The times., 1897-06-28
H0EY's SHATTERED MIND
The Actor Forgets All But
Friends Of By-Gone Days.
DREAD GRIP OF PAREsIs
"OId Hoss" Following Along the
Dark Valley in Which Mccullough
and Scanlan Were Overwhelmed
warm-Hearted aud Conyivial to
the Edge of Self-Destruction.

New York, June 27.-Poor Bill Hoey,
"OId Hoss,' is oblivious Ia the present.
His shattered mind-feebler even than ms
attenuatcd body-lives only in the past
He is .'Old Hoss" again, and those vino
surround his bed and care for him are
not his faithful wife and her mother,
but his stage associates OF score OF
years ago.
Yesterday, when his wife smoothed the
counterpaue above his feyeIed limbs,
Bill looked up, with the ghost OF a smile,
and said. thickiy-the faculty Of speech
having almost deserted him:
~ ho're you going with next season,
Haverly?''
II is fully dozen years since JACK
HaveTIy and his MINISTRIES crossed the
professional path of '.Old Hoss."
A cozen times yesterday the dying actor
asked for Charley to come and straighten
out some "business'' for him. OF all the
many friends OF his past his old partner,
Charley Evans, has left the deepest inn
preston ON his brain.
As everybody In the theatrical profession
knows. Charley always looked out for -'Oid
Uoss,'' helped him work up his part. re
bearHcd the company, saw that no detail
Bill to do bis will with the audience and
make merry afterward with the hoys
Bill always knew that his interests were
safe in Charley's hands, and now, when he
is conscious of,a need OF some kind, Charley
is the name readiest to his lips.
The doctors have dread name for the
trouble that has Iotted out the present
for -OId Hoss" They call il paresis. 1t
ed as in that calclum-lighted realm back
OF the fooiIiehts. Although the name Is
compa ratiyely new to laynIen. the trouble
has existed ever since men ceased 20 bat
tie with their abnormal appetites.
1t is during the period covered by the
career OF Bill Hoey that several note
worthy instances have seemed to show that
actors yield more readily TO these enemies
of body and mind than do the members OF
other professions. Among them are the
melancholy rates Of Mccullough and Scan
Ian. McCauIl, the light opera impressario,
and John Russell. the manager OF come
dians, though not actors themselves, yield
ed TO the destroyer of Scanlan and Nc
CuIlough.
Poor ''Old Hoss'' had an abnormal ap-
petite for conviviality. Latteriy he made
practically no resistance TO the enemy and
three days ago. in Mount Clemens, Mich,
he was laid low.
Hanging against the wall of the stair
case In the residence of Mrs. French, Mrs.
Hoey's mother, are several pictures OF Bill
and Charley In their famous characters.
PaSSA,,g up that staircase, yesterday. and
into quiet room. with darkened windows,
one could see on a bed the shadow OF
"0ld Hoss''-only a shadow, but still 'Old
Hoss." His wife and her mother stood
near while he slept, almost for the first
time in several days.
Presently he awoke for moment and
rru'tered name His wife only was
able to distinguish the sluggish syllabies
They were those OF the name OF Charley"
Then some wholly uniBteiligible NUT
terings, and '1OId Hoss' was unconscious
again-mercifuily unconscious, for during
the past forty-eight hours he had been
rackcd by frequent and terrible convul-
sions.
Mrs. French spoke of the gentle and
Iovable nature OF poor Bill.
Il used to beg OF him TO control his de-
sire for drink she said. AT such
times he would say: Mother-fn-iaw, you're
the best fellow in the world And then
IN his playful way he would add, Let's
elope'
when / arrived at Mount Clemens ie
had teen In commissions and did not know
me He objected when I started for the
railway station with him, and demanded
to be told where We were going.
"'we're going TO elope, Bill said
he recognized the old expression, smiled
and went along contentedly.
He has been quieter today, but requires
constant attention, his mind appearing to
he completely beyond control. When he
says few words they are invariably about
the stage and his stage associates. Some
times shemoveshis hands graeefglly-he was
always graceful-as though in gesticu-
lation, and we know that he imaginss him
self on the stage again. Poor Bill never
had truer friend than his old partner,
Charley Evans, and his name is often on
his lips.
Unless he becomes yiolent-which seems
he is 90 weak-we shall cen tiniue
to care for him here at hone.''
Dr. Chapman, of No. 1 Fl West One Hum
dred and Twentieth street, is attending
Mr.. Hoey, but is not ready to say more
than that his patient was suffering from
paresis-