The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-11-11
ADJUSTMENTS

That morbid craving for sensation that
crowds the courts at murder trials, that
lives the yellow journals their circula-
, ton, that leads emotional women TO
shower flowers upon the most depraVed
criminals. is the same force that fills 4 =
theatres when such plays as "A DeS er-
ate Chance" are presented. The rand
proved to be no exception last >Vening.
The popular play house was DIVIDED TO
the limit of its capacity t. see enacted
what purports to be the drama of the
Biddle brothers. The dcidents of the
crimes of these yOun" men and their deS-
perate and unusus' attempt to escape 20
Canada from tho Jail in western Pennsyl-
Vania some y Afs ago were intensely in
resting as related I'm the papers at the
tim hut they do not furnish the basis
for ST. ~Ssful play. There is too much
crime and - 4idness depicted and there
is not enough on : bright side of human
nature to light up .he dark picture. Nor
do the events lead up to the proper cit
makes to sustain the interest of theatre
audience.
The playwright has taken many liber-
ties with the facts in his endeavors to
construct play. He makes Jack Bid
die out to be fine fellow led astray by
his older brother; he works in hypnotism;
he works in a Dutch comedian and a red
headed soubrette; he works in a small
child. the daughter of the sheriff; he
orks in an old widow, silly in her love
for Ed Biddle; he works in desperate
encounter in the Butler county Jail in
which two prison guards are murdered
by the Biddle brothers in their attempt
TO escape; he works in many other de-
tails that did not appear in the accounts
Of the crime at the time. No doubt he
has done as well as could be done with
the grewsome material, but after all that
has been said, it still remains to be said
that the play is not a good one There
were a number of bitches last evening in
the shifting of the scenery that detracted
-F..s,.
sesseS.
The company is quite a large one. w.
H McDougall and Bernard johnson take
the parts of the Biddle boys; Catherine
Courier portrays the wife of the sheriff
who assisted in the escape of the prison
ers and accompanied them in their flight:
J. ]. Fritz takes the part of the father Of
the infatuated woman, and William Cour-
Ter takes the part of her husband. the
sheriff There are a number of lesser
parts. Nora Johnson is altogether sweet
in the part of the little daughter of the
sheriff, the link that in the end drew
the estranged husband and wife together
George w. Dennosas Rudolph, the Dutch
man. is n good funmaker and his spe-
eialties were entertaining. The diff
Guilty is that much of his fun seems out
OF place in the shadow of the gallows
and in such an atmosphere of crime.
"A Desperate Chance" Is given in four
acts. The first presents the Kenny gro
Gerry store and the murder of Kenny: the
second shows the interior of the Pitts
burg Jail and the preparation for the es-
cape: the third shows the escape. the
murder of the two prison guards. the
fight in the snowstorm, in which the
prisoners are wounded and recaptured;
the fourth shows the death of the Bid
dies in the corridor of the Butler county
Jail and the reconciliation of the sheriff
and his wife. The play will run through
out the week, with the usual matinees
This is tonights bill at the Orpheurn:
A Night With the Poets; Mason & Kee-
Ter in Hooked by Crook: Mason &
Bart. novelty gymnasts; Christie Duo,
Russian dancers; Elmer TenIey The
Manhattan Man; Les Aubin- Ieonel du-
etists-fantaisists, the kinodrome and the
orchestra.
Ralph Stuart. as the coliege-bred In
dian hero, StrOHgheart." in the comedy
drama by William c. DeMille. is the Of
fering announced for the Salt Lake the
atre for three nights and the usual mat
nee, commencing tonight
Berton Churchill. who plays the Indian
chief IN 1.-The Sduaw Man" has accom-
plished a task that few men would have
undertaken. In this play Edwin Milton
Royle, the author. has made his Indians
speak only In their native language, the