The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-12-27

Sara Alexander and Her Wonderful Dancing
Her Escape from Mormondon.

Her Escape from Mormcndon.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox, in Chicago Tribune.
Not many months ago | met in New York a
woman whose history may prove Of interest just
now, while the Mormon question is agitating the
public mind. This woman was Sara Alexander,
for years the leading actress and the first profes-
sional dancer ever allowed in Brigham Young's
magnificent theater.
The story of Miss Alexandcr's life reads like
one OF Mrs. Southworth's romances. From Lisle
Lester, the New York journalist and correspond
ent, l learned much of her history, besides being
allowed access to her interesting scrap-books.
Sara Alexander was born in Virginia. Her
motner-ieft a widow with two small daughters
through the eloquent persuasions of one of the
..travehng agents sent to the South to recruit
the church. My mother was of o morbidly re-
ligious turn of mind" Miss Alexander
said to me, and we were in strait
of my father. The Mormon preacher told a
pleasant story of the happiness in store for her,
here and hereafter, if she embraced his faith.
He said a good home and a kind hus-
band would be provided her in Salt Lake,
and her two daughters would be clothed and
educated. He mentioned polygamy only to
remark that it was not a part Of the creed,
and no one was obliged to possess q plurality of
wives. We went to Salt Lake City, and my
mother became the FIRST wife of a very kind
man. Our worldly condition was much i'm
proved, and we lived very happily for several
years. l was a child and knew nothing of the
tragedies occurring daily about me-. 1t was not
until they came into the lives Of those dear to
me that | saw and understood the horrors of
Mormonism."
1t is well known how fond Brigham Young
was of the drama. He built q splendid theater
in 1861 and organized a dramatic company.
Five of his daughters played from time to time,
but none of them attained eminence in the pro-
fession. Sara Alexander was chosen as a mem
Der of the company. and soon developed marked
talent as an actress. She was very handsome,
of the delicate. petite order of beauty,
and wonderfully graceful. After she
had been playing leading parts
for several months, she one night improvised a
few light steps during one scene in the comedy
she was ~enacting. Brigham's manager, who
was progressive in his ideas, recognized her
terpsichorean gifts and placed her under skillful
instructors at once. In a few months she be-
came the most wonderful dancer the United
States has ever produced. But her talents wero
mainly reserved for Salt Lake City, and she
abandoned the profession before her fame was
national, or rather worldwide as it might have
been.
Brigham objected seriously to the introdac-
ton of dancing in his theater at first, Miss
Alexander told me. FINALLY he consented to
watch it one night from his box; but he insisted
that our skirts should be below the knees-al.
most to the ankles. The second night he took a
seat in the front row. and suggested that we
shorten our dresses somewhat to allow more
freedom of movement After that he never
objected to the dancing, and gradually our cos
tunes reached the regulation dimensions"
Miss Alexander became the sensation, and for
five years she was known as the Pet Of Salt
Lake City" Her dancing was peculiar to her
self-a style involving the most beautiful and
intricate steps. Seldom has any artist-even of
the famous French dancers OF world wide repu-
tation-equaled her in CELEBRITY or grace.
This handsome, gifted, vivacious girl was used
as a veritable cats paw by the Mormon elders.
81 -~- -x.kA - IL ~ l. a.
given to officials or gentle visitors. They point
ed to her with pride, and said: Your papers
claim that our women are all sad and unhappy.
Look at our Sara! She is one of US. Does she
look like a wretched woman?"
And Sara was allowed to dance over the hearts
Of half the men in Salt Lake City, and was not
sealed" to any man, because they preferred to
keep her as IAN example, to show to strangers.
Light-hearted, petted and admired, she was
unconscious and unsuspicious of the misery
around her. But her awakening came. Her
step-father proposed bringing q second wife
home while her mother lay an invalid in her
bed. Fortunately, her mother died before he
accomplished his purpose. Then her sister,
scarcely a year welded and soon to become a
mother, was driven almost to madness by the
knowledge that another wife was to be taken by
her husband. After the birth of her baby girl
she sank into a profound melancholy. Sara
Alexander, realizing now all the terrible hidden
side of polygamy, made her escape to
San Francisco, and took her sister and the baby
girl with her. He sister died in less than two
months afterwards. Miss Alexander has devoted
her life to the care of her niece, who is now
known in the professional world as the child
actress, Lisle Lee. Numerous attempts to kid
nap this child have been made by her Mormon
father, who is of course anxious to gain possess
ion of her and bring her up ID the faith" But
Miss Alexander guards her with maternal devo-
ton, and surrounds her with the most vigilant
care in her public career.
After leaving Utah Miss Alexander was fol-
lowed by Joseph Young, Brigham's son, who
begged her to return and become his lawfully
damned if she did not" A San Francisco
paper reported that Sara replied: 'She would
be damned if she did" And Joseph returned
disconsolate. and Sara took to the field and de-
llvered the first anJi-Mormon lectures ever given
by a woman.
She was unusually gifted intellectually, and
had received every advantage of education in
Utah. 1t is a misfortune to the world that she
retired from public life after a few years spent
in lecturing, varied with dramatic engagements,
which resulted in her almost abandoning her
profession of dancing. Her lectures met with
much favor, and, had her theme been a more
popular one, she might have attained great dis
tinctlon as q lecturer, as she possessed decided
talents.
She shrinks from notoriety, and lives in the
most quiet and retired manner in New York.
Her delicate face retains marked evidences of it's
old beauty in her ~lustrous eyes and regular feat
lures; and her form is as dainty and lissome as a
ehild's. l had always been told that the feet of
professional dancers were large and misshapen
from overexertion. But Sara Alexander wears
q No. 2 boot, and her foot is narrow and beauti-
fully arched. As a mark of especial favor she
yielded to my eager urging, and gave me
q private exhibition Of her marvellous
dancing. 1 have never in my life seen
anything on the stage to equal it. If some man
ager could secure her for a season now he would
reap a rich harvest. But she absolutely refuses
to return to the stage. / occupied a box with
her one night at the theater. in New York. AS
we locked out on the brilliantly lighted stage
and crowded house | said: docs it not make
you long for your old life to look on a scene like
thatl" mo-" she said, sit makes me tired to
think of it. | have had it al, and would not
live it over again"
/ never saw a woman who made a more indel-
ible impression upon my mind than this quiet,