Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1886-12-09
A THEATER EXPERIENCE.
THE REFINING INFLUENCES OF THE
IMPROVED DRAMA.
BIZ Nye Gets Down to tho Bottom Facts
OF Stage Horrors and the Khan-Khan.

Those were troublesome times, indeed,
when we were trying to settle up the
new world and a few other matters at
the same time.
Little do the soft-eyed sons Of pros
perity understand to-day, as they walk
the paved streets Of the west under
the cold glitter of the electric light,
surrounded by all that can go to make
life sweet and desirable, that not
mmy years ago on that same ground
their fathers taught the untutored saw
age by night and chased the bounding
buffalo by day.
All, all is changed. Time in his rest
less and resistless flight has filed away
those early years in the county clerks
office, and these times are not the old
times. With the march of civilization,
/ notice that it is safer for a man to at
tend theater than in the early days of
the wild, woody west. Time has made
it easier for one to go to the opera and
bring his daylight home with him than
it used to be.
1t seems but few short years since
my roommate came home one night
with long red furrow plowed along
the top of his head, where some gentle
man at the theater had shot him by
mistake. Ny roommate said that tall
man had objected to the pianoist and
suggested that he was playing pianis-
simo when he should have played for
tissimo, and trouble grew out of this
which had ended in the death of the
pianoist and the injury Of several dis
interested spectators.
And yet the excitement Of knowing
that you might be killed at any moment
made the theater more attractive and
] tead of soaring men away it rather
induced patronage OF course it pre-
vented the attendance of ladies who,
were at all timid, but it did not cause
any falling off in the receipts. Some
thought it aided good deal, especially
where the show itself didn't have much
blood in it.
The Bella Union was o pretty fair
sample of the theater in those days. 1t
WaSa low wooden structure, with per-
petual band on the outside, that played
gay and festive circus tunes early and
often. Inside you could poison your
soul at the bar and see the show at one
and the same price of admission. In
an adjoining room silont men joined
the hosts OF faro and the timid tender
| foot gamboled DER the green.
visited this place of amusement one
evening in the capacity of reporter
for the paper. would not admit this,
| even at this late day, only that it has
been overlooked by Mr.. Talmage since;
and if hegoes through such an ordeal in
the interest of humanity, / might be
forgiven for going there professionally
to write up the show for our amuse-
ment column.
The programme was quite varied.
Negro minstrelsy sleight-Of-hand, opera
b0ulfe, high tragedy. AMI that oriental
style of quadrille called the khan-khan,
| ii my sluggish memory be not at fault,
formed the principal attractions of the
evening.
At about 1890 or II o'clock the khan
khan was produced upon the stage. In
the midst of it a tall man rose up at the
back Of the hall, and came firmly down
the aisle with large earnest revolver
| in his right hand. He was powerfully
built man, with dyed mustache and
wicked eye on each side of his thin, red
nose. He threw up the revolver with
| q little click that sounded very loud to
me, for he had stopped right behind
me and rested his left hand on my
shoulder as he gazad over on the stage.
could distinctly hear his breath come
and 90, for it was q very loud breath,
with the odor of onions and emigrant
| whiskey upon it.
| The orchestra paused in the middle
of a snort, and the man whose duty it
was to swallow the clarionet pulled
, seven or eight inches of the instrument
out of his face and looked wildly
around. The gentleman who had been
agitating the feelings of the bass viol
laid it down on the side, crawled in
behind 1t, and spread q sheet OF music
over his head.
The stage manager came forward to
the footlights and inquired what was
wanted. The tall man with the self.
cooking credentials answered simply:
! "By Dasherty Blank to Blank Blank
and back again, want my wifeW
The manager stepped back into the
wings for q moment, and when he
came forward he also had large musi.
cal instrument such as Mr.. Reming on
used to make before he went into che
typewriter business. can still re
member how large the hole in the
barrel looked to me, and how wisheC
that had gone to the meeting of tn(
Literary club that evening, as l hat
Mt first intended to do.
I Literature was really more in my
line than the drama. / still though
that it was not too late, perhaps, ,,nt
so | rose and went out quietly so ~
not to disturb any one, and as Wen
down the aisle the tall man and stag
manager exchanged regrets.
/ looked back in time to see the tai
man fall in the aisle with his face il
the sawdust and his hand over hi
breast. Then l went out of til
theater in an aimless sort Of way
tal,ng a northeastely direction as Tn
cryy flies. l do not think | ran over
mta or two in this way before I dis
covered that was going directly ava
from home. l rested awhile and the
returned.
On the street I met the stage mani
ger and the tall, dark man just as the
were coming out of the Moss Aga,
ga. Don. They said they were ver
( sorry to notice that got up and cam
away at q point in the programn
where they had introduced what the
had regarded as the best feature of IL
show. ct
This incident had great deal to
with turning my attention in the d
direction Of literature instead Of Il
drama. N sg
But am glad to notice that man
of the horrors of the drama are bein
gradually eliminated as the countl
gets more thickly.settled, and the G
tragedy Of few years ago is gradual
giving place to the refining iniiuenc,
OF the "Tin Soldier and A Ra
Bahy"-Bill Nye, in Chicago News.
II y s----s>--s%>-~~---
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