Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1885-09-17
THE PERILs OF AN ACTOR IN 'es.
EhCn tVII HIVof
A running river
OF harmless merrimenk"


How an Enthusiastic Soldier Raised tho
Siege of Fort Fisher on the stage.
II had one experience in this smoky
old town that / will not forget soon"
said the veteran actor, Joseph X. Rowe.
what was the experienced"
ut was during the war, and every
thing was red-hot here. Old Beaure-
gard was expected every day to come
marching up across the hills from Vir-
ginia and burn the town. The city was
full of soldiers, and they ran everything.
We were playing here at the time, with
Henderson as our manager. He had
just got hold of new war piece called
the "Storming of Fort Fisher" It car
ried good deal of red fire and spread
eagle, OF course. Henderson though it
would catch on, and 1t did. There was
q scene in the play where the rebel Col
onel tears down the American flag and
tramples it under his feet, with an oath
about the yankee rag" and lot Of
that sort of stuff. The house was about
two-thirds full of soldiers. Officers
filed all the boxes, and most of them
had been drinking. knew how reck-
less the soldiers were, and felt little
leery about taking the part of the Col
onel, but Henderson insisted. When /
tore down the flag L heard the cooking
OF half dozen revolvers in different
parts of the house. One big fellow in
private's uniform, seated directly in
front of the orchestra, rose up with q
six-shooter in his hand and said: Drop
that flag, Johnny 1 dropped it like
hot potato, and retired as gracefully
as circumstances would permit. How
/ was missed, though. i tried to go out
and finish my part, but it raised such a
row that wasn't permitted to go on
the stage to even explain. Half the
house didn't even wait to see the rest
of the play. Next day heard young
office swear that if that blanked rebel
Colonel pulled that flag down that
night he'd put hole clear through
him. Well, didn't like the character,
and was working for money. The
prospect of fighting the whole United
States army, or that portion of it in
Pittsburgh, from behind tho scenes,
was not al,uring to me. was young
and eager for glory, but didn't care
to be made martyr of, either for the
Southern Confederacy or the dramatic
profession. Consequently 1 informed
Mr.. Henderson that the flag would not
be there that night for me to pull it
down. He insisted. 1 resigned. He
pleaded. was firm. Then he talked
compromise. 1t was finally settled this
way: A super was found who was
ing something. SO the reading was
changed, and in the lines 1 ordered
him to tear down the Yankee rag.
This was received with Kisses nd calls,
but the audience caught on to the con-
cessions made to them, and let it go,
and we had no more trouble"
"Why, you can have no idea of the
bitterness of the war spirit here then.
John T.. Owens came up here to play
Paul Pry.' 1t had been reported that
Owens was Captain of the New Orleans
Cocktail Guards. Those stories were
frequent at the time about different
members of the profession. Maggie
Mitchell, it was claimed, trampled
under foot the American flag, and was
Kissed for it dozens of times, although
the story was malicious lie. Well,
Owens came in one day on the A
o'clock train, and went into a ban Der
shop to get shaved. While in the chair
he heard young officer swear that if
that - rebel came on the stage he
should shoot him.-PittSbatrgh Dis
patch.