersi your books
| are mostly taken from life
"Well, suppose every novelist takes his charac-
| ters from men and women he has known so that
the models OF the characters can easily be distn-
! gulshed, although. very properly, not identified i'll
all the incidents of their careers. | am told that
| some OF the persons recognized through my books,
| now go by my fictitious names. instead OF their
| own patronymics One of the members of the
South Carolina Republican Convention insisted on
| beng recognized as Eyebrlght and another man
| urged his claim to federal appointment as the
| original of one of my characters, which he was
| not, although he became known at W Washington
as John Burleson The incident Of the attempt
to roast burning bridge, J Judge Settle of Flor
| ida, the original of Judge Denton, wastaken from
| the confessions of the members OF the ku klux
| klan There had been trouble about the bridge
and they thought they would get rid of the Judge
and the bridge together All the incidents in "A
| Fools Errand'-or The Fool call ii for
| short-are true Much OF the ku klux business
is almost verbatim from confessions taken before
| me. Eliab Hill, in Bricks Without Straw is
drawn from Elias HILL whom represented only as
younger and more fortunate than the reality. EX
Senator Scott, of Pennsylvania became interested
IN him. and kept trace of him until his death in
Liberia, to which place Senator Scott helped him
to escape from the pers that environed him in
this civilized Christian land 1t would be queer if
Africa to be Christianzed by the colored
refugees from here"
kU KLUN NOT KILLED
Your books have been criticised, Judge Tour
gee, as representing state of society at the South
that had ceased to exist"
They need not be. 1t is admitted that acts of
violence are less frequent than they were. | never
| laid much stress on hem The killing of a man is
of minor Importance as compared with the spirit
which led to it. 1t is that which have tried to
trace and which the country should consider Has
this spirit changed! lfthe Republican party should
come suddenly into power at the South would
there be peace then That is the test There is
no man at the South who does not in his heart be-
lieve that the days of the Ku Kiux were peaceful
compared with what would ensue upon such an
event"
sit is urged by some of your critics that you
wronged the Southern people by not describing
the evils of the Republican government in those
States and what the people suffered by it, which
is said to have been the cause Of the ku klux and
other outrages.
STEADY, my friend Whom do you mean by the
Southern people ?"
why, the people of the South, of course"
Yes. Well there are four classes OF those peo-
ple-native white Republicans. scalawags !
colored Republicans. or 'niggers,' Northern born
Republicans, carpet baggers, and the solid