St. Paul daily globe., 1891-04-27
SENSATIONAL, BUT PITIFUL.
Miss Dickinson Delivers Lecture
in New York.

New YORK, April ga performance
of cleopatra" held the boards of the
Broadway theater until late hour last
night. After it was finished the big
stage was set for a parlor scene, and
with such surroundings Anna Dickinson
appeared Oh the same stage this even
ing to deliver lecture upon personal
Liberty" 1t was Miss Dickinson'S
first public appearance since her con
tiIement in an insane asylum and
her deliverance therefrom. When she
walked forth upon the stage tonight
there was not large audience awaiting
her, but those present welcomed the
gifted woman with cheering applause.
Miss Dickinson was attired in white,
with black trimming. The corsage was
cut low, and red roses were fastened
there. She opened her address upon
Personal Liberty with a violent at
tack upon the Republican party, and
with bitter words against various per-
sons prominent i'll public life. The
personal characterizations were in many
instances repugnant TO decency, and Ia
dies who occupied orchestra chairs arose,
and, with their escorts, left the theater.
Miss Dickinson paid little or no atten-
ton to these defeetions. She frequently
punctured her utterance by appealing to
her hearers with this question: "Well,
folks, do you think l am insane?" She
spoke of the postmaster general as
'Merciful Heaven" Wanamaker. This
queer remark was received with Kisses.
She dwelt at great length upon what
she termed the private character Of Mr..
Wanamaker and j. s. Clarkson.
Her Imprisonment at the Danville in
sane asylum was her chief theme. She
declared it was due to conspiracy of
j. S. ClarkSOn. Col. W. w. Dudley and
SenatOrQuay. They wanted her, she said,
to stump the country for them in the
campaign of 1883, and she was given
blank check to fill In whatever
compensation she wished. The prOvi
vision, however, she declared was that
she should not speak at all about the
black man. Il was poor" she contin-
ued, but as heaven is my witness | did
not want their money because they
wanted my voice to be silent on the slave
question" Then Miss Dickinson, accom-
panied by her lessened audience, with
countenances indicating pity and re-
gret, rambled on about a visit to Mr..
Harrison at indianapolis. She avOwed
that she was promised s., 100 for every
each if her candidate should be success
full. After bitterly referring to various
party leaders, Miss Dickinson turned
her attention towards Gen. Butler,
and these are some of her words: The
papers have said" continued Miss Dick
inson, "that there has been a conspir-
acy between US. Yes, Mr.. Butler has
written me letters and they were adj
dressed to Lizzie. He is the only man
who has ever addressed me by my mid
die name. He knew what he was do
ing, but he will answer for it all in a
court of law. l have unnumbered sor-
rows and do not place mask or veil
over any of them"
Speakingof her theatrical experience,
she declared i'll a vehement manner
that the press of the country had ma
ligned her. She never lost money by
the vent ture. Her income from long
ago, she said, had been S40,-
600 annually. She had lost $780,,
600 in speculation. Passing from
her stage experience, she stated what
she declared were the reasons of her be-
ing confined in the asylum. She made
the statement that she had been opposed
to the Republican party, and she said
she charged that party with placing her
in the Danville asylum. She gleefully
declared in the next breath that the
defeat of Mr.. Cleveland in 1855
was due to the fact that she had
been in the ranks against him.
Then the speaker rambled again to-
ward British politics. She spoke of
dining with Parnell and thinking him
"a little tin god on wheels" The Dem
ocratic party of the country, she said,
was trying to dethrone him. Then she
landed the Democratic party and re-
sorted again to such personalities
that her utterances were Missed,
and more of her audience left.
When it was all over, many
of those friends who had remained with
growing sadness until the end, slowly
filed out of the playhouse with words of
comiseration and with faces upon which
was evidenced the fact that sorrowful
conclusion had been reached.