The islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1891-1899, 1894-10-25
STAGE ACCIDENTS
PERiLs FROM THE CARELESS ,,c-
PROPERTY WEAPONS.

L
/ PROPERTY WEAPONS.
Few Fatalities, but Many Very Narro
ospes-Ths Greatest Danger Is From -
Inexperienced ''supers" Who FAT,
/ low Instructions.
The tragic ending of the charade ,nu,..
| young Mccoy lost his life from an aoo aica
tai dagger wound in the heart. :pfl;ctaasaa'
Miss Clara King, was the subject of ~. NY
eral comment among actors s'~
| M. A. Kennedy, the veteran comoa;.
said that the tragedy could not bavaoaaa,
to pass had the amateurs known q s..
stage tricks. Real daggers are neverra lew
! by the profession" said he, Though 70 s
spectators in the orchestra chairs the h.s Wv
shat clash in Caesars body seem verv ra",
What is commonly used Is the pronass-
dagger. the blade of which is controllad "
a spring and runs upthe handle when ~.
point is struck against the body of the stans
victim. Sometimes a dagger with oas.
| iron blade and blunt end is employed bn:
the spring dagger is the most satisfactorv
$50 much care is taken to exclude edcos
tools from the mimic warfare of the stage y
continued Mr.. Kennedy, that the use y,
| the poinard gives us small concern. VIVA,
we really dread is the musket in the hand
of an excited actor or q careless 'supe,
bear a vivid recollection of havingm conn
| tenance filled with powder and burnin,
wads when ! was playing with Lucills
| Western in 1862 at the old National theata,
in Washington. The play was called Tbs
Flowers of the Forest, and had the mart
of Lemuel, young lover. 1t was In tia
play for Lucille to kill me, and she nearly
succeeded. Grasping fowling piece, sbs
discharged it full in my face fell like
log. and as | lay there writhing the Star
placed her foot on my neck and exclaimed
He is mine at lastp felt certain that sbs
was right, for ! thought my final hour had
come. The curtain rang down at the end
Of the scene, and Lucille skipped to her
dressing room without look at me- Nv
head was streaming with blood, and some
body called her back. She gave one look
at me and tainted. always congratulated
her on her realism after that and keptsout
Of the range of her fire."
The stage has many traditions Of the in
fury done his fellow actors by Junius Bru.
tus Booth when in the heat and fury of his
tragic scenes. Mr.. Kennedy, who often
saw the elder Booth and was on intimate
terms with his son, John Wilkes thinks
that some of the tales are exaggerations
1T is certain, however," said he, that the
wise player did not venture too close to Mr..
Booth in scenes where he was armed, for
he was generally absorbed in his part His
tendency at such times was intentionally
realistic. | can't say that he ever hurt any.
body but he once raced a swordsman all
over the stage at Richmond and finally
sent him flying over the footlights into the
audience. The man saw blood in the ira
gedian'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 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 costume yesterday just be-
fore the matinee curtain rang up. 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 marksman and shot an apple from the
head of female character in the play. for
get the actress name, but she was Frayne's
bethrothed. He had performed the sharp
shooting feat with her hundreds of times,
but finally grew careless and sent bullet
through her brain. Frayne was tried and
acquitted He vowed he would never do
the act again, but in less than year he was
at it as usual
'Then there was Bob billiards adven-
ture billiard was playing in military
piece called Across the Potomac There
was militia detachment on the stage to
do firing, and in one of the scrimmages
billiard got full charge of powder and
wad in the right side of the face. He was
badly disfgured, but came on the stagein
a day or two in bandages.
II remember the case Of an actor whose
name j don't remember now, but who
starred in Russian piece. 1t was re-
quiremeut of his part to be shot by squad
of soldiers. The troops were made up Of
the usual assortment of riffraff and one
of them took fair aim at the actor when
the time came for the volley. 1t is always
the rule in such cases for the supers to aim
high, but this one was in dead earnest and
thought he would wing his man.
1.-THE minute the curtain came down the
star let loose a blast of profanity that
caused the paper to wither on the WALL and
then he fired himself at the supe like 10
inch she'll For about three minutes one
would have supposed that a Dublin insur-
rection was in full swing. The Russian
soldier began yelling for help in pure Irish,
aud the rest of the cars forces sounded the
Limerick slogan and piled in. The star
had things his own way, however, and did
not cease until he had left his trademark
on the whole crowd. 1t was the most de
moralized army the car has had since the
CEimean war. and every mothers son Of
them filed out that night with either
bloody nose or a black eye. The star had
not been hurt by the charge, but he might
have been, and he thought it time to teach
the supe lesson in stage etiquette
AS a rule" continued Mr. Dickson,
Incidents rarely happen. The greatest
care is taken with the guns that are placed
in the hands of the stage rabble They
are loaded by the property man and held
in his possession until the time comes to
use them in the play"
During his long theatrical career l.. H.
Stockwell has had various experiences
tired him from duty for several weeks
He was playing in Uncle Toms Cabin"
and an actor fired at him with pistol into
the muzzle OF which the drip from tai
low candle had fallen. The tallow tore
through Stockwells hat and wig, burying
itself in his scalp. A piece of it also bit
his arm and badly lacerated it.
At another time Mr. Stockwell was
ss.Axfed and driven off the stage by crazy
supernumerary. He was on again when
Donald Mckay. the half breed chief OF the
Warm Spring Indians. who had been in.
duced to take a box at the performance OF
q piece based on the Modoc war, leaped on
the stage and started in on a private scalp
ing exhibition of his own.
In 1869, when Daniel Bandmann was play