Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1882-11-03
The Man-MOnkey Hero of the Latest
Sensational Drama.


DRAMATIC MONsTROsITY.
The Man-MOnkey Hero of the Latest
Sensational Drama.
The theatre whose primary object is the
amusement of the people, has by some
strange freak of fancy, says the London 7ele-
graph, entered into competition with the
horrors of the dissecting room of dead-house.
We have got far beyond railway collisions,
houses on fire and shipwrecks in these days
of savage realism. Laborers with the hod
are flung headlong from tottering scaffolds
the backing and bowling connected with
the most brutal form Of murder are represent
cd with revolving fidelity te gaping
crowd women of susceptible and nervous
temperamerts are asked to come and see for
themselves how they hocuss and "bash" peo-
pie at low riverside lodging houses artists
OF keen perception are required to copy Min
utely the mumblings and chickering's of be-
sotted drunkards in the first hideOus par.
oxysms of delirum tremens the hoardings
OF the London streets have become an illus
lrated catalogue of horrors that would startle
the morbid Imagination of an Edgar Allan
Pee. The last sensation is man.monkey,
who, let loose from travelling show, per-
sues young woman with frenzy of love-
saves her from the fate that should attend a
hcartless murderess, marries her and is
promptly deserted on his wedding morning.
goes mad with bafllcd passion and cuts the
young womans throat with carving
knife behind the sofa of London
drawing room This interesting indi-
vidual who rejoiccs in the name OF Zacky
Pastrana, the monkey-man, is the hero of
new sensational and emotional" drama call
ed For Ever, which, according to the tried
experience of Mr.. George Conquest and Mr..
Paul Merritt, is suited to the taste of q modern
transporting audience. II this be so, and
there appears to be no reason to doubt it, the
play must be accepted as Il strange sign of
the tunes.
Zacky Pastrana. whose mother, we arc
dcllcatey told in the text, twas frightened"
has encouraged his simian instincts by living
among and studying the habits of monkeys.
Husbands and wives grow like one another
by attraction. and according to the same law
Of force poor Zachhy has got far more like
his original than his reputed parents. In
look, in fact, in attitude and certainly IN
habit he is far more beast than man. He
chuckles and clatters, he gibbers aud scratch
es, he pulls things to pieces when they come
in his way, and being altogether so abnOr-
NAL and repulsive, he is confined in the ces-
tody of keeper of a caravan at fair. Here
the monkey man, unlucKily for his peace of
mind, sees and adores a pretty, but very
wicked girl, Ruth Rocklcy, who is her fathers
agent in poisoning and plundering a. harmless
baronet, in order to further the claims of a
wrongful heir TO the estates. The first dawn
of love between n man monkey and girl,
if realistically treated. can not be very edify-
ing at the best. 1t is savage in ITS suggest
ivenes when it is enacted by one who has
studied the monkey habits as faithfully as
Mr. Warner has studied the rawlings of
drunkard. Zacky Pastrana once in love
stops at nothing. He has the passions of a
brute and the mischief Of dwarf the in
genuity of Gnome King and the fervor of
a Quasimodo. In order to please the girl he
loves the man. monkey assumes the position
of lion tanner, and is almost torn to pieces
by the savage beasts. The girl nurses him,
and the creatures devotion becomes path
etc.
She has soon need of his aid, for she is
within an ace of being caught red-handed in
the act of poisoning the baronet, who has
previously been shot by her father, but
Zacky escapes with her in his arms down the
ivy of the ancestral mansion, and earns her
thanks, but not her gratitude. The man.
monkey, in the strangest trial ever conceived
in court of law, is indicted for wlful muir
der, and is found guilty of robbery, where
upon he is sentenced to lengthy period of
penal serVitude, having previously extracted
a promise from his fiendish Ruth that she
vii marry him when he comes out on ticket
of-leave. This sentence expires, and the
man-monkcy comes tG claim his promise of
| the hand of the murderess, but even she
shoulders ut 'thc most filthy bargain" Her
| father, however, insists that she shall marry
the monstrosity, for he has discovered that
Zacky Pastrana Is millionaire. So Ruth,
with shudder, consents, and the scene
changes to the Holborn restaurant, where the
man monkey, in a long blue coat and covered
with diamonds, awaits his bride on their way
to a honeymoon on the Continent Much
to the surprise OF the simple diners at the
restaurant, the man.monkey suddenly be-
comes mad, for he hears his Ruth has run
away from HIM on his wedding day, This
scene in London restaurant is one of the
strangest ever seen on the modern stage. The
audience laughed at 1t as a pantOmime when
they should have been thrilled by it as a
drama 1t was an anti-climax of terrible
significance, and here the new play began to
totter.
We next learn that the man-monkey has
been confined in lunatic asylum and has
escaped, and now get glimpse of the out
line of Edgar Allan Poe's story THE Muir.
derer IN the Rue Morgue." The audience is
prepared Tor anything, and would not be al
all surprised to see the balloon faced man en-.
ter with razor in order to cut the victims
throat, preparatory to thrusting her up the
chimney. He does appear, savage with
lust and hate, and then follows scene al
painful as the last was ludicrous. Following
The dramatic precedent ofthe scene Of attempt
ed outrage 10 Sardou's "Nos Intimes," wher
the chairs and tables are overturned and the
bell ropes are cut. the man. monkey chases
his victim from one side of the room to tn,
other, he gibberiDg and she shrieking. Love
changes to hate when the batied HUSBAND
detects his wife In the act of poisoning him
and then the mailman resolves to take tn,
; woman's life. The struggle is short. Tit
lamp is overturned, and the tragedy occur
in the moonlight, the actual murder beini
, yelled from tho eyes of the audience. Ii
Greek tragedies such crimes are committed
behind the scenes messenger comes in L
! tell US what has been done. Here the man
monkey carves at his wife's throat behind
: modern sofa. This is the great scene of TN
transporting play.
Seventy Years OF Married Life unde
One Roof.
Mr.. aud Mrs, Josiah Hurd of Sandgate
the Oldest married couple in Bennington
county, recently celebrated the roth anniver
sary of their wedding. Their house wa
nal FL t..r, n.,s