Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1893-06-15

New YORK, june i.-AueEICd S1edt
tragedian, Edwin Booth, who has been
lowering on the verge Of shadow-land
so many weary days passed away at
l:15 o'clock this CIV ednesday) morning,
III his apartment ut the Players club.
The decline i'll his physical condition
has been perceptiDle for several days,
and as long ago as Saturday night all
hope of saving his life had been given
up.
All day yesterday his condition grew
steadily worse and at Z o'clock last
evening Dr. st. Clair Smith was hastily
summoned to the club. After brief
examination of the dying man Dr..
Smith prepared bulletin which was
posted in the hallway to the effect that
it was doubtful ii Mr.. Booth would
survive the night. as.
DIR. Smith told one of the members
of the club that Mr. Booths pulse was
in the neighborhood of Ito and his
temperature over 105. There was
nothing that could be done except for
the anxious watchers to sit by his bed
side until the feeble spark OF life was
finally extinguished.
At 10 o'clock another serious change
was noted and Dr.. Smith was again
summoned He did what he could to
ease the dying moments of Mr. Booth,
who although completely unconscious,
appeared to suffer greatly for lack
OF air, it being apparently difficult for
him 10 breathe.
From this time until he expired the
great actor gradually grew weaker;
tie restless motions of his hands ceased
and lis life finally passed away when
his breath had died to almost an i'm
perceptble futter.
At his bedside were the actors daugh-
ter and her husband, Mr.. Grossman,
Booths brother-in-law, Mr.. Magonlcle,
William Bishham, an intimate friend
and Charles Farrylly.
Booths career has been a remarkable
one in many ways. His advancement
in his profession was rapid and brilliant,
and for more than thirty years he has
retained the pre-eminence which he
gained in his early youth. Edwin
Booth was not yet an old man, as he
was born near Baltimore, Md, on No
yember 10. 1888. A genius himself, he
was also the son of a genius, and splen'
did histrionic talents came to him by
Inheritance.
Junius BrutuS Booth, his father, was
one of the greatest actors who ever
trod the boards of the English-speaking
stage. The elder Booth" writes Viii
liam Winter, was short, spare, mus
cular man, with u splendid chest, a
symmetrical Greek head, pale coun-
tenance voice of wonderful compass
and thrilling power, dark hair and
blue eyes. His sons resemblance to him
is chiefly obvious in the head and face,
the arch and curve of the heavy eye
brows, the radiant and constantly shift
ing light of expression that animates
the countenance, the natural grace OF
carriage, and the celebrity of movement.
Edwin Booth went on the stage in
1S49, at the age Of lG, and for several
wears thereafter was his fathers con
slant companion He went with his
father to California in 1852, and remain,
ing there when the latter returned
east, underwent during the following
four years. on the Pacific coast, and in
the sandwich islands and Australia, q
strenuous, but adequate apprenticeship
to his art When he returned to the
eastern states in 1856, he had become
a finished and accomplished actor, and
an admiring public was quick to pro-
claim him worthy successor to his
gifted father.
His first appearance was in Baltimore
where his success was instant anC
complete, and during the following foul
years was seen in nearly all of the lead
ing cities of the country. In the sum
mer of 1860 he visited England and ap
peared in London, Liverpool and Man
chester He returned to America IL
1862. and from September 81, 1868, tC
March %, 1867, was the manager of tht
Winter Garden theater in New York
His management was made notable by
some of the most splendid revivals @,
standard plays ever witnessed in Amer
lea One of the conspicuous features O,
his career at the Winter Garden was {
revival Of Hamlet which ran for 10t
nights.
Booth the Ideal Hamlet.
Laurence Hutton writes: THE Ham
let of Edwin Booth, without doubt, i
the most familiar and the most popula
in America today. He is the ideal Ham
let of half the people in the country
who have any idea of Hamlet what
ever. Mr.. Booths Hamlet is origina
in many respects; it is intellectual, III
telngent, and carefully studied; com
plete to the smallest detail and greatl
10 be admired. Nature has given hin
the melancholy romantic face, the mas
netic eye, the graceful person, tn
stately carriage, the poetic Temperament
which are in so marked a degree
characteristic of Hamlet, while his gen
us in many scenes of the tragedy ca
RES him far above the HamletS til
country has seen in many generation
of plays. He first assumed the part
New York under Mr.. Burton's manage
ment at the Metropolitan theater
the month of May, 1857. The engag,
ment was short, and Hamlet was pr,
scented only two or three times. Eve
then, however, it created no little e,
element, and was considered a ver
remarkable and finished representatio
in a young man but "a years Of ag
Mr. Booth next appeared in New You
on November 6, 1860, at the Wint
f,,raa, tbaatar He Onened as Han