Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-04-16


 and the audience, seeing how matters. stood, gave her three straight encores. That aroused his jealousy and put point on his hate, and, nerving him. self, he walked out, grabbed up gun, and emptied it at flying target in 8 truly wonderful manner. was in hopes that that would end the busi- ness, and that the woman would not let him finish with the knife-act, for he was really in no condition, but she seemed to either not fear him, or to fear him worse off the stage than on it, and she promptly placed herself before the board while he gathered an armful of knives and walked down front and snarled at the house.
 l noticed behind her, in the right wing, Calbert was standing, his head partly bowed and his eyes bent on her as if he would look right through her. I saw him look at the man in front, and then his fingers clutched into fist and the veins on their backs stood out, as when fellow gets ready to punch somebody a lick. As Athene gripped his first knife by the point, whirled it around his head and threw it into the air, saw him watch it hurtle past, like cat watches mouse, afraid to breathe.
 Athene had turned and bowed to the audience, his thin lips curling back over his white teeth like wolf's who had just shown his skill in playing with his victim. Once more he turned and cast knife, and this time caught my breath, for I saw that it was aimed at the head and would hit very close. It pinned a curl to the board and I saw shud. der go through her form as if she, too, had expected it to be her last, but still she stood up and looked without seeing far into the flies over my head.
 As Athene turned to bow the sec ond time I heard rustic and looked across. Calbert had stepped out, grabbed pistol and stepped back. No one saw him, or seemed to notice it, and I do not believe that Athene knew he was posted where he was. for when he turned for his third cast I am sure that from the gIeam in lis eyes he was not thinking of anyone or anything but just the plot in his dirty brain. His lips were grinning, and I heard him softly curse as he aimed knife at the woman before him. All at once it flashed over me what he intended doing. don't know how i, was, but felt I knew as we'll as if he had told me. He was drunk. His hand was shaky He had proven it by his in ability to shoot. He had gotten drunk for purpose.
 Across the way could see Ca1bert half crouching with the pistol raised in his hand. Evidently he had no- ticed it, and caught myself wonder ing if he would shoot the man be- fore it was too late. He seemed about to do it, when, with final maudlin giggle, the thing whizzed away, and I saw streak of reflected light for one instant in midair, grabbed the scene against which I was leaning-an then there was a terrific report, followed by rattle, and the knife fell broken at my feet!
 Calbert with his gun had done it-- just as it seemed about to enter her neck he had fired, and some Fate had guided his bulletl The woman. must have known it, for she had tainted and lay Imply against the board and I saw Ca1bert's face through a cloud of revolver smoke. Out in front, his arm still raised, Athene stood en- tranced, while from every run be- tween the scenes the shifters and company were peering and the audi ence had jumped upon it's feet. The horror of it was in everybody's face, and every heart had stood still. One moment more and their would have been a bedlam and the performance would have been ruined, had not Cal bert had the presence of mind to save the situation.
 With his gun still in his hand, he walked down front, smiled in his most winning fashion, bowed, stepped to the side of the aston ished Athene, gripped him firmly by the wrist, bowed again to the audi ence, whispered to the other to do the same, and gradually backed into the wings as if it had all been a pre- meditated affair, and he had been waiting for the shot! Wonderful! Oh, but the effect was immense.
 
 second or two the house could not get over it's scare, and they did not catch on, but when they did they sank back to their places with a sigh of relief that we could hear behind the scenes. Someone laughed and then the applause broke out in per- feet storm. Athene wanted to go out and take it, but the manager calmly gripped him without a word and held l him back while Calbert went on. After it was all over we revived the woman and made up purse for her and sent her away-back to her par- ents, I think it was, she went; but the little devil himself. we had to turn adrift from the simple fact that we had no evidence to hold him. It killed his show business, however, and I heard later that he got stuck like pig with one of his own knives 1 by a Spanish woman down in New 1 Orleans, and have always been glad of it. He certainly deserved some thing heroic."
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