Daily Yellowstone journal., 1890-06-03
Tuesday, June 3, Isl"
TIE OIL WELL DRAMA.

ReminisceucsS o~fTraGedian heene Among
the Pennsylvania Miners.
"When an actor gets to be rs old as
] am he fo gets many things OBJ
served Thomas w. Keene, the TRACE
dian, rs he sat in the corridor of the
Hotel Anderson. but if | should live
TO be as old as the traditions of Mem.
non ! could never come to Pittsburg
without recalling the days Of 1867 and
1865, when | played in the stock com,
pany with 10 Seton in the building
which stood where Harris theatre now
stands. There were 10 Seton and his
wife, Annie Seton, and Mrs. lie For,
rest and Oliver Doud Byron and the
O'Neil girls IN the company, but Seton
himself WAS the central figure.
after the regular season Seton
would send me uut in the oil regions
starring. was playing Hamlet, Mac.
beth and Eichir d Ill then for the
princely salary Of Sl6a week and fur
nisbin@ my oHu wardrobe. remem.
Der well IN" Il t town we struck after
leaving Pint Jurg. II was Pleasant.
vile. By ia way, there vas a Pitts.
burg boy all ~ with Us named liarri,
SOL now H. the glass business, | un,
derstard, aat more of him anon.
"Wcll. yae reached Plcasantville.
Alightiug from the train | walked
around AID could discern only two
building one evidently a hotel, the
other a Store.
"'Wlrrp is the theatreI' | asked of
a man who seemed to comprise the
population of PleI>antville,
1t will he here all right by the
time you arc ready to play this even,
ing replied the population, coolly.
"'Well, but where are the people &c
play toF
"'Oh. they'll be here all right
Il took his word for it. Indeed, tina,
seemed to be the only thing in the vi,
cinity 10 take, and / had TO be satisfied
whit. My confidence was pot misplace
ed, either, for along in the afternoon
came a number of diggers from Rouse.
vile, where the wells had played out,
bringing the theatre with them, along
with their tools and other baggage. /,
took them less than an hour to rap up
the light board shell which constitut.
cd their Temple of Thespis. So, there
was my theatre. But / was still at a
loss to know where my audience was
coming from with only two houses in
view.
might came on, however, and a
sight was presented to one poor and
hungry actor that he will never forget.
Out from behind the derricks, along
the little hills twinkled an apparently
innumerable number OF lanterns.
From places where one would never
dream of a human habitation thronged
the hardy miners, and long before
was ready TO step upon the stage there
were 600 or 700 people in the theatre.
well, we gave them Richard, and
. more enthusiastic audience you
never saw. had sent to a tinshop in
Ttusville for some sheets OF tin from
which we cut little circular pieces and
fashioned our armors, and | tell you
Richmond and the crookback showed
up as glittering warriors. That night
was all right But the next we es.
sayed Hamlet and that was a mistake.
''The miners had pitched our thea
tire Y e a little brook. Heavy rains
during the forenoon had swollen the
stream, and Ia the scene where Laertes
jumps into the grave Of Ophelia we
had a catastrophe. Young Harrison,
OF Pittsburg, whom / mentioned, was
IAertes. The trapdoor in the floor
was open for the grave. Laertes took
his desperate jump. There was a
splash, a cry and a scream from the
audience. LAertes had immersed him
self in the swollen stream, and it took
the efforts of half the audience to res.
u him from his watery grave before
he could go on with the performance.
There were Q number of little mis-.
haps like this, but, Notwithstanding
them, we played TO good business in
The oil settlement for forty-three weeks
and when we came back TO Pittsburg
10 Seton made me a present Of 5000 in
addition TO my salary, which was more
money than l had ever seen together
before" -Pittsburg Dispatch.