The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1893-02-09
STAGE DUHLLING.
Experience of Veteran Act
ors in Handling Prop
erty Weapons.
ACCIDENTS, SERIOUS AND HUMOROUS.
Booth Terrible Realism-Bcb Hill
liard's Adyenture-A Fatal
Shot.

GUUls
The tragic ending of a charade in
which a young man lost his life from
an accidental dagger wound in the
heart has started discussion on the
subject of stage duelling in San Fran
cisco.
NJ. A. Kennedy, the veteran come
dian, who is playing at the Baldwin
lin San Francisco, said that the trag-
4 edy could not have comet to pass had the
amateurs known a few stage tricks.
Real dagSers are e used by the
-pfefession," said he to a reporter,
though to the spectators in the or
chestra chairs the blades that clash
in Caesars body seem very real. What
is commonly ussd is the property dag
ger. the blade of which is controlled
by a spring, aud runs up the handle
when the point is struck against II
body of the stage victim. Sometimes
q dagger with a cast iron blade and a
blunt end is employed, but the spring
dagger is the most satisfactory.
so much care is taken TO exclude
edged tools from the mimic warfare OF
the stage, '~'continued Mr.. Kennedy,
''that the use OF the poniard gives US
small concern. What we really dread
is the musket in the hands OF an ex-
cited actor or a careless 'supe.' bear
a vivid recollection of having my
c-ountenance filled with powder and
burning wads when | was playing
III T.z.llz TT-nE~u ~ 1890 n + fh a
old National Theatre in Washington.
The play was called Flowers OF the
Forest and / had the part of Lemuel,
a Young lover. 1t was in the play for
Lucille to kill me, and she nearly sue
ceeded. Grasping q fowling piece she
discharged it full in my face. l fell
like a log, and as Lay there writhing
the [ placed her foot on my neck
and exclaimed, He s mine at lastP |
felt certain that sle1 was rig lit, for l
thought my final hour had come.
The curtain rang down at the end of
the scene and Lucille skipped to her
dressing room without a look at Inc.
NV head was streaming with blood,
and somebody called her back. She
gave one look ut me and tainted. l
always congratulated her on her real
ism after that, and kept out Of che
range of her rifle.
do you recall any other instances
where actors have been hurt on the
stage by property weapons2"
A SERIOUS CASE.
81 suppose | could remember a good
many OF them if / weren't trying to-"
said Mr.. Kennedy, but they don't
occur TO me now. Yes, come TO think
OF it, there was the case of Walter
49, Z - I.,1~ .a&0n y1n1Ir
l called on in Boston two years ago.
He was then robust and hearty for a
man of his years. and we had a most
agreeable time together. The next
season [ was in Boston again, and a
decrepit old fellow came limping to
me and held out his hand: You
don't know me- he said. / had not
recognized him for the reason, per-
haps. that he was wearing blue Cog
giles. Why said he, i AN Walter
Bend 1t was like meeting the ghost
OF the hale fellow of the previous year
and l inquired the cause of his trou-
bic. He told me that he had been
playing in a border piece called The
Bow Ranger, and that the star had
discharged a gun point blank at him
in all Indian battle act, blowing one
OF his eyes completely out of his head.
The other eye had become impaired,
and he was quite blind and altogether
miserable. The sole esource of his
old age was the possibility of getting
damages from the theatre in which
the accident had taken place."
Booths REALISM
The stage has many traditions of
the injury done his fellow actors by
Junius Brutus Booth. when in the
- - f,~-, o lie ~,<~fo ~
MI. Kennedy, who often saw the elder
Booth, and was on intimate terms
with his son, John Wilkes, thinks
that some of the tales are exaggera-
tions. at is certain, however" said
he. that the wise player did not ven
ture too close to Mr.. Booth in scenes
where he was armed, for he was gem
orally absorbed in his part. His ten
dency at such times was uncomfort-
ably realistic, l can't say that he
ever hurt anybody, but he once raced
a swordsman all over the stage at
Richmond, Va, and finally sent him
fiying over the foot lights into the au-
dience. The man saw blood in the
~tragedian's eye and simply stood from
under. On the whole the profession
thought it was the proper thing for
him to do under the circumstances"
DO l know of any cases where
actors have been cut or shot on the
stage"? said Charles Dickson, as he
put the finishing touches on his cos
tune. well, there was the case of
Frank Frayne and the woman whose
life he took in his William Tell act.
You remember that Frayne was a
markslnan, and shot an apple from
the head OF a female character in the
play. l forget the ACTRESSES name, but
She was Frayne's betrothed. He had
performed the sharpshooting feat with
her hundreds of times, but finally
grew careless and sent a bullet through
her5brain. Frayne was tried and ac-
Quilted. He vowed he would never
dothe act again. but IN less than a
year he was at it as usual.
BOB billiards ADVENTURE.
.sThen there was Bob billiards adj
venture. 1t can't be more than a
year ago that billiard was playing in
a military piece called Across the
Potomac There was a military de-
tachment on the stage to do the firing,
49, - .s..,~ = nfrAc Hillro y6