The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-02-09
A Great Subterranean 1heater
Which Is to Be Erected in
Chicago.
The Audience Will Got a Glimpse
Of Hades and Other
Things.
A Novel Idon Which Was Conceived Too
Late for the Paris Exposition
of 1880.

CllCuRO, says uA CACAA1kc puDAlhAoA III
that oity. The plans nrs ready for the
most novel playhouse ever conceived since
theaters were first invented. And more, a
strong company with plenty Of money at
it's command has been formed to carry out
tho plans, and before the Worlds fair il
open the ticket window will be opened for
the sale of tickets. Thsaters above ground
are oommon enough. Every city in the
world has it's houses OF amusement-Pekin,
Toxic, Paris, London, Chicago and Crest
line. O.. and there is hardly q cross. road
town that Is not supplied with an Opera
house, where "Unols Toms Cabin" with
two Topsies, aud Caste by the aRgrega-
tion of local talent, are produced. Chi
oaRo will be the frst place to have such a
theatsr ~ ID now projected.
There will be q few feet above the street
level a handsome building which is to b0
the entrance of the cavsrns underneath,
and also i cafe fitted with table and foun-
tains for soda. and mineral waters. An
elevator fitted with tiers Of opera chairs,
arranged as in . theater, and giving accom-
modations to 100 persons, will connect the
upper and lower regions. There will be a
solid concrete or granite shaft about the
elevator extending downward q distance Of
we'll that belongs to another place in the
story.
The visitors to the underground theater
IRE to be given checks for seats in the huge
elevator car, and. at stated intervals tho
door of the car will be closed and the elc-
vator operator will ntart downward. II will
shoot down past the gray rocks until it has
reached q depth Of 200 feet, where a stop
will be made before the mouth of q huge
cavern and there before the eyes of
the audience will be shown a coal
mine extending hundred of feet away, with
dozens of miners working with pick and
shovel by the light of the miners lamps
worn on the hats. During tho time the
ear 10 stopped a mine will be exploded and
tons of coal thrown out by the FORCE of
dynamits.
After full time has been given for seeing
the practical workings of the coal mine the
elevator will again go on it's downward trip.
Anotkern 200 feet and a second Cavern will
be shown, andpas the car stops before the
fields and 1eebergs, with fur-clothed Esqui-
maux in ice-sledges and others spenring
Walruses and seals. The bright glow of the
aurora borsalis will glow out in the north
ern heavens and the spectators will have 4
Wow Of tina wonder Of the polar regions.
A6n M 100b uV0SoIvf "AAA OAO hA@As
above the car grows smaller and smaller
until there is but a patch Of light to mark
where Chicago ana its smoke are, and
another cavs will stratch out into the earth.
The third cave is to DO a direct concession
to Dr.. Patton and his orthodoxy. It will
be- a scene for Dante's I~nferno, and the
gates Of adamant and solid brass will be
thrown wide open in invitation. There be-
fo,e the pools OF burning sulphur, waiting
for the sinners who died unrepsntant, will
be Mephistopheles and the smaller sntans,
attended by imps Of darkness. in fantastic
red. It will be orthodox enough to suit the
most orthodox.
The fourth stop, 200 feet below the last
named and 500 feet beneath the granite
pavsm mt of Chicago streets, there will be
n cavern representing q submarine view. A
sunken ship will be shown stranded on a
coral bed and about it will bs divers work
ing in complete divers suits. Fishes of all
go,t s will swim about before the entrance
of the cave.
Just one more drop of 200 feet and the
elevator will stop before a cavern LOCO feet
underground. 1t will be a cavern of daz-
zline brilliancy, with stalactites and stalag-
mites rejecting the light of hundreds of
electric lights in globes of various colors.
This will be the last stop and here the pas
sengers will allght ana the elevator will
start on its upward trip. At the tables.
with which the cave is to be- literally pro-
tkuCds v S1CoAk ~" SoNS~ WIN ah4Su
other r~efreshnents will be served. Tho
idea is to have the walters and other attend
ants in costumes fitting the surroundings
and indicating the great depth to which the
visitor has been carried.
After those who have made the long de-
scent have sssn sufficient of the glories of
the cavern and are ready to get 10 to earth
again they will be shown into a passage 80
dark and gruesoms that they will four for
their lives. The door behind them will be
closed, and for a moment they will be in
EGYPTIAN darkness, with naught to guide
them and with no signs OF any opening
tn, ough which they may gain the open air.
When their hearts have begun to fail them,
and there is q consensusof opinion that the
joke has gone far enough, two big folding
doors will suddenly fly open and through
the binding Hood of light that flows in will
be seen passing tennis and streat-cnrs, and
if all is quiet in the nelghborhood a police
man may bs seen standing down on the
street corner. How can this DO done? The
car containing the audience Of 100 persons
has gone Town a distance of only ten feet
and the owest cavern Is say hive feet below
the level of tho street.
The descent in the elevator, the narrow
ing of the shaft of light, the four interme.
diate cavsrns, and tho bottomless cave, are
all to be illusions. 1t will be done so skill.
fully, so true to nature. that the visitor will
fully believe that he has been going down
and down from ono cavern to the next I'M
less it is fully explained to him before he
enters the car.
The idea originated with a smart young
Frenohman, who presented his plans to the
management of tho exposition in Paris in
1889. They met with instant favor and it
was the intention to have it as one of tho
features of the palace of Trocadero. 1t
was found, however, that it could not be
completed in time for the opening of the
exposition, and so the project was sban-
doned. When Chicago was determined on
A. AAull,a- Aas--aE 1000 A.