The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1894-07-25
TRAGEDY OF
THE STAGE.
r,,,, The xer YORK word.

asro they are A. fresh in my memory
If they had occurred bat Yesterday
II was in 80 that / first bec-lIiie
stss.--rr1ek. How / got upon the
Hosrds nv struggle upward, my hard
sbip-. nav I.attle-s, all these l need not
reiste. II i sufficient 10 say that at
the end Of five years / found myself
ulaving legitimate business in sIilah
western company and AZ a small saia-
~ The star and manager Was a
cJever fellow named Whiting he
had @eraped together a little money,
and started out 10 make name Tor
himself. A. vel he was unknown, eX-
.,ept in a few of the smaller western
towns. hut he seemed 10 be on the way
10 prosperity and fame. His houses
were always good and his audiences ell
thusiastic-
out Of the profession Whiting was
nice. gentlemanly fellow, immensely
liked by everyone with whom he came
in contact. He paid a. good salaries
A. ne could afford, and had a fair COM
panv. HI. wife was our leading lady,
and she was one Of the most beautiful
women / have ever seen Her photo
graph, when displayed around town,
was equal 20 so a night in the box Of
fee
Whiting adored her; nothing was too
good for her in his eye~. She loved
him. too, perhaps, bat not with the
passionate adoration he bestowed upon
her.
Well, cur tour was one grand triUm-
phal march. We had quite an ambi-
tious Repertoire, among the plays We
presented lseing Hamlet, - Merchant
II Venice Monte Cristo.' "Pink
Dominon and '.X'irginius- / mention
the latter play thus prominently be
ssiu>e il bears a prominent part in my
story. ] was doing the Juvenile parts
-IacTtss in .'HamIetr aud Icilus, the
man with whom Virginia was in love
] was always delighted when I had
chance 70 embrace the lovely Mr..
Whiting. even Ia show. for ! greatly
admincd her, IL did all the young fel-
lows Of the eompany; but though she
ehatted and laughed and listened to
our compliments she kept everyOn At
distance until Kenton esime.
Al the end of our first season there
were some change made in the COM
pany. Whiting engaged Harold Ken
ton 20 do the ''heavie-," filled in the
rest of the cast well enough and away
we started again.
Things went more sno0thly with u
than ever Salaries were higher and
receipts larger. But before We had
been out long began 10 notice a grow
ing friendship letween Mrs. Whiting
and kcnton. A. time went on their
intimacy increased, until it was the
talk Of the company. Only one per-
son SEEMED blind "a it, and that was
Whiting himself None Of IL liked
kenton much. He was an unpleasant
sneering sort Of fellow, though a good
actor, and, a. you may suppose, great /
a. william. But he had a way with /
women which took with them inl- /
mensely, and little by little. by means /
of his smooth tongue and compliment /
AIRY speeches, lac ingatitaied himself /
with Mrs. Whiting. She meant no /
harm-that I'll swear-but il looked /
lad.
Well, one cold day in December /
found u in little town Of some l2,OOO I
or l4,O0 inhabitants. We did not ex- 1
Pecf much Of hOuSe, bu; on arriving /
al the place We discovered that the ad- /
vance sales had been large, and the
chances were that We should have big
audience The play was 10 De- .'Vir-
ginius"
was sitting in the Office al the hotel
that afternoon reading a paper. The
house was - constructed that the only 4
Way to leave il was through the Office.
Presently Mrs Whiting entered. She
wore her hat and cloak, and asked if
she were going cut.
fes," she answered, with the bright 4
smile peculiar 10 her. John Is asleep
upstairs, and want breath Of fresh
air
''Gcody' said /. laying down my pa
per. THAT i what Tm after I'll 20
with yon"
'No, no." she said, quickly, Il
couldn't think Of troubling you, Mr..
Jephsan. have some shopping to do,
and II prefer 10 go alone
As you please, +" said |, feeling de
eideily snubbed, and picking up my
paper again.
She went out. She had been gone
hardly 10 minutes when in came Whit
ing.
''Halloa, old man, cried in sur
prise. Il thought you were asleep"
He did not answer, but strobe over
20 where / sat saw that his ewes
were inhamed and bloodshot- He
elutched me by the arm-by Jove, it
was black and blue for week after
Wards-and when he spoke his voice
tremblesi:
You have seen my wife, he asked.
''Why, yes" said I. '-She passed
through here not a quarter Of an hour
ago
(which way did she gos''
told him.
shes gone To meet that VILLAIN
him. he said.
''Him- Whonl2 What do YOU mean9''
Don't pretend you don't under
stand = lac shouted, turning upon me
fieroely. ..DO you think I'm a foole
Haven't watched her day after dav
and week after week Haven't l been
laughing stock Of the whole company
and all bec3use-because my wife l.
fal~e to nles''
He buried his face in his hands and
sobted aloud
Come, Whiting, Gomez said. try
ing 70 sOOthe him. Calm yourself.
man. II may not be - had a. you sup
pose"
How could il be any worses'' ne
asked, almost implOringly. Then.
fiereely, "But I'll have his life, III
Kill him a. / would a shaker
He started OFF with savage purpose.