The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-01-21
ANACONDA NEWS.
THE TROUBLES OF JACK
Evalyn Gordon Makes Tt Inter-
esting for Charlie Wells.
SHE USED AN UMBRELLA
The Difficulty Arose Over Division of
the Box Office Receipts of the Rail-
road Jack" Performances at
the Union Theater.

Railroad jack married a widow on
the stage at the Union Family theater
on Wednesday. and yesterday morning
the widow. like a good many other wild
oWs before her. got mad at Railroad
Jack and proceeded to knock him out
of existence by the vigorous use of an
umbrella, applied about Jacks head.
The little family jar of yesterday morn
ing occurred on Main street. and there
was more fun in the side show than
Railroad jack made in the Union all
the time he was there.
The story of how the play came up is
a long one. 1t appears that since the
Railroad jack show left Chicago its
path has been bestrewn with more diff
ficultieS than a circus without an eie-
plant. In the first place the company
had a manager whose name Is w. p.
Collins. The company also had an adj
vance agent whose name is F. NJ. Jour
dan. Mr.. Jourdan started out ahead of
the company and arranged for their
appearance through Minnesota and Da-
kota. A week or so ago Jourdan and
couple of trunkfus of paper struck
Butte. Now, Jourdan had not been
billing Railroad jack TO the satisfac-
ton of Mr.. Collins, and as a result, Mr..
Collins wired Jourdan at Butte that his
services would be dispensed with. In
order to get little satisfaction. Jour
dan expressed his trunkfuls of paper to
Collins at Anaconda, and tackled on a
c. o. d. for about $50 There was
law suit to recover the trunks from the
express company, and Collins finally got
the paper by putting up a $3.50 bond.
When Collins came to Butte he APP
pointed John Burton as his advance
agent, and John is now fixing news
papers up north and the company is no
more.
While the advance agent trouble was
one of the many trials of Railroad
Jack" the real difficulty did not begin
until Collins and his company struck
Butte a week ago. Dick Sutton had
made contracts with Railroad Jack" to
play the Union theaters at both Butte
and Anaconda. When the company
closed at Butte, the performers refused
to come to Anaconda unless they were
paid at least portion of the salary
that was coming to them. They assert
ed that Collins had a faculty for freez-
ing onto all of the box office receipts,
and that he had displayed huge roll
of bills while they were jumping side
wise to eat. Uncle Dick Sutton, seeing
that the original contract could not be
carried out, made a proposition to the
actors to come to Anaconda under his
supervision. They We're to take rs per
cent. of the gross receipts While he was
to get % per cent. 1t was then under
stood that Collins had nothing further
40 do with the company in a manage
rial way, as Uncle Dick had made his
arrangements with the players them
selves. But Collins has a wife, whose
stage name is Evalyn Gordon. and she
was one of the performers, playing the
part of the widow. Evalyn was under
salary as an actress and she came with
the company TO Anaconda.
Collins also came and made bluff at
managing the affairs of the show. but
it is stated that he had nothing what
ever to do with it. Be that as it may,
Collins got in on the receipts in some
way, and that is where the real trouble
began. Mrs. Sutton, who has charge of
the Anaconda house, went good for the
eompany's board and lodging and each
night the bills would be paid by her.
and the balance of the money retained
until the end of the engagement. The
company was booked to play three
nights, and they had packed houses
each night. though why they did is a
mystery difficult of solution.
There were murmurs of discomfort
among the players that Collins was per-
mitted to be in on the game, and on
Wednesday Uncle Dick came down
from Butte to see what the trouble was
about. He soon saw that there was a
storm brewing. and being a very eau
tious man, Uncle Dick appointed Frank
Linden as his representative, and he
went back to Butte. 1t was decided be-
tween Lindon and the members of the
company. that after the performance on
Wednesday night there should be a
settlement, and there was. After every
body had gone home the players gath
cred upon the stage, and bringing a
table to the front, began to talk matters
over Lindon had not yet arrived and
Collins produced two statements. One
showed that on Monday night the house
was worth $751;, and on Tuesday night
something less. He suggested that a
settlement be made as speedily as pos
sble in order that the thing could be
disposed Of
Just at this point Lindon arrived and
he too had statements. His statements
showed that Mondays house was worth
1851, and that on Tuesday night, ac-
cording to Lindons statement the
house was worth $11 more than was
shown by Collins paper.
Where did you get those state
ments?" said Lndon.
Il got them from Mrs. Sutton" said
Collins. Where did you get yours p
Il too got mine from Mrs. Sutton,
and her signature is attached to them
Is her signature also attached to
yourso"
No: but got them from her, and if
there is anything wrong ii is her fault, =
said Collins.
Hold on" said Lindon. Il am Mr..
Sutton's representative in this matter
and you can't ring in anything against
this house or its management, for If
YOU do. you and / will mix
man was sent for Mrs. Sutton. and
he soon came back with the informa :
ton that Mrs. Sutton had said that she