The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1898-05-22

aiiG tne man n the morg9e.
AS TO the exact date. that doesn't cut any
particular figure. except that it was a.
tine OF year when the theatrical season
was in full blast. and was NOT so long ago
that the memory OF man Of this generation
cannot compass 1t. The late John W. Nor
ton was in control OF the Grand opera
house, and he and several personal friends
were doing the raii-bird act watching
the show. Suddenly John suggested:
Let's go get drink. never see that
woman on the stage that I don't have TO
have drink
Some OF them went. some didn't; they
preferred to watch the buxom woman do
her unctuous. undusating walk and hear
her sing:
Some folks say dat a Niger won't steal.
Want all de chillun for to follow me-
Bnt 1 eo;eh one In my corn-fier.
Hally, hally. haily, haIlelujah.
And they stayed TO hear the song
through. and they applauded and Joined in
the demand for more Of the righteousness
and undulation and the song, new
conner joined the group and attracted the
| attention OF one OF the raiI-birds long
enough to say:
They've identified that man In the
morgue."
Which one?'
The young fellow found lying dead in
the gutter on Walnut street."
"Oh. yes. Who is hee'
An old card of membership In the Sons
on veterans shows his name to have been
Inomas Clark. He was printer
And she responded 10 the encore with the
same roilicking sort OF nalf romp OF a
walk across the stage. and sang:
Hear dem bells, don't you hear dem bells,
nlnslh out de glory OF de lamb.
The next day was Saturday, and there
was a matinee. at which she sang the same
songs and romped about the stage in an
eiephantine sort of way, for her footsteps
were anything but fairylike. even in those
days. Her turn brought her on with these
songs at $40. and she was on for twenty
Two minutes. 1t was just 3:15 when the
city undertaker's dump cart drove up to
the morgue and the corpse of Tom Clark
was tossed into Ii and hauled away to the
city ditch for the dead
This Is stage door story:
Some years ago-not so many that most
or US cannot remember 1.-THE Theater
Comique fourished on Pine street, east OF
Fourth 1t was not called vaudeville then,
but specially performers, attractive of face
and figure. nimble of limb, musical OF voice
and deft of heel and toe. did their turns
pretty much As they do now at the vaude-
vile playhouses. while the people in front
looked and laughed and drank beer and
smoked, and did pretty much as they
pleased. so long as the law was not trans
crossed and the policemen who drifted in
and out were not made to blush. True.
the law was transgressed once, and Mabel
Hall weltered and wallowed In her own
blood in the wine room. This little incident
was closed by the sending Of Edgar Moore
to the penitentiary. The girls body was
buried the wine room floor was washed,
and the turns followed eacn other on the
stage, and the audiences consumed beer
and cigars to the limit OF their ability to
h.rx, g.
ton or the law; this time the drink dis
pense- In the bar took the fatal bath of
blood and in due course the account was
balanced by the hanging of Billy Wieners
the man who shot the barkeeper Other
things similar In kind, though of less i'm
portance in criminal history. happened in
and about the Theater Comique, but these
killings and criminalities have no special
bearing on this stage door story Old
timers will tell you that no more popular
team ever capered about the Comioue's
stage or caroled to the Comiques audi
ences than the Irwin sisters. May and Flo
In the language OF the stage they won
the town. and all 1.-THE boys" were at
their feet. fguratively IL not actually.
They drew like a blast furnace" and
made money for the manager and fame for
themselves. They flourished as the flowers
In spring. and the roses of June were never
more radiant than May, the head OF The
team.
And this Is the tale of typo:
In the days when type was set by hand
there came from of the Kansas prairies TO
81. Louis youthful student or the art
preservative. Student he was in fact, for
he had scarcely mastered the beginnings
of his trade. his only opportunities having
been found within the narrow haunts OF a
country printing office. Lcng of limb and
lean OF figure. he was not a particularly
comely lad. but his eye was bright and his
forehead high. and he had spirit and ambi-
ton, and his eagerness 20 learn was vel
seconded by his ability to turn what he
learned TO practical account He soon
held cases" in the composing room OF one
OF the largest dailies, and IN a very short
time was acknowledged a No. l compost
tor. Ungainly and a bit awkward In the
iil-htting clothing he had brought with him
from the prairie. he did not find favor in
the eyes of the few females with whom he
came in contact. Bus IN his dress, as In
everything else. he developed. His shock
ing bad hat In time gave place 10 a tile OF
fashionable make and becoming shape
With lighter shoes be appeared less awk-
ward. Trousers that showed there was
one tailor who knew his business and
coat OF a less cumbersome cut gave him
I quite the appearance of a gentleman So
gradually was this transformation made
covered only a few months-not quite a
year. In like manner did the country boy
evolve into an expert eompositor, and
when he came 10 he considered as a mat
ter OF course. the best dressed man in the
shop" equally as matter OF course he
was looked upon as the best printer. whose
string was the longest, and whose ex-
pertness brought his wages 10 the ton
no:ch-eight and sometimes a dozen dol
lars a day. when the average was 81 50 10
S. This was in the coed old times when
everything was measured" and "rule and
figure work was price and half and
double price: wheE the lad men, bid
high. bonuses were plentiful and the
''phat went round Any ancient typo
will tel you about il.
Well Tom was doing quite we'll. Then
the foreman noticed that there was a
sub on slug IL" more regularly than the
regular" The rule that a regular
must work four days week went into
effect and 4 was noticed Tom ehafed I'M
der il. Time brought other changes as
time has ever done since the scythe began
TO reap the crop OF years from the field of
eternity Tom became a borrower ~