Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-08-29
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.

professional reputation and then said: Hi.
| identity is a matter Of inviolable secrecy, be-
cause he is morally guilty Of swndle which
| the law won't punish, and so he is not to be de-
nounced individually. Nevertheless, he has OBJ.
tanned well nigh $4,000 from a dupe under
pretenses that are essentially FALSE although he
has been careful to keep safe from criminal
| prosecution. The case should be warning to
! stage-struck persons with money to be plum.
dered or and so it ought to be published.
The actor was an excellent one twenty
| years ago and is still able to command a salary
| OF $50 to $50 week He made the acquaint-
| ance OF scion of very wealthy New York
family, a fine. bright, handsome manly fellow
| OF thirty-tive to forty. There seemed to be
| the making of successful actor in this chap,
| so far as brains and looks went, and the actor
hatterlngly suggested that. il he hadn't money
| enough to save him from the necessity of earn
ing living. The dupe instantly developed
an ambition to go on the stage and within a
month he was the old actors pupil 1t became
clear to the tutor almost at once that the fell
low had a hopelessly inadequate voice for
serious speaking on the stage and that he was
utterly devoid of any aptness for acting. If he
had begun in childhood he might have grown
into the business, but at bis mature age an
actor couldn't be made OF him any more than
of me.
CONFIDENCE OPERATOR.
this point the teacher became a confidence
operator. Instead of telling the truth about it,
lie assured the gull that he was bound to make
an enormous hit as a romantic or tragic &C tor
Durlng two years the aspirant paid regular
salary OF 500 week to his instructor, besides
virtually paying about all his expenses of liv-
Ing well. 1t was clover for the actor. Instead
OF going ION the road with all the discom-
forts OF travel and the uncertainties of pay he
stayed easily and luxuriously here in town
winters, while one summer he accompanied his
dupe to Europe and for another was main
tanned by him at Saratoga. L have ascertained
banks. having been able to hoard up that
amount from his wages and pick
inss But he is no chump, and at length he
made up his mind that his private tuition had
been quite sufficient. He had kept his project
dead secret, intending to emerge into public
view surprisingly. and this summer he declared
positively that the venture must be made this
1ail The actor realized that the end Of the
game had come. So, as the easiest way of dis
enlargement. he advised his victim to go out
under an assumed name for season, with a
minor company in a small part, in order to get
accustomed to audiences.
That 8 all you lack, said the rogue,
by the holidays you will be easy and conf
dent behind the footlights, and your next step
Will be to the top of the ladder as a STAR
ILLUSIONS DISPELLED.
"Well, when the man returned from one week
OF practical test it wasn't to his teacher that he
resorted for further advice, but to me. He had
made dead failure. Although his debut had
peer made In one-night town and in an easy
role he mad been SO dire bad that the audience
Suyed him, and his employer declined his fur
ther services, although he had engaged at no
salary ana paid his own expenses. The disillu-
sion was complete. He wasn't vain man and
he realized fully that he was the victim of a
swindle. He came to me to find ont whether
the actor could be prosecuted. l sent him 10
the district attorney. who told him, after learn
ing all the circumstances. that technically no
crime had been committed. He might recover
by civil suit as much of the money as the
actor nad saved but 1t would subject him to
ridlcule SO he had decided to keep the secret
and tell the story to you, without his name or
any clue to his identity, in the hope that it will
save some stage-struck person from being
plucked."
EDWIN BOOTHS PERMANENT RETIREMENT
The general and affectionate regard OF Edwin
Booth Is such that the truth concerning his
physical condition, even if the news be bad will
be read eagerly. He has spent a summer Of
absolute inactivity and his ailment seems to
have made no progress but he has this weeL
given formal notice to his business agent to
suspend all preparation for his return to the
stage season after next. The theatrical business
has become 30 thoroughly methodicaI that
plans are perfected two seasons ahead and in
inns instance the agent was to wait until August
70 for an order from Booth whether to make
dates with theaters for tour during the winter
OF lo52-93. The message came from the great
tragedlan promptly, ana it said that the engage
mentSwere not to be made From a Trustworthy
nedicai source 1t is learned that Booths illness
does not arise from morphine, as reckless scan
dial mongers have said; nor from alcoholism.
as some acquaintance Of his induigent earlier
years have been ready to believe; nor from
general paresis, as his friends have had reason
10 rear, Dut from q maiady called locomotor
ataxls. which causes a loss of nervous and mn.cu.
lar control Of the body. 1t was from Iocomotor
ataxis that the late Samuel j. Tilden suffered for
many years. but in his case there was palsy. too.
yet the combination did not kill him, as he died
from separate disease. So it is believed that
Booth Is Ill no peril Of his life but he ia inca
pacitated for the STAGE with hardly one chance
In thousand that he will ever act again. How
ever, he will not admit to others, and probably
does not to himself, that his dramatic career in
over.
WHAT A MEMBER OF BOOTHS COMPANY SAYS.
member Of the company which supported
Booth last season. man who all but adores the
tragedian personally and professionally. said TO
your correspondent: This diagnosis Of Mr.
Booth disease explains all that puzzled us 80
much. 1t accounts for his inability to control
his motions. He often had the unsteady and
irresolute manner Of an intoxicated man. when
i, and others close to him, knew to a certainty
that he was abstemious. Why, he would come
to the theater in a carriage and have to be as
sisted to the stage door-usually by Mr. Barrett
who was his intimate socially as well as in bust
| ness, and Booth y dressing man. Once inside
the theatt r, Booth would remit the effort which
he had made i'll crossing the sidewalk to main
| tain q stalwart mien and slump along to his
dressing room. The next we would see of him
would be about ten seconds before the cue for
his entrance on the stage. The call boy only
sOmmoned him at the last moment Then he
would come out OF his room, aided by his dresser
and with the assistance of whatever actor who
was at hand.
GUIDED LIKE CHILD.
They would guide him to the edge of the
scene. at the point where he was to make his
appearance, and actually start him. at the cue
words, in the direction that he ought to walk
on the stage. 1t was like winding up an auto
matte figure and setting it going. He would
halt i'll the delivery Of his lines, omit whole
sentences, and slur his elocution-just like a
drunken mainland don't wonder that some of
| the auditors thought SO when they also saw his
unsteady movements But his mind was clear
as bell, and l think that his lapses of
| speech arose from his anxiety about his
physical control, although his vocal Or
gans may have been affected. ANY,
how, on coming of from a scene he would
talk perfectly well, though l have often seen
Barrett and the dresser meet him in the wing,
take him by the arms, and walk him to chair
where he would rest until called again. He
would run against objects unless puided M az