The Memphis appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1886-1890, 1886-10-06
THE DIRTY BgNSlUDE'S
AND THE SCANDAL THEY HAVE
CREATED.
Lily Langtry and Her Escort anu
Mrs. Dion BOucicault's Mission
to stir Up Strife.

elusive. l fud that eight and q half
columns of It's space have been devot-
ed TO the Cameron case and less than
two columns to criticisms aud legiti-
mate news of tins stage. The reoorts
in question are somewhat less objec-
tionable than those OF the other pa
pers, for the simple reason that the
wealthy proprietor OF the paper is
persoa that uns after Englisnmen Of
title who consent to affiliate with him
in clubland and on the turf, and mis-
staff are instructed, it is said, to pre-
vent everything connected with the
affair in such manner as 10 make out
the bast possible case for his friend,
the ignoble noblemsn who figures 50
conspicuously in it.
The reportorial emissaries OF this
veracious chronicle began to get in
their fine work on Monday morning,
when they told us all about the ar.
rival of the member of the cast in
this little threi -cornered play OF more
or less contemporaneous human inter
est. His lordship, like the Others,
talked freely to the newspaper men.
He said of course that he was CAD to
be back again in America; that he
would 20 shooting here if he got the
chance, for he missed his favorite pas
time OF cub hunting; that De Ben
saude was q blackmailer who had
tried to cut his wife's throat, and if
he tried to make fuss in New York
the actress and himself were ready 10
meet and reply TO any charge.
EnnW
there had been some nasty newspaper
paragraphs cent over in advance OF
her coming, but she relied on Ameri.
can common sense to avert injurious
preiudics; that everybody told her
people wouldn't stand any CT De
Bensaude's tricks in this country, and
that the unpreposeseing Arab she
promised to love, honor and obey
bad followed her scross the ocean
simply and solely to spite her.
Do Bensaude, being merely Miss
Cameron's hush and and therefore not
posse sing the wife and her lordly pro-
tector, WIS smissed with few lines.
He was, howevsr, allowed to proclaim
that his condolences had been abused
and his manhood outraged, and that
the principal object of his visit was to
keep close watch upon his wife and
see that she behaved herself.
AS o sort Of underplot, the comp l.
cations of the prologue were further
heightened by the statement that
MIS-. Lang ry was escorted from the
deck TO her house by well known
man, and that Mrs. Dion BouciCault,
the first, had arrived for the purpose
OF continuing her warfare against her
recreant spouse,
Then the action of the play proper
or improper-commenced in earn
est. We were shown the movements
of the triad down to the smallest de-
tail. We vera told what they were,
what they said, what they ate anu
drank, and where they slept Nothing
ESCAPED the eagle eye Of the reporters.
Our curiosity was piqued by piciu-
rescue descriptions of Lonsdale's
checked trousers and fragrant boutOn-
Mere, while graphic pens went into
ecstscies over Violet's dainty boots
and sparkling diamonds, Then came
an exciting incident. The proprietor
of the Hoffman House politely bowed
the actress and her companion into
the street, because De Bepsaude
threatened t. shoot one or the other,
and Mr.. Stokes entertained decided
antipsthy to shooting scrapes of all
kinde. The proprietor blew his whis-
tie, and the scene was changed to the
Hotel Msdsoa. We saw Lon:da and
De Benssude slashing each oher in
print and drinking cocktails together.
They talked pistols in the newspapers
and ate sections of the same bird at
Dalmonico's.
A shrewd suspicion that the whole
thing was huge advertising scheme
began to gain circulation and believ-
era.
Next we Were informed that De
Ben5aude wss going to kill Mrs. de
Bensaude unless Llnsdale was willing
to buy him of. AT this point the
mingled ingredients Of farce and trag-
edy were exchanged for meo-droma.
The metropolitan audience was intro
duced TO several new dramatis per-
soma, including a policeman, some
lawyers and a Judge. The Tombs shed
its Egyptian gloom over the tableau
that brought down the curtain on the
first portion of the piece. But it was
not the good old fashioned tableau of
vice punished AID virtue triumphant.
Why2 Well, simply because there
WIS no avail able virtue in the case.
Sandwiched in between some drunk
and disorderly subjects for judicial de-
liberation came this cause Celebre.
His lordship tod his story, Violet
backed him up, and the unenviable
husband sought relief and sympathy
in a food OF Arabian tears. The
wretched man that came matter of
some 5000 miles to obtain a little pc
cuniary hahn for his lacerated heart |
and outraged honor was put back in
his cell, while the lord and the lady |
ratified off gsyly and VIGOROUSLY in a
hanson.
This, in brief, is a synopsis Of the |
pot, 50 far as it has been unfolded.
What other startling and sensational |
situations there may be in store the |
coming fortnight alone can determine.
To sustain the public interest they |
will have 10 be piled on thick and fast,
in the proverbial Surrey style.
The effect Of this notorious scandal |
has been deep, and in certain respects
it likely to be lasting. 1t has brought |
about a most debasing eruption on the |
face of the press, pandered to vicious
appetites, disguised decent folk, and |
covered the name of the stage with
obloquy and shame. On this last
mentioned account l wish to enter an
emphat protest against the prevalent
newspaper policy that seeks to de-
grade the Whole theatrical profession
by turning its presses into steam aun.
dries for the washing of dirty linen,
against the men of wealth and family
that use the thester as convenient
abiding place for their mistresses,
against the women tnat desecrate the
stage by utilizing its publicity as a
means Of advertising their prostitu-
ton, and against branch of smuse-
ments that ha Dor such women aud
demoraiizes the morals both OF the
persons engaged in it and the class to
whose patronage and support it APP