Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1902-04-08
Old Minstre1s Dropping Off, Says
Frank E. MCNish.

| the Buckley Serenaders. l remember
il well. j was a lad in Camden. " "
and when ! saw the bills announcing
the coming of minstrel show. /
determined that l would see il no
matter what the cost. 1t was berry
time and l concluded the surest way
of getting the price was TO pick rasp7
berries and sell them TO the residents
of Camden. Well, / succeeded admir-
ably. and several days before the min
strels reached town ! had the neces-
sary cash ON hand. ] shall never
forget it.
"Of my silence and Fun act? Well.
| made any first professional appear
ance in 1879, and | have been doing
the act right along. Not steadily,
but quite frequently. l have been
| through Europe twice. and Travelled
America so much that | am familiar
with about every nook and corner i'm
it. | was born i'm Camden. y. y, and
my dear mother still resides in Ro-
chester. While in England / had the
pleasure of meeting the PRINCE of
Wales-uow King Ellward-and he
seemed to be quite a good fellow. He
felt my muscles and said your act is
marvellous. marvellous. =" This talk
of former companions led Frank Zone
cannot help but get familiar with
him. because he is such a jolly, good
fellow and makes you feel as if you
had been his bosom companion for
years. back to his home at st. James.
Long Island. where he has wife and
son. He was one of the first settlers
on that point, having secured proper
ty and taken up his residence there
twenty years ago. Despite the fact
that he is a great rover, he is Il lover
of home life. and spends all the time
possible with his family. st. James
has become one of the most popular
of resorts for theatrical men and
women. Every summer finds hundreds
of them there, and many. prominent
ones own homes ON the point.
we have great place continued
Frank, land the residents become
more and more delighted with our
surroundings. As to professional
celebrities. why we have them to
burn-but as chief of the fire depart
ment I will make an effort to avert
such catastrophe.
lance of my home reside Jerome
Sykes. DeWolf Hopper. Tony Farrell,
Willie Collier. Charles \. Bigelow.
Tom Lewis. John Barton. Harry
Foy. John Kernel. Bert Leslie.
Charles Burk. John Flotow. Joe
Come. Bob Daily. John Hagarty. Ia
max, the great Japenese top spinner.
and others. All but one or two of
these are comedians. and from the
middle of May until they are called
TO rehearSalS in the late summer we
have more fun than enough. John
Kernel is the mayor of the settle
ment. aud ! am chief of the fire de
partment-with not a foot of hose in
the settlement with which To fight
fire
1--WE have our own Bohemian club
and Il baseball team that is wonder.
Willie Collier * the greatest baseball
crank in the place, and the baseball
club belongs to him. and. by the way,
Willie is no SLOUGH of player. His
team comprises Charles Bigelow. Lilo
mel Barrymore, j. Collier. Charles
Yost, Willie Collier, Thomas Lewis,
William Gray. George Nash and
Frank McNish. Jr.. and they put up
some great games. look forward to
the summer with great pleasure and
would not absent myself from The place
for anything. We have the finest of
salt water bathing and boating. and
great fishing, grabbing. claiming
and eel Spearing. We who know 81.
James best. believe il to be the great
est resort on Long Island