Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1891-08-16

OF naDlOndl airs In Line Lar duu Lar
tar at Palmer's Theatre last night,
the audience were astonished to see lit
tie Annie Myers, who Is gotten up stun
ningly in white Isle tights and white
satin slippers, grow suddenly very
solemn in the face. and begin to hop up
and down in the liveliest possible fash
ion. 1t was very surprising caper
She stopped singing "Dixie," too, and
edged of quickly toward the wings.
Laura Joyce Bell and Josephine
Knapp stared at her wonderingly. In
the wings the little actress lifted her
right foot and kicked herself in the left
calf vigorously. Then she hoped up
and down again, and then came back
and finished "Dixie." There were four
encores, and the little actress kept up
the hopping like marionette en- wires.
Her face wore an expression OF agony.
She dashed pell nell up the stairs to
her dressing room afterward, slipped OFF
the left leg of the tights, and kicked off
one slipper. Then she wet her hand,
grabbed her left calf, clnched her little
fist, and opened IL very carefully before
the gas jet in a wire cage.
"Great heavens" she gasped, "it's a
fea."
Last night the chorus girls caught
the fever of capering about the stage In
an eccentric fashion. They backed up
against the scenes, seeking comfort
from the sharp edges of the pine frames.
and then pinched themselves hard on
the legs.
One chorus girl sat down on a stool in
the wings. In an instant she sprang to
her feet and dashed to her dressing
room. There she loosened the belt OF
her trunks and grabbed bottle OF am
monia in frantic haste.
Sometime later Mrs. Bell the fiery
but cheerful Tartar Of the opera, gritted
her teeth and stamped her heel with
almost vicious vehemence.
Manager Harry Asker went behind
the scenes and watched the didoes OF
the company as If he thought they had
all gone crazy. The entire company
tackled the manager. They declared
that there was a regular plague OF feas
in the theatre, and that ii was making
life unbearable.
The actresses said that the plague
began in a small way about month
ago, and had increased steadily until a
week ago the fleas kept them in tortures
all through the performance. The
chorus girls complained more bitterly
than the principals. They told Mana
ger Asker that the fleas got in under
their tights, and that all they could do
was to pinch. The chorus dressing
rooms, they said, were overrun with
fleas. Pretty Carrie NOyes, the leader
of the chorus girls, said that they had
got into her private wardrobe, and that
the peStiferous insect had gone home
with her and made some of her nights
sleepless.
81 wash myself with alcohol after
every performance, Annie Myers said,
"but it doesn't seem to do any good.
They seem to grow fat on anything you
give them. had one in the heel Of my
slipper in the first act tonight. The
little wretch bit right through the
stocking" The actress showed a hole
in the heel of her silk stocking and SOL
EMMY said that the flea had done it.
The principals pitched on "Sloppy
Weather" last Saturday as the chief
cause of the visitation of fleas, and Dig
by Bell banished "Sloppy Weather"
from the stage for good. 'Sloppy
Wealth" is three feet long and eight
inches high, and has an indescribabe
kink in his tail.
He is the dog that ex-senator Kier-
man presented to Comedian Bell last
week. Mr.. Bell has made bet with no
takers that he is the ugliest dog in
America.
"Fleas never bite me-" Comedian Bell
said. "It doesn't do them any good. But
they have made wreck of that dogs
tail"
Bell told the chorus girls on Saturday
to try rum and larkspur. He was going
to try it on "Sloppy Weather." by dog
fancier's advice. He concluded last
night that it was mean way to waste
good rum, for the fleas were, if any
thing, worse than ever.
The chorus girls now blame the fleas
on the digging up of Broadway for the
cable road. They declare that there
weren't any fleas until the workmen
began to rip up the pavements and cart
sand IN the thorouphfare