The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-02-03
TRUE IRISH BLOOD.
There Could Be No Mistake About
That.

There Could Be No Mistake About
That.
"The most ludicrous mishap / ever
witnessed on the STAGE said an actor
at little supper party the other even
ing, occurred one night years ago In
small town in Northern Iowa. l was
new in the business then, and had join
ed a weird transforming company
headed by an old actor of the name OF
Fitzmorris. We had a blood-and-
| thunder repertory yard long, but our
chief attraction was an Irish melodrama
called Lion Hearted Larry; or the Cot
tters Oath 1t had the usual plot Of
canned Irish melodramas-the honest
but financially embarrassed peasant, his
beautiful daughter, the poor, but gal
liant lover, otherwise Lion Hearted Lar
ry, and the villianous landlord, who in
sists on the daughters hand or immedi-
ate eviction for the whole family. The
great scene of the play was the rescue
by Larry of the beautiful daughter
from the castle of the villainous land
lord, at the climax of which the heroic
lover was fired upon by a file of British
soldiers At the report of the guns the
ly suffused with red You are wound
ed!' the heroine cried. Yes, replied
Larry, but tits true Irish blood, ever
ready to be shed for the cause of Erin'
This rather irrelevant remark together
with the CORY shirt front, never failed
to bring down the house. Needless to
say, the character of Lion Hearted Lar
ry was assumed by Mr.. Fitzmorrls
1.-THE business Of the blood was man
aged very simply" confined the story
teller "A small rubber bulb was filled
with a solution of cochineal and fasten-
en- under Larry'e arm. At the right
moment he gave 1t a squeeze and
crimson torrent poured over the shirt,
which had piece of waterproof cloth
at the back, the front being renewed for
each performance We, were playing
weeks stand at the little Iowa town |
have already mentioned and the day
before Lion Hearted Larry was put on
Fitzmorris gave the property man care
full instructions in regard to preparing
the material for the blood effect.
Whether the prop man had conceived
some grudge against 'Fitz' we never
ascertained He was grabbed old Eng
tone of the play-anyhow he went into
the scene loft where a lot of colers
were kept mixed and filled the rubber
bulb with bright green liquid paint.
That night several bitches occurred, and
everybody got nervous and excited.
When the time came for the rescue
scene Fitzmorris got into his costume
as quickly as he could, felt the bulb to
see it was in the proper place, and
moment later was on the stage. There
things went all right up to the climax.
The castle was entered, the orchestra
played a few bars of tremolo music,
Larry emerged with beautiful colleen on
his arm, and up Jumped the ambuscaded
soldiers. Bang! went the guns, and
You are wounded shrieked the hero
inc. 'Yesn shouted Larry, pressing the
bulb, but 'tis true Irish blood He
never got any further. His ample shirt |
front had suddenly turned emerald |
green, and the howl of laughter that |
went up from the audience nearly peel |
ell the paper of the walls. Fitzmorris |
himself was so amazed by the phenom- |
enon that he was unable to move, and |
stood there transfixed, his arms out |
spread and his mouth wide open. On |
that tableau the curtain fell. Then he |
came to himself, grabbed club and be-
gan a frantic search for the prop man,
but that individual had disappeared,
and we saw him no more during our
stay The episode broke up the per-
Torrance and ruined our business for
the balance of the engagement. I'm
told that Fitzmorris was afterward
known as Green blood Fitz' on the
North Iowa and Wisconsin barnstorm-
ing circuit. New Orleans Tines