The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-09-02
s'HOOT MON"

poi bance VI I.is oDSerVaIlon not Delng
to explain. Will Wright is the original
member of the Will club which flour
ished on newspaper row when John M.
(Blll) Rees was counsel for the Press
club and doing dramatic for the Globe
on the side. The other members Of the
club Were Will O'Brien and Will Wet
tleson. They were all newspaper re-
porters except Will Wright, who was
O 'Brien to his library where he con-
structs plays which nobody will read,
Wright to the lyceum bureau, whence
he draws forth such attractions as
Ellen Stone, with an, occasional firt
with the legitimate; Wettleson to Cali
fornia where he evolved the scheme Of
drawing oil from under the ocean and
where he has become rich enough to
indulge his livid passion for vests. But
Will Wright. !.
He was born in Usage county, Iowa,
and was brought up on diet, Of Con
gregationalism and plain food which
made him grow up tall and strong. At
the proper age he was sent to an agri-
cultural college at Ames, where he
learned Greek, Latin, mathematics, be-
sides husbandry and Spencerian pen
manship. Everything but farming is
SUCCESSFULLY tduSuG dC f1AACcs AAC PAooA
Of this is that to the training Of that
school the world owes Bart's cartoons,
Will Wright's suavity as a press agent
and George Caven s mastery OF the
markets Of Water street, Chicago. So
Will Wright naturally gravitated to
newspaper work. He reported for the
papers in Minneapolis until he learned
town, when he took one, and vent to
New York. There he fell in with Major
Pond Major Pond took to Wright. How
could he help it, Within a few years
Wright was making all the contracts
with celebrities who toured the coun-
try under the Pond management. He
made fourteen voyages in behalf Of the
star needed to complete the Pond gal
axy of attractions. 1t was Will Wright
who went abroad and made the con-
tract with Ellen Stone, the captive mis-
sionary whose tour of America was IS
such a glorious unsuccess. 1t was Will
Wright who "papered the house,
when she appeared in Boston, giving
& Marsh alone. That was a sad but
glorious day for Major Pond, who Just
loved to give out passes. It was Will
Wright also who prevented Major Pond
from mailing letter to John Hay de-
claring the Ellen Stone to be 3 fake.
It was Will Wright who did all these
things without turning a hair. and it
was Will Wright who, meeting the
capturer Of Ellen Stone in a boulevard
cafe in Paris, received from him a
request to be put on to any rich Amer
leans coming over that he might do the
capture act over again. The $4,000
he received for releasing Ellen Stone
had turned the poor fellows head.
He wanted money as bad as fellow
who rigs the stock market and relieves
his friends Of their watches.
X !. +
Will Wright travelled with Riley, F:
Hopkinson Smith, Nye and dozens Of
other lecturers and readers with whom
Major Pond flooded the country. Riley
he found not well-read man, but one
who was deeply imbued with the poetic
ideas. Riley's notion about verse
was to stick to a line until he got the
right word for it if it took him all
summer. He never looked in book.
but thrashed about in his own inward
self until the word came out. Imagine
the delicacy of travelling on a train
with a poet who is neglecting his meals
and overlooking. the niceties of dress
and address while he delves in his in
ner consciousness for word which has
come out. Born diplomat. that he is,
Will Wright survived this test and
parted good friends with the poet at
the end of the season. A rare man,
Will Wright.
Will Wright went abroad recently,
filed with yearning to Introduce
Dreyfus to the American lecture plat
form. He saw him but did not get
| him. The obstacle in the way was the
fact that the Dreyfus family is already
so rich that men are regularly employed
so that the brothers can get out and 20
to the office. Cash would not tempt
him. But Wright saw and talked with
Dreyfus and incidentally saw and
talked with Conway, the famous Ameri-
can correspondent who did the. Rennes
courtmartial for several American pa
pers. Conway said that the Rennes
courtmartial was farce from the view
point of an American reporter accus-
toned to seeing the facts brought out.
It was very Frenchy, very much gov
erned by sentiment and he believed, as
did nearly all the correspondents. that
Dreyfus was convicted because he was
humble and broken in appearance, and
as the police reporter would say
"looked the part.' Well, there were
allowances to be made for Dreyfus;
seven years Of Devil 5. island, fighting
making faces at the Judge and defying
the prosecuting attorney. Nev.erthe-
less Will Wright agrees that in an
American court with Bill Erwin for the
defense the Dreyfus prosecution would
not have lasted over night.
!. !. !.
Regarding the lyceum platform, Will
WRIGHT who has uona hack tn the the
atrical ventures as the manager Of
Chauncey Olcott, says it is dead be-
cause people no longer have the pa
thence to listen to solid lectures nor are
| they attracted by authors reading from
their own works. having run up against
so many who did not make good. Riley
was the star Of all the literary men,
because he really gave an entertain
ment; Another reason for Sf the 5 decay Ca Of
one which the church people will be
likely to contest. but which apparently
flows from the experience of a man who
is competent to Judge It is that the
people who formerly supported the ~
ceum have become patrons Of the thea
ter. They have learned to find in vau-
deville everything from the drama in
little to the lecture shorn of its waits
between acts. The theater has downed
the lyceum. ..s
X !. +
Who's who in Minneapolis (con-
tinued) Michael; born at first
base; nurtured at the home plate: grad
uated from! the bench author of wars
pension Day NEW edition) favorite
sport knocking the umpire; recreation
taking tickets. Inventor of a pneu-
matte umpire warranted not to bet on