The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1896-06-23
ONCE A QUEEN.
Downfall Of the Once Charming Jennie
WOrrell.
From Opulence and Fame Down to the
Cutters of New York and
the Work-House.

the Work-House.
| The nights dragnet had been hauled
! in full and the Harlem Police Court
presented a busy appearance. The at
tendants looked sleepy, for Magistrate
Crane keeps early Court, out his Honor
was in fretful temper, and his frowns
and chances kept clerks and officers
| moving from spot to spot, as nervously
and restlessly as drops of spilled quick
silver-and with as much intelligence
| The indistinct murmur of voices died
away and the prisoners jostled one an
| other to regain their places in the line
Ia the pushing ragged woman lost her
place and found herself, for a moment.
standing alone, apart from the others
Get back therel" cried the attend
ant. The woman grinned at him and
allowed herself to be pushed into her
place with the others.
The fumes of drink had not yet left
her head and, after leering at her fell
| W-prisonerS for a few moments, she
| lurched out of the line again. Then the
| policeman who had brought her there
rather than be troubled with keeping
her in order, took her by the arm and,
amid the grumbling of other policemen,
who, by right, We're ahead of him, led
her to the railing before the Magistrate
and mumbled:
Drunk and disorderly, your Honor "
| The woman had black eyes that shone
| like glowing Goals in their pallid set
! ting-startlingl bright eyes, yet
| strangely repulsive-and beyond that
| there was nothing remarkable in her
appearance, save her air of utter degra-
| dation. She came from the gutter and
| the impress of the gutter was upon
her. Her hair was gray and thin, her
| skin wrinkled, she was old, very old,
and her eyes were wonderful-how they
burned and glOwed.
The Magistrate looked at the paper,
! held it close to his eyes and frowned.
] The name was blurred and he could not
make it out.
Your name?" he asked in a perfume
! tory manner. The woman cOughed,
looked up at him, then cast down her
eyes and said:
Jennie Worrell'
The frown left the Magistrates face,
and he sat up straight He looked at
| the woman for a moment, and then he
| looked over her head into vacancy, and
repeated softly:
Jennie Worrell."
The woman clutched the railing,
swayed unsteadily for moment, and,
with a leer, said:
Hard to believe isn't it, Judge?"
| The Magistrate started, looked at her
again, slowly signed his name upon the
paper, and then hesitated between
writing above it the word Discharged"
or ''Ten days" They are keen, those
| habitues of the police courts and the
woman knew what was in the Magis-
trate's mind.
I've got no home, your honor" she
said quickly. Thereupon he promptly
wrote 'Ten days" and the woman, with
gratified leer, was led away.
Thirty years ago all this town was
talking of a beautiful girl whom they
called the Queen of Burlesque." She
was young and had diamonds and low
ers and fame, and her name was Jen-
ME Worrell. She reached a hight that
| few women attain, and-but let me tell
you the story:
Many years ago there was a sprightly
clown who travelled from place to place
over the island of England making the
people laugh, and winning money and
fame for himself. His name was Will
lam Worrell, and when, in the early
forties he came to this country, he
found that every circus proprietor
knew him and wanted him.
Billy Worrell married an actress who
bore him three beautiful daughters
Sophie, Irene and Jennie. Born of par
ents whose only life was between the
| or 10Th c nd
breathing in infancy the atmosphere of
the circus and the stage, it was only
natural that these girls should develop
at an early age strong powers of MINI
icry, a fondness for music and dancing
and a weakness for display.
In 1858 the Worrells, father, mother
and the girls, who were then 10, 8 and
s years old, respectively, went to Cali
fornia, where at THE Willows" a
pleasure resort near San Francisco.
they sang and danced, and became ex-
cedingly popular.
In those days, when the land was not
overrun with vaudeville performers,
popularity meant more to the people of
/ the stage than it does to-day The Wor-
rell sisters, for instance, were made
| honorary members of the fire depart
ment of the settlement in which, they
were performing, rode in full uniform
with the old machine on gala occa-
sions, were feted, praised, invited
| everywhere and smiled upon by all the
| little world in which they moved.
About this time spectacular bur-
! lesque made it's way into this country
from England, and an old theatrical
manager named Tom Mcguire induced
the Worrells to take it up. Billy Wor
rell thereupon took lease of the Olvm-
pic Theater and produced "The Inyis
| ible Prince" 1t had immediate sue
cess and the Worrells became rich. In
| 1866 the three sisters were induced to
come East, and on April Both thew an
| peared in this city in what was then
known as Woods Theater. afterva rd
| Iarrigan & Harris Theater Comio,e
| to-day gone and forgotten. with nothing
but a deserted structure on Broadway,
near Aston place, called "Old London
Streets" to mark the spot where it
stood.
| OF the three sisters, Jennie, who was
| the youngest, was the prettiest. the
| liveliest, the most bewitchins and the
most popular. She was still very Young
but her figure was developed to mature
| proportions, while the roguish twinkle
OF her eye and the deviltry and abandon
of her dancing and of every gesture were
| far beyond her years. This pretty crea-
ture, just past 17-there were no Gerrys
in those days, you must remember-had
| all the seductive manners of a French
danseuse of twice her age, and the re-
suit was that the town went wild over
| her.