The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1890-07-16
JOHN MAouIRE TALKS.


~
Mcguire. proprietor of opera house, had
made arrangements To speedily settle
up all liabilities and retain ownership of
the opera house
Mr., Mcguire was seen tonight by q
reporter and said in regard To this mat
ter: "Yes, that Is a M and the thing
would have been accomplished two
weeks ago, but for a little cloud which
then seemed a coming cyclone; but on
close inspection IL proved no bigger than
a mans hand, but II prevented this from
being c~onsumated. You see, with the
great advancement of real estate in
Butte my property has kept in the adj
vance. The loca ton is all that is desir-
able for any business. The building it.
self without any exception whatever is n
of the finest and most substantial
in Silver Bow county. 1 have had three
distinct oilers for the property each of
which would place me la an independent
position, but neither of which came To my
idea as being within $1,000 of its worth
and as | have suffered and sacrificed so
much in connection with the opera house,
l am very loath To part with IL now,
especially when l can see in sight the sue
cess | ave worked so hard for. Were it
not for the announcement and the word
of cheer that always seemed To give me
new life-l am possessed-and l say il
without egotisIn-of an indomitabie
will-yet without such friends | must have
surely failed.
Until 4, with the other stock holders,
gave Butte al opera house Il mean
the old one which was "A gem
| was quite in independent. l put 5000 in
the stock of the old house and when | was
burned outl had sll,OU worth If that
stock. Meanwhile there was an assess
ment of the stock of dollar for dollar.
kthap A hell II fkal and il wus nnJarstnnI
that these who did not ante would forfeit
their stock-then began my ''decensus"
i had To borrow, and 10y giving the stock
already possessed, together with the new
issue, | met the demand upon me. OF
course | had a friend To endorse the notes.
Meantime the fall Of lss7 up To May, 1855,
was most the disastrous season l had in
Montana. ! had companies showed in
which lost me big sums of money. L
bought some of the very best and finest
talent hat ever graced "a Montana stage.
and instead Of figs | plucked thistles.
"Then came q p~rotracted illness, when
for four months my houses were closed
most of that time through my inability To
'rustle.'' As soon as | was on my feet l
went To "A friend in Anaconda aud bor-
rowed $50, with which | went to San
Francisco n Immediately got some
companies here, and out of W engage
ments, through the help of the $50, |
cleared 5000. Five hundred dollars of
that went towards back rent of the house.
500 for interest in the First National
bank of Butte. paid back my $3.50 and
l paid out over n thousand more in petty
accounts connected with the old thcatcr.
just at the time when ! was burned out |
Davis stock. $1,000. n. B~ielenbere's,
$3.50, Pat Hamilton, Joe Rosenthal
and the Cleveland stock ] then owned.
When the fire came, besides what was in
vested in stock ] spent not less than 5000
i'm the furnishing of the house. My per.
sonal property went, and by this ! mean a
valuable dramatic library, and upwards
of JD costumes. All went up i'm smoke,
together with relics dcarer To me than all.
Immediately after this disaster came the
most generous. spontaneous and generous
offer OF a benefit, and such n bench as
no other ma i'm my profession had eveI
e rendered. The net proceeds were
S3,lUO. Butte people in the sympath,
which prompted them We'd. every man
with another. To see who could do mos
for Mcguire. From the very pooresr
To the millionaire, all were OF
one common level on that occa.
sion, each in their way anxiou.
for n result and that was success. Ever
then There were rnmors of threats tina
tins beneft money would he attached b,
som one acting for the stockholders on
accohnto OF some back REM owing. Through
causes already alluded to, others. ant
only "A miserable few, shook their head,
anu looked wise and insinuated that Ma
CURE would make SO many thousanc dol
lars out oil this benefit, and skip the tow
anu tiey would have no more opera opers
house. Hearing these rumors
immedatel put a car in both
the Miner and Inter Mountain
stating that not one dollar of that benen
/ should ever Inc ttSal for any t,,r,,,s. I,t
uhe ercction OF better opera house thar
Butte had lost, and one dollar of il never
did go IN n other direction.
"Ata meeting of the stockholders il was
assumed that there was 5000 insurance
IL was agreed that | was to receive thii
amount and, paying a certain amount foI
the site n all its belongings. ] gave 4
mortgage to the company by which | he
came the individual owner.
A thisstime Marcus DAILY made me Tia,
princely gift of all his stock i'm the ol,
building which amounted to 5000. w
presented me his stock. So that at tn
time the mortgage was executed for Si7,
600 ! owned at the reduced value Of In
stock something near one-half the mort
gage SO that in fact | vas paying l pc
cent. which the mortgage called for o
something like 5000 Of my own.
Meanwhile i transferred this stock a
security for the Indebtedness of $500
and In addition gave notes SO that o
mortgage and notes | was taxed two pc
cent "A ~month-add insurance and take
and you see where | came in. After III
fire ! Immediately sailed in To fix Ill
rink that cost me Sl.sOO which new,
came back. Everything naturally thcr
was a failure although ! had such pc,
pie as Louis James, Marie Wainrigh
Louis Morrison, etc. change
from the old rink the SAM
time in Anaconda to the ne
Evans hall. IL cost me 5000 90 furnis
IL. All came in a heap. When wint.
advanced ! had To cancel my engag,
ments and carry my Helena house. Meai
lime the opera house was a%pproachin
completion. was east. and word cam
that work was ~siopped-no more none
To pay. The $500 Of the benefit WI