Omaha daily bee., 1893-01-09
NEWS FROM COUNCIL BLUFFS
Edward Felix 0ogley Comes Forward with
an Irish Comedy-Drama
BRIEF SKETCH OF HIS MAIDEN PLAY
How Myles, the Boatman. Aids In Foiling
Designing Ni!lain-Weil Told story of
Deep INTEREST," VIII soon he
Acted.

Council Bluffs has had sons and daughters
who have composed operas, painted pictures,
written love stories and wooed the poetic
muse, but never until now has she had a son
who aspircd to fame as writer of plays.
Or if any of her children did have aspira-
tions in that direction, they kept them so
far under lock and key that no newspaper
ever dared TO mention them For the past
six morths, unknown to any but his intimate
friends, Mr. Ed +, Cogley of this city has
been working at odd times on play which
will be put on the stage within the next two
months.
Those who arc acquainted with Mr. Cog
ley and his preferences need hardly be told
that the play is a specimen of Irish comedy
drama. or that it affords opportunities for
man with Il clever brogue among his per-
sonal effects to distinguish himself. Mr.
Coglcy has made study of the Irish dialect
for years, and away back in the middle ages
somewhere he had relative who was a son
of the "ould sod The proclivity of this
old gentleman (who has long since gone to
rest), for making bulls crops out frequently
in the work of his descendant. Moreover
the piece was written by Mr. Coglcy with a
view to its production with himself in the
title role, and as lie pridcs himself
ON his ability to talk Irish so
hucntly that man right from the
Emerald isle would not know what he was
driving at, the piece naturally has something
of a flavor of his own personality
The inscription on the title page is as fol-
lows; "Myles Ma Bodare; or The Boatman
of i<insac An Irish Comedy Drama in four
Acts, by Edward Felix Cogley." The name
of the hero was suggested to the author by a
poem from the pen of Thomas Osborne
Davis. a well known Irish poet of the past,
but the plot is original. That is it is as or
ignal as most plays of the kind for it fol-
lows conventional lines The heavy villain
and his unsclupuous pal, the ruined abbey
and the packet of valuable papers are all
there, but the manner of putting them to
gether is somewhat new, and new bits of
banter and patriotic eloquence are put in the
mouths of the different characters, weaving
the whole into story of great interest and
exhibiting powers of dramatization that may
lead the author on to something better in the
future
Story of Much Interest.
Mylcs, whose part is to be taken by the
author in the coming production, is an Irish
peasant, very much in love with Mona
Dwyer and, like most people in his situa-
ton, thinks that everyone else is afflicted
with the same form of disease as himself
| Kate Condor is an heircSS whose father.
having left his home and gone to Montana
to indulge his propensity for the wild life of
miner, has run across one Gerald Conway.
| An accident in mine lays Condor on his
death bed, but before his death he cntrusts
| to Conway package of papers in which his,
Condon's right, and therefore the right of
! his daughter Kate. to the Kelly
estate back in Ireland is set
| forth. Young Conway Immediately takes the
name of Gerald Kelly, and goes back to Ire
| land to introduce himself as the prodigal
son. Kate knows nothing of her identity,
| the late squire had moved in only shortly be-
fore his death and there seems to be moth
ing to hinder him from marrying Kate. SO
l,,,t tl,,, Oh.
show the false part he had been playing he
would still have control of the estate by
right of marriage and could snap
his fingers at those who would
take it away from him: In talk,
ing to himself after his arrival in the vale OF
kinsale, which, by the way, is located on the
sea coast, twenty-five miles south of Cork
he is overheard by Owen Flint, who recog
nizes in the alleged new landlord the Gerald
Conway for whom he had assumed priestly
robes a few years before and united in !;
mock marriage to Grace Harlan, who upor
learning the state of affairs, had put hei
brother on his trail and compelled him tc
fee to America in order to avoid the conse
| quences of his misdeeds. Upon beins
reminded of the little escapade, Kelly
takes Flint into his confidence
having received the latter's promise of as
sistance in his nefarious schemes. He lcarn
that years before kate's father had left he
paper in which was told the secret of he
BIRTH and which was TO be opened on he
eighteenth birthday, now two weeks distant
If Kelly can steal these papers he won't hav
to marry the girl, and he soon learns tina
they have been concealed by the girl in
ruined abbey i'll order that they may not b
destroyed by fire or other casualty.
Foling the Villyun.
Walter Leslie, an artist and writer O
a magazine, is an interesting character j
the play. He has fallen i'll love with Kate
the heiress, and during his stay at Kinsal
he recollects having seen Conway, ALA
Kelly when he was sent to Montana t
sketch the mine horror in which her fathe
lost his life In an interview with Kate h
also discovers resemblance in Conway
the picture of the handsome young Office
who had been implicated in the mock MAJ
riage to her old school friend, Grace Harlan
Leslie, seeing that the new landlord is deter
mined to win from him Kate's affections
possible, patches up scheme, with the al
of Kate, to induce Grace to come and ider
tify him as her betraycr.
Myles the boatman, upon being asked fC
advice decides that in order to keep tn
l new landlord from suspecting the mine tina
is being prepared under his feet Kate mus
, give him announcement. Distasteful as tn
is to both Kate and her genuine lover the su,
gestion is adopted Kate gives Kelly pa
tial promise and leaves the town to meet he
old school friend. During her absenc
+ Myles plants himself on guard at the RUNE
} abbey to thwart the plans of the heavy vi
Q papers as soon as night falls. The villai
and his pal try to get rid of the sturdy Irsl
{ man, but without success, and Myles final
( discovers the mysterious packet, carries
off and sends it TO Kate, who finds in
= proofs that her name is not Kate Condo
but Kate Kelly and that she is the real he
1 to the estate which Kelly, the villain, is tr
o ing to take away from her.
, In the meantime her love affair with Kel
, has progressed so far that the wedding da
. is set. On it, however, instead of marryiI
1 Kelly she announces herself as the re
/ Kelly, and Grace Harlan presents herse
and Identifies Gerald Kelly as her betraye
Seeing that all was up, Kelly pulls gun al
Y aims at Leslie, who shoots him in the wri
without removing his hand from his pocke
explaining his action to the ladies as IA Ii
tie accomplishment resulting from sever
years experience as frontier newspap
man" The usual number of marriages tn,
take place and the happy denouement
4 ascribed To the ingenuity of Myles ma Bodar
a who is himself one of the lucl1yst inc
viduals.
> the play abounds with Irish wit, which
y so cleverly introduced as to add greatly
q the natural interest of the play. The Inn
! fail Philharmonic and Dramatic societ
which has already done some very clev
work in the line of amateur theatricals, h
undertaken the production of the wol
II which will be in about six weeks. Both