Signal-Copiahan. (Hazlehurst, Copiah County, Miss.) 1885-1888, 1886-10-21
THE GENUS DEAD-HEAD.
He Is Generally Well Able to
Pay.
Ingenuity and Persistence shown in
+" heating" the Thest-rs-The Conven-
lent rirst->ight "Coachers" Who
Cheat Themselves.

One OF the standing human curios-
tiles of New York is the wealthy dead
head. Ii may not bc well known. but
j, is u fact, nevertheless, that no dead
head was ever known To be- impc-
cuniouS. The poor man who wants to
go TO . theatea will take the money
like man AMI buy u ticket. Your
professional dead-hcad will make ST.
and then write for Il complimentary" "
For some unknown reason the profess
sional dcad-head has ingraincd antip-
athy to paying for a seat ~ the thea
ter or ON n railroad train. He will lie.
fawn and dishonor his family to ge;
his seats for nothing. and then he will
take his friends and spend twenty-five
dollars i'm wine between the acts. Good
society is honeycombcd with dead
heads. They own their coaches, dress
in Partisan iincry, wear diamonds,
give late supperS after the performance
at the Brunswick, but they never pay
for their seats.
This has given rise TO some very
curious customs at the New York the
alters. First of all is what are called
the "coachcrs." They are swell dead
heads who own their equipagcS, and
are sure 10 come ON u first night in
thcm il they get complimentaries.
As it is very desirable TO make n
show OF carriages on the first night
of piece the managers pet them,
and take every means To get them
out. To facilitate the thcatcr there has
recently been published little book
called the "Coachcrs' Li~tc.' which
gives the names Of the swell families
that can Dc depended on to turn out
with their vehicles ON first night if
they receive complimcntarieS before
eight O'Clock. IL is but fair to say that
this list is very accurately and honestly
edited. Ii respectable family is
known To receive tickets and then
takes a horse car it is stricken from the
pages. II is estimated that some Of
these families pay rs high rs three thou
sand dollars year for horses and ear
riagcs in ordcrto get tickets that would
not in the same time cost over seventy
five dollars. Colonel MapleSon, of de-
funct Italian opera fame, worked the
coaches on the off-nights for one or two
seasons most admirably. Irving place
would be crowded with carriages, the
hustle and air Of gentecl interest was
overwhelming. and there would be no
money in the house. This business fell
into something like disrcpute when the
livcry-mcn began to furnish coaches by
contract TO the theaterS. Ii was found
that they could be hired on n contract
for one dollar and fifty cents night,
and il cost two seats, or three dollars,
TO send them to the dead-heads.
The ingenuity and persistence shown
by some OF these people passes be-
lief. There is well-known lady,
moving in good society and well-to-do,
who is seen at all first night per-
formances. But she was never
known to pay for her seats. When she
can not obtain them directly from the
manager she succeeds in getting them
in roundabout way. There are
always railroad men. editors and others
TO whom the manager is under obliga-
ton for favors, and il is through one
OF these channels that she will work
the tickets. On several occasions
special efforts have been made by the
managers to give n first night per-
Torrance without her. To her request
for tickets the polite regrets were sent
that they werc all sold, not seat in
the house. But she was there all the
same in full array. The marked tickets
wero traced In one case to dramatic
editor, in another TO a prominent
banker. When asked about it, the dra-
matte editor displayed q letter he had
received from the lady. in which she
piteously begged him to get her two
seats as a special favor, for she had
been unable To buy them. Here she
had deliberately lied about tho matter
rather than pay out three dollars,
and 1t Is curious to know that she is
in every other respect a most liberal,
exemplary apd self-respectiag WOMAN.
Ihave myself known of women who