The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-10-15
FIRST DEADWOOD THEATRE
EXPERIENCE or THE ACTOR VINO
OPENED the SHOU.
when lie Began to Sing, the Audience he
gan to shoot; Then II Asked Him to
Drink-That Was How II showed
Approyal-A Bad Man who shot 20 Kill,

gan to shoot; Then 1t Asked Him TO
Drink-That Was How IL showed
| Approyal-A bad Man who Shot 20 Kill.
/ PITTSBURG, Oct lA-"Thcse actors who
| spend their time growing about hard work and
low salaries should have been with us in the BLACK
| Hills during the gold excitement in the 'TOs-
| said Frank j. Watson Those were the DAYS
| when performer had 10 make good or be droppcd
| at thc first stop. and IL an audience didn't ike
| you ii was likely 10 shoot you full Of holes before
| you could get into the wings, was the first
performer to appear in Dcadwood. Notice 1hcse
| gray hairs They caused by my fright
that night l will never he SO badly scared
| again and live.
Il had been doing black face song and dance for
| quite few years and the spring Of 1877 found
me working my way back East from tho coast,
| quite a few Of the profession were in Cheyenne
in April when struck the town and We decided
to stay while and spend little Of our money.
Deadwood was just then opening up lively as a
| mining camp II lay sos miles from Cheyenne
| and by every stage coach came news Of nov shoot.
| ings man named McDanicls who had money
| TO toss al the crows came down from Dradwu,d
| one day and announced that he would hire good
| talent to open house at home ] was young
| and the idea struck me about right especially
! when Mechanics Offered me n long contract at SO
week McDaniels hired all he wanted the first
week in April and set out for Deadwood alone
to build his theatre When think Of our troupe
now would like to pit it against some Of the star
| high salared people on the road today In
the first place We had Babe Mcdonald or Polly
| Mcdonald She was a little soubrette who could
! Guidance and sing with any one | have ever
seen or heard She only 10 years of nre
| and pretty as , nictu,c Won, Ca. 49, o." ~
| WAS burned ia destb in , Nan vi. Nv!
| Ncnnroid n,hoa t.,r.. Iis N me- "im
| SkltcS The like mi his IN,
| has never been eou,Iled sincs liz, 49,, ~
drew $3.50 week. Mcdonald is now in Boston.
Then there was Billy Diamond who in black face
| mo-, .i,, , '''''' a' a" 'ouhu
man completed our party
We left Cheyenne about the middle of April
ana made the trip in two days 1t was not until
wood was the embodiment Of evr,v,bin,. torrh
and had So,oons 0nh .or, y. i'ning 'ouEh
every corner When a man got too tough for
any other par, Of the earth he Ned to DcaSwond
II was IN this sort of place that We hired
to open up the first theatre Mechanics had built
was saloon Of course, and he made hit ly an
VIII bnwr,h, d.;,r ~, ~. ~ NV, '" on
I.ino,,s hsh WIN, az az MS car ne solu WI
o'clock when we were to open there were about
500 in the house
|
i shall never forget my impression as pcercd
through that fimsy curtain at the mob 1t seemed
| that every fellow had at least two yuns 4, srLt
| I ,,o, -, 49,, ,sI ~, ,' wv ,i', III 'ts"'
cams in and ,h"r s,i,, I'nAhs Ds,"I' 'nry
,"'' an 'aos ny anu came 'of,h l" 90
,hi NIUE i, song s, ana dance han selected some
| The first verse finished took the CUSTOMARY one
two three step backward preps rat. ~ To- swinging
into my Jig when something happened Ten thmu>
| sand Dewey receptions would NOT convey IN mo .
conception of noise equal to what HAPPENED i
seemed that thousand people were shooting Al me-
Down in front one fellow was standing and 6Iazinc
away like ali possessed i was sure he was pop
ping at me and could almost feel each bullet cut
| ting through me One thing do Iemember and
that is Diamond. who had been waiting in the
for 1heyenne and that he would tel nv T fssnd s
how died l stood there like a fool scared TO
given me the cue Would haV" droppnd dend VIM 1u
out any more fuss After what seemed an etc.
front shouted to me spp'' o"" ''e ''s 'e'''" GOWN
| "'Ye're all right pard an kin lick the moke
ssd ni"f heayam %h d @s an d 6n,
bass voice was as tho whisper Of an angel to mel
but ! was too scared 70 move until heard McDan,
had been only applauding, and had better get
down and take the drink climbed over the foot
| lights and downed some of the awful whiskey
the way those wild devils had Of appIaudng vi II
| they liked your work they simply emDticd their
down to drink MY experience was pointer Tor
| Eou should hay, heard Tho rcrcnt;np tbox oev,
| Babe though You cnuldn' I see len feet for smoke
| and they simply showcrcd money Al her
This was not the end of the ex citing 2 ricnccs
though the first night pretty well prepa red us tnr
| anything which should come along I he bows
never did get through guying me until got even
| Diamond was especially funny al NV expense.
and many morning laid awake figuring how 1
mo.ld and myself wanted 10 see what was going On.
We got out Of the theatre until about four in
the morning. and from that time until broad dav-
| light and sometimes until eight o'clock we would
wander round the different gambling halls Of Dead
wood The boys used TO trlI us funny stories
about other people in the csmp and hnyc lis ,nriup-
them the boards the next night One night
| Billy got good story in which big butcher ono
| of the worst cases in the town was the victim lie
told il the next night to his sorrow Diamond WIS
| one Of the best story tcllers | ever heard He
could take the burial Of Moses and make an audi
ence roar at his telling IT, so Wien he got hold II
| this good story he trimmed il up 10 perfection
! The butcher was down among the first tab thnt
night but EilIy didn't know him 1;smnnJ
finished his banjo work and set the instrument