The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-01-27
WHERE BOOTH LIVED
THE OLD COTTAGE on TELEGRAPH
HILL AT SAN FRANCISCO.
Memoirs of the Gifted Family of Ac-
tors Recalled on the Pacific Coast,
Where They Long Resided.

There is a little house on Telegraph
| Hill. commanding noble view of San
| Francisco bay and it's shores. which
| could tale unfold had it's walls but
| ears and tongues. The cottage was the
| home in the early fifties and for many
| years of the historic Booth family.
| Many of the best people of the city
| lived on Telegraph Hill in those days.
and the neighborhood was a sort of
| headquarters for the theatrical folk.
| To the pretty home on the hill Junius
| Brutus Booth, the younger, took his
wife and little daughter. who is still
| living.
Mary Booth, the wife, was young.
| beautiful and beloved. She was a clever
/ actress, too, and it was her husbands
| delight TO see her enact pretty juvenile
roles. as she very frequently did under
| his management. Mrs. Booths death
| was sudden and shocking one, a terri
| BILE blow to man of Booths sensitive
| disposition. Confined to her room by
| slight indisposition, Mrs. Booth, pre-
sumably in a fit of mental alteration.
| drank the perfume from her toilet bot
ties and died from the effect of the
| poisons it contained.
| She was buried in Laurel Hill Gene
| terry, but her memory is green in the
| hearts of many San Francisco people
| who knew and loved her in the old
/ days when her little home overlooked
/ with generous hospitality and with
| good cheer for all the actor people who
| came this way. Mrs. Booth died in the
| early sixties. Years before this Junius
| Brutus Booth, the elder, and young Ed
| win, STRIPPING of nineteen. had come
| to the home of their brother, anxious
| to try their theatrical fortunes in the
| new land of gold and of promise. The
| son June" as he was Familiarity called
| long ago and as he is stilk-tenderly re-
| called by gray-haired men and women
| who have watched forty years of sum
| sets through the Golden Gate, came to
| California in 1849 In 1852 he went back
| to the old home in Maryland for the
| purpose of bringing his father to the
| Pacific coast. The father threatened
| at times by an overhanging cloud of
| insanity had become SO dependent upon
| the boy Edwin that it was not until
(, the latter had been persuaded to &C
company him to California that he
| could make up his mind to undertake
! the long journey. Finally the little
| party took ship at New York, and after
thirty-seven days sailing they arrived
| in San Francisco in July, 1852.
] TRYING THEIR FORTUNE.
! Booth made his first appearance at
/ the OlQ Jenny IlilQ IHedleI.
| and June" both appeared with their
| father, Edwin taking such parts as
| Laertes, Richmond and Jaffier.
| After a highly successful engagement
| Of four weeks at the Jenny Lind the
! Booths went to Sacramento. The Jenny
| Lind Theater site had been purchased
| for the City Hall and the building was
| to be torn down. The Sacramento en-,
gagement was a financial failure. and
the reception, though kind and cordial.
| fell so far short of the enthusiasm and
| rapture of the San Franciscans as to
| prove a great disappointment. In Sep
/ TENDER Booth played to overlooking
| houses at the Adelphi Theater. Edwin
| had, during the California tour, shown
| such talent and promise that his father
| determined to leave him to carve out a
| career for himself in the great West.
| and that he should not be overshadowed
| by the greatness of his noble and Ia
| nous father.
Before the parting the father pre-
scented to June the Richards crown
| which he had treasured for many years.
| saying, with painful significance, that
he should not much longer need it.
| The young men saw their father set
sail for home in October with the great
est grief. He was in the best of health.
but the love his children bore him was
very great, and perhaps there was a
| premonition that the parting on board
the Brother Jonathan was final.
After the departure of his father
| young Edwin set out upon tour to
Nevada and to the mountain towns of
| California, then of vastly more inn
portance and population than at pres
ent. There was a little company of
| which d. w. Waller was manager and
star actor. The enterprise was most
! unfortunate from the beginning. and
the party encountered storms. disap-
pointments and disasters. AT Grass
| Valley terrible snowstorm made all
the inhabitants of that mining town
prisoners. and the players, with all the
people Of Grass Valley, were in danger
oe starvation.
GUESSED THE TRUTH.
Already lonely and disheartened
enough, young Edwin Booth received
one stormy night the news of his faith
er's death. 1t was brought by one of
those hardy stage drivers who Were
the heroes of the mining camps, but
who journeyed this time without his
vehicle Edwin's intuition was SO won
derfully keen that when a friend came
to him in his lodgings to break the news
| of his bereavement the boy read the
message in his comrades grave face
and exclaimed, before word had been
| spoken, my father is dead"
| A group of hardy men soon organ
| lied an expedition to escape from the
snow prison. and Edwin joined them
| and walked fifty miles to Marysville
where he arrived wretched and desti-
tute BY some means the boy managed
to continue the journey to San Fran
cisco, and one can imagine that the hit
| tie home on Telegraph Hill was to him
a haven and refuge of peace. q
Junius had news from home.y The
| body of the beloved parent had beer
| inferred at Baltimore. The mother
sent brave messages to her sons to the
effect that they must stay on in Cali
fornia if fortune favored them there
and this they decided to do. The elder
Booths last appearance in California
was at the AdelDhi Theater. but upor
| his arrival in New Orleans he was sc
well and so full of ambition that he
decided to play at the st. Charles
Theater He played Sir Edward Morti
mer in 1.-The Iron Chest for six nights
running, beginning Nov. 10. He took 9
severe cold in New Orleans and dice
ON a Mississippi river steamboat or
Nov. 80 while trying to reach Cincin
natl. He was but fifty-seyen years ole
and seemed to be at the zenith of hi:
| powers
There are many people in the city
still who were intimately acquainted