Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1882-01-25
EDWIN no yTn'S FATHER.
The Vagaries of the Great Actors
Mind, His Tender Heart aud
Wonderful Memory.
Providence journal. January S. ]

Providence Journal. Jsnuary5.l
1t is more than fifty years since
first saw Edwin Booths father" sal,
Mr.. Il. II. Hazard last night to a re
porter. 1.-THE visit of the son to tn
city at this time calls up a number 0
pleasant "reminiscences. Ienjoyed tn
friendship OF Junius Brutus Booth
and in the many conversations that
had with him he related some of tn
adventures of his earlier life. Educa
ted for the bar in England, he joined
company Of strolling players and rap
idly rose to distinction in the provin
cial cities OF that country. He wen
to London and played in the Conven
Garden Theater in opposition to thu
elder Kean, who was then at Drury
Lane. He assumed the same charac
ters that we're being taken by Kean
and the rival actors shared public
honors. Forrest has told me thai
Kean, when in a petulant and jealous
mood, once said to some brother &C.
tors who were talking of Booth, III
be id if | DOM shelve him.. Kean
and his friends one night induced
Booth to 60 over to Drury Lane
to see them. They then
piled him too generously with wine,
and when under its influence be
signed an agreement to play at the
'Drury Lane Theater second to Kean.
A wonderfully sharp controversy fol-
lowed in the London papers on the
merits Of the two actors. After that
Booth was forced to go to the cont
nent, where he remained several years.
1t was in Germany that he formed an
acquaintance with and married Mrs.
Booth. In the course of time, after
reaping great success in Europe, he
crossed the Atlantic, playing his first
engagement in Richmond, Va.
II went with George Rivers to Bos-
ton to witness Booths performance.
He was then under the surveillance
of his eldest son. While there he
got away from his son one bitter cold
night and started off on foot and
walked the whole way to Providence
forty-two miles, without stopping,
bringing up in South Water street, at
sailors clearinghouse kept by man
named Maurice Deming. He had
played Lear the night before. have
always thought that he seemed to be
completely carried away by this char
acter, and in a certain degree his
reason was dethroned by Shakespeare
conception. l have often wondered
concerning the weird thoughts that
must have passed through his mind
on that wild, wintry night, as he
wendell his solitary way over The
turnpike from Boston to Providence
Some twelve or more years agC
there was published by the Rev
james Freeman Clarke an article il
the Atlantic Monthly, giving an &C.
couni of a very interesting scene
which took place at st. Louis between
Mr.. Clarke and the elder Booth. The
latter sent for Mr.. Clarke tC
visit him at his hotel. On hii
arrival at the hotel he wa
asked by Booth if he was not a mono
theist. He replied in the affirmative
and the actor then said that he wanted
funeral ceremony performed over
quantity Of dead pigeons ne had there
Booth added that be felt it his duty t,
give the birds a public funeral, see
ing the misery that they had been pu
to by the men who killed them. Mr.
Clarke saw what was the matter mitl
Booth, and explained to him in as gen
tie and kind a manner as possible tina
he could not comply with his request
Booth heard what his visitor had h
say without any expression of dissp
prOval. A long, pleasant interview
ensued, after which Mr.. Clarke lef
the hotel. Nothing more was hear,
of the pigeons receiving a publ
burial.
William S. Simmons, very pifte,
scholar, professor of bellies lettres a
Cambridge, once calledon Booth Will
he was in New Orleans. He was ush
cred into a very small room, where tn
actor sat at deal table with an ope
copy of the Bible before him. He re
ceived his visitor very graciou ". an
gave him an inimitable reading of tn
Lords Prayer | remember, also
going once to Aliens Tavern, on View
bosset street, with George Rivers. an
there finding Booth very much q
Simmons found him in New Orleanl
We asked him to read Shakespeare fc
US, but it was of no use; he would no
He said that was his trade. We q
Pope, Byron and several other work
and Booth read TO us Tor hours. a
times, when reading, his face would h
as pale as DEATH he always read ,
though he entered into the subtle
thoughts of the writer. No subie,
could be touched in which he wou'
not be interested, and on which
would not have something to say. II
memory was vice frem which not
ing could escape"
Colds Weld To onions ike mag;