The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1882-07-11
ROMEO AND JULIET IN THE
FAR WEST
BY c. c. CLAwSON.

renee, and the troupes that had the
nerve to venture into the distant min.
ing regions was generally we'll paid
for the long journey and risks taken
to get there. If an actor could "run
with the boys" all night after the the
atre was out, sing songs, and drink
with them every time they asked him
to, he was sure to carry away with
him many a golden souvenir in the
shape Of rare specimens just as they
came from the diggings; while the
actress. if she touched a tender chord
in the heart of the digger and deliver
in the ground, was certain to have
her pockets filled with the prettiest
nuggets that could be raked from the
sluice-bOxes.
Twill never forget the first time l
saw Romeo and Juliet" Cor "Julio"
as the miners put IT'D played in the
mines). was out of luck in the dig
gings, and had drifted into a news
paper Office, and was then on The
New Northwest, at Deer Lodge Mon
tana. setting type, looking up mining
news, and running to stampedes when
the spirit so moved me. There came
one day from the railroad, five hun
dred miles away, a solitary freight
team, part of the burden of which
were two broken-down show people
a man and a woman, or, rather a
woman and something resembling a
man. The freighter brought them up
more through sympathy than for
compensation, for when they landed
in the suburbs of the town they had
but lone half dollar between them to
commence business with. The man
looked anything but a Snowman
little, pinched up fellow he was with
face that would drive, rather than
attract an audience. His stock in
trade consisted of a huge roll of
flaming handbills, bearing the Califor-
MIA imprint, and some kind of a little
jacK-o-lantern arrangement that
wouldn't work to the satisfaction of an
audience. The only redeeming feat
ure about the man was his name,
which was Church, little church
that looked as if it had been around
the corner of adversely until it was
about wrecked. But the rascal had
been fortunate in striking a partner
(the ways of an actress are past find.
ing out, sometimes.) broke like him.
self, it is true, but possessing a fair
wardrobe and any amount of conf
dence in her abilities as player. This
lady of the stage. as she appeared when
the kind-hearted freighter sat her
down in the suburbs Of our town.
was not calculated to strike the casual
observer as star of greatest magni
tude, Dirty and dusty, her unartis
tic garments faded and worn, un-
kempt hair floating i'm the evening
breeze. and her shoes too much worn
to afford her feet protection from the
prickly cactus. she was more an OBJ
jecs of pity than of curiosity. Misery
loves company. and these two fallen
artists had cast their broken fortunes
together to take their chances on
mending them with the golden "spel-
ter" of the north mines. There was
no similarity in the names of these
show people. Professor Church, and
Laura Agnes, sounded strangely when
they travelled as one firm, lived in
one wagon, and owned but one pair of
blankets; but stage people come and
go in their own peculiar way, and We
must take them as we find them. In
giving their true names take desper-
ate chances on meeting Laura Steven.
son Agnes somewhere on the stage of
life; but as to the professor, fear him
not.
Laura Agnes made good use of the
river that flowed by their camping
ground /; for in the morning, when she
strobe into the office in good attire,
her complexion brilliant as a rose and
her face full of smiles, didn't at first
recognize her as the woman who sat
on the ground by the freighter's wag-
on the evening before crunching slap.
jacks and slipping coffee from lineup.
But when she inquired for the editor
and began to tax theatre, / remem-
bered where had seen her, and what
the freighter had accidentally said of
his strange passengers when L called
at the camp the evening before to as
certain the nature of his load, the con-
dition of the roads, the time he was
coming up, the number of teams he
had passed on the road, and so on, and
so on, like any other newspaper fellow
who has to sometimes squeeze al item
out of little or nothing.
Well, Laura Agnes found the odi-
tor in his den, and bearded him. She
interviewed him as to the prospects of