The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-01-09
A strong Play mt the Park.

BY far the best attraction, of a purely
dramatic class, that the Park has had
this season is the military play. Sergeant
James," which began a half weeks engage
ment at that theater yesterday before very
large and very enthusiastic audiences. The
play, which is one of Kirk La Shelle's pro-
dramas with which the popular-price theat-
rical circuits are surfeited. but a carefully
constructed stage story which is so far
above the average melodrama seen at the
Park as to stand out in bold relief in a
class all by itself. The play was written by
Eugene Walter, and the author Is to be con-
graduated upon getting away from the
conventional and the commonplace. The
curtain does not fall at the end of each act
upon a sensational climax in accordance
with the outlandish rules which appear to
govern melodramatic writers. There Is but
one climax; 1t occurs at the end of the third
act, aud although ii comes in the natural
order OF things, Ii is so exciting. so thrill
ing, and. withal so excellently acted, that
II causes even the clientelage of the Park
gallery I'd recognize the difference between
a well-written play and those that have
been merely thrown together.
The drama tells a story of a young New
Yorker, who. having been disappointed in
love. enlists in the regular army and is
wins distinction for the conscientious per-
Torrance of his duties and is made a SER
geant. As luck will have ii his former
sweetheart and the man she has married
come out West to a town near the army
barracks. the husband having been given
the position of superintendent of a silver
mine. The husband Is man of dissolute
habits who CANDLES away his money. and
finally. in order to save himself from finan-
cial ruin. enters into scheme to rob his
own home, where his employers money
m0nthlX naVrOll mines
temporarily concealed for safe keeping. His
own wife, discovering the robbers I'm the
darkened drawing room. and determined to
keep the money from being stolen, takes
down her husbands hunting gun from its
place the wall. and, trembling with
fright. fires into the darkness. killing the
man hose wife she is and who has made
her life a miserable one. She is Mortified
when the mask is removed from the dead
mans face. and sinks in faint at his feet
Sergeant James takes the blame for the
shooting upon his own shoulders, and at the
subsequent court-martial attempts to make
a martyr OF himself to shield the woman he
still loves. But the truth of the matter
comes out In most unexpected way. and
as the dead husband of the woman is shown
to have had only himself TO blame for the
tragedy, the play ends with the suggestion
that at last nothing stands in the way OF
the happiness OF the sergeant and the wom
an he has always loved.
The cast is a very large once. a feature OF
the play being its unusual number of speak
Ing characters. all of which have an impor
tant bearing upon the story. William Har
court makes an admirable hero. and HarolC
Hartsell, Augustus Balfour, Harry Gibbs
Joseph Manning and Hall McAllister, In
other leading roles, give creditable perform
ances. Miss Kathryn Purnell has tn,
leading womans part. and. although sh,
makes the character too girlish for a WON
an who has experienced several years o.
marital woes, she gave a piece OF yer,
strong emotional acting at the end of tn,
third act Miss June Van Buskirk and Mis-
Jane Field clever in lighter feminin,
parts. AS whole the attraction is on,
that will appeal to all classes of theater
goers, IL takes rank with the best melo
dramas OF the day.