The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-04-02
.rHRouGH THE BRBAKERs.,
A Season of Melodramn at the Grand
Opera House.

| A Season of MelOdrama at the Grand
Opera House.
Melodrama will succeed comedy at the
Grand, and local theater-goers will be
] transferred from the rural fields of New
England to the more realistic scenes of
| the sea shore. Through the Breakers, y
! thrilling melodrama from the pen of
| Owen Davis, will afford the attraction at
the Grand, commencing tonight at 8:15.
| In company scenic effects and other de-
tails the production is promised to be the
most pretentious of its kind seen here in
some time. Through the Breakers" is
described as a melodrama of intense in
tercst 1t is in four acts and is from the
! pen of Harvard man, named Owen
Davis, and is in the hands Of a competent
company of players.
In brief the story Is as follows: Maude
Radford (played by that clever and we'll
known actress, Maude Banks) is an
orphan, living under the care of her aunt,
Miss Turner. Peter Turner, Maudes
second cousin, wishes to marry her, but
she refuses him, which refusal he takes
much to heart. Outwardly, Turner Is a
highly respected member of society, but
in reality, is the moving spirit of a gang
of smugglers and wreckers who are MAX
ing that part of the English coast their
home Maude is afraid of Turner and is
in love with Stephen Douglas, young
telegraph clerk. Douglas and Maude
are secretly married by the Rev Charles
Movie but a little later Maude Is forced
to tell Turner of her marriage in order
to stop his continued advances. Driven
desperate by this news, Turner ends by
stabbing Douglas and having Maude car
ried to the cave Of his friends, the snug
glers. In this cave. Maude makes friend
Of a rough old sailor and by his aid
finally manages to escape to a passing
ship by means of a life basket suspended
over the sea on a tossing life line; her
newly found friend holding Turner and
his men at bay until her rescue is eff.
fected. Turner, in his endeavor to escape
from the officers who are after him, tries
to lure their ship out on the rocks to
destruction by means of false lights.
Maude and Douglas are warned Of his
purpose and are enabled to change the
lights just In time to save the ship. The
chief sensational events of the play are
the cur1ously arranged telegraph scene
in act second, the escape from the cave
in act third, and fight on a high cliff
in the last act In this scene Douglas
saves Maude from Turner's hands and
fierce fight takes place, ending IN Turner's
being thrown from the cliff just as the
ship passes by. The scenery Is very
elaborate and costly and the comedy
quick and bright.
Tho principal sensational situations in
the new melodrama, Through the
Breakers, ;" are a thrilling escape of the
heroine from a smugglers cave, wherein
she descends on a life line from high
rocky TVlce to a passing ship; an exciting
telegra q scene in which the hero's life
Is savea by his friends ability to read
the message licked out ON a board;
picturesque meeting of an archery club,
gaily costumed; g storm at sea with a
large ship in distress, and a fight on the
high rocks of cliff twenty feet above
the stage. The company is very good
one, being headed by many well-known
people; Maude Banks, Hope Booth, Sol
Aiken, Josie Bacon, Leslie Haskell,
James Bevins, George Middleton, j. H.
Cesar, George De Long and many
others. The scenery and mechanical eff
fects are from the studios of Messrs
Hart & Becker and Claude Hagen, Of
New York, and the play, In spite of SEN
sational scenes, is a melodrama Of strong
and consistent plot, with q large amount
Of good comedy.