Omaha daily bee., 1885-02-27
wild BILL"
Scenes at n West Side Play.
Chicago Tribune.

front rowe, nor dainty ushers with
boutonnieres, nor anything that is re-
Corded as particularly swell. Everything
wore o dingY look. The curtain, as well
as well as one coulo zee through the
tobacco smoke, teemed faded. The
painted velvet Of It's drapery had lost its
snap and there was q ty no means incon-
splcuous patch in the middle OF a tropical
scene In which number of naked savsges
we're performing a war.dance about a
cocosnut tres. Tied to the tree was a
man who, from his dress and sapctlfed
expression, was evidently a missionary.
A large alligator was climbing up the
bank behind the missionary, as if anil
mated with an intention to gobble him
up. 1t may have been, however, that the
artist merely intended the alligator as
accessory to the tropical effect.
Ii the audience lacked culture II as.
suredly was not wanting In enthusiasm
The jeunesse doree of South Halsted
street and Its vicinity filled the gallery to
OVERLOOKING and gave vent to its pent-up
spirits In cat-calls and unearthly bowls.
Following the lead of some ingenious
young person who Initiated the gruntipg
of a pig, the men In the balcony gave in
unison a chorus of grunts, running all
the way down the gamut from the crosk
of the adult porker to the squeak c" the
sucking OF the flock, and producing very
much the musical effect of a hog-trein
bound for Cincinnati. This performance
was succeeded by limitations of various
animals, given in a similar manner, &C
cempsnied by shrill whistling aud the
measured tramp of feet, all Of which was
intended both to express ard relieve the
Impotence Of the audience at the delay
In the raising of the curtain.
The pit beneath, like the gallery, was
crowded, with the exception of the four
front rows, which were reserved at fancy
prioes-35 cents q head-for the extrava.
giant. The remainder of theparquet was
well filled, for the most part with men,
though q few women were scattered here
aud there. Walters In huge white bibs
distributed refreshments In the ahspe of
beer and cigars. The beer was mostly
froth and the cigars were extremely bad.
| Although the latter were inclossd In
sealed envelopes, marked with different
prices from five to fifteen cents, there
seemed to be no perceptible difference in
the quality of the tobacco.
The man with his hat on, who was
seated at the piano Immediately In front
of the stage, having concluded with an
elaborate flourish the performance of n
of Harrigan and Harris sonatas, the cur.
tain with the missionary and the alliga-
tor rose by a succession of jerks upon the
frat act of one of those CORY bordor
melodramas which bear to dramatic ant
the same relation as that borne by dime
novels to literature.
"Wild BILL" the hero of the plsy, was
a fair specimen of that exaggerated type
of rufisnism to which the average small
boy looks up with instructive admIra.
ton and veneration. If this type were
subjected to the dissectiug process by
some expert moral anatomist it would be
found to be, like Thackeray's George
w., an empty she'll. Dlvest it of its
necessary sccompaniments in the way of
shooting irons" bowie-knife, and mock
heroic swagger, and what is left2. Moth
ing but the gas with which 1t wass In.
tlated. Yet what small boy Is there who
does not find In this type his ideal-who
would not, If he could, be such a man
aye, rather than a king or a railroad con.
ductor?
The play vas a string of sensational
Incidents, thrown together without much
regard to plot, to give the hero an oppor.
tunity for the performance of a number
remarkable exploits. He was inces-
pursued by a gang of ~rufians
whom he was only saved by a beauti-
full barmaid who afterwards turned out
to be a lost heiress, the daughter of an
nobleman. The ruffians having |
all been killed off at the end of the play, |
dramatic proprleties were at length
satisfied by the marriage Of the barmaid
and Wild Bill.
The scene where the barmaid was won
by Wild Bill at a game of poker was unu.
suallY fine, and when Bill showed down
four aces on the table and scooped in the
pot the applause was positively deafen-
Ing.
1t is observable that an audience of the !
class here dehcrlbod has q strong percep.
ton of the difference between virtue and
wlckednees, and, although 1t may not pro-
fess the former to any extent, isnone the
less inclined to encourage 1t as IN alb.
principle. Accordingly, plays of
this description are always filed with sit
ustions in which the triumphant virtue
Of the hero Is brought out in strong re-
lief against a dark background of wicked.
ness.
The drama ran along smoothly enough
through nearly two blood ourdling acts
in the midst of an unusually thrill
ing scene, a serious interruption occurred.
The barmaid, who had juss been rescued
by Wild Bill from the clutches of two
desperadoes by whom she had been kid
had fallen falnting into the arms
Of her preserver, while the latter covered
the rufians with a brace of huge revol-
down upon this interesting tsbleau when
a dead kitten, thrown by the hand of
some person unknown, but apparently
from the parquet, fell with a dull
tbud at the hero's feet. The latter sud-
denly checked the flow of his impassioned
Oratoty, and looking first at the kitten
and then around him at the audience,
seized the "~tribute" by Its dilapidated
tail and strobe forward to the front of
the stage. Evidently such an indignity
was more than his naughty |
soul could brook. After walk.
Ing acrois the footlights and sur
the parquet with an air of subdued
in a vain effort to ascertain In
tho falina oornso bnJ ooooo Ill