The San Francisco call., 1907-03-05
.R|OTING AND SHOWERS
OF EGGS RE TARD PLAY
IN THE DAVIS FIRE TRAP
Celts Resent Objectionable
Act by Storning Stage
of Theater
BATTLE WITH POLICE
Audience in a Panic While
Conflict Goes On in J
the Aisles
BATTLE WITH POLICE

(llO 14l01Co
There were. three acts last night in
the Davis Theater which were on the
programme; there were three large
sized riots which were not; one police
man appeared in the cast and dozen
in the audience. and all because Man
ager Davis refused to withdraw an act
of which the Irish. societies complained.
Though modified, the act remained. and
instead OF being played tby Ben L.
Dillon, who assumed the part last week,
it was played by Mrs. Robert Pitkin,
whose husband also was in the cast.
The fact that Mrs. McCluskey was
played by woman did not prevent her
being the target in the first act OF
about a dozen eggs of various degrees
of decrepitude, which she lodged skill
fully before she went into Mysteries.
An ill-directed egg fell short OF the
stage and struck Mrs. Frank Jewell,
wife Of the election commissioner,
whose expensive gown was ruined
The trouble had been brewing for
some time because Davis had not with
drawn the character of Mrs. McClus-
key. A committee, composed of mem
bers of the programme committee in
charge of the coming st. Patrick day
celebration, met at 1880 last night and
after listening to an account of the
Objectionable act as seen on Sunday
night by Chairman John p. Allen. pro-
ceeded to the theater on McAllister
street The members agreed that at
the first intimation of anything they
deemed unfit a signal would bring
them to their feet, when they would
demand that the part be withdrawn.
If it was not the result would be like
some OF the prearranged disasters
which tumble furniture on the stage
and wreck the Joint" only this time
il was TO be real And Dillon was not
to be spared.
DINAN'S STRANGE COURSE
T. P. ODowd said that he had been
TO see Chief of Police Dinan yester-
day afternoon. and that the latter had
told him to '-go as far as he liked" and
promised that there would be no extra
force of patrolmen on hand to stop the
fuss. So it looked as If there would be
no Mrs. McCIuskey in last nights per-
formance.
In the first act she appeared. There
was an ominous silence. 1t was at once
apparent that Dillon's part was taken
by a woman, and that IL had been modi-
fed greatly. Mrs. Pstkin was nervous.
but advanced through the scene until
the point when she is supposed to drink
a glass of beer. Heretofore that scene
sion for drunken act" and that, to-
gether with the unbeautiful makeup of
an Irish washerwoman, was what had
offended the Celts.
There was no drunken scene last
night, but Mrs. Pitkin drank q sip or
two of beer. A hiss announced the be-
ginning of trouble. The hiss was fol-
lowed by a roar from the committee
Of Irish and their fellow sympathizers.
Then, headed by O'Dowd, about eight
or ten walked down the center aisle,
amid a roar of voices demanding that
they sit down and contra calls of ap-
proval and disapprovaL
Kolb and Dill maintained their places
on the stage, and so did Mrs. Pitkin,
though a shower of bad eggs must have
made them wish themselves elsewhere.
Meantime pandemonium was let
loose. The committee from the Irish
societies standing against the orchestra
rail shouting itself hoarse; women
struggling to get out. and the houseful
of men yelling at the top of their lungs
The sympathy was plainly with the
performers, whatever might have been
felt toward Manager Davis for having
permitted the scene to be enacted.
ODowd tried TO talk. but nobody
listened Frank McQuaid, an Irish
American, tried TO bring peace by
crowding in front of O'Dowd and Allen
and the rest of the excited committee,
but he, too, was shouted down.
HUSBAND is ENRAGED
Mrs. Pithin had been taken from the
stage hysterical by her husband, who
returned and with clenched fist started
to commence something" but he was
stilled by Kolb, whose impenetrable
calm was as great as it had been under
Dill's exasperating foolishness. Kolb
~r<I
Dill made a speech, and the band played
again, while the audience, on it's feet,
was cheering them. They were lighting
for time
Somebody had blundered in Jerry
Dinan's department, for a swarm of
bluecoats finally arrived and escorted
the excited committee members to
their seats. They went struggling. but
the band played The Star Spangled
Banner" or something like that. and
for the time being the riot was quelled
without bloodshed, except what oc-
CURED in the bar next to the stage
Some one tried to slip through that
place, thinking to get on the stage, but
the bartender tackled, and, being Irish
himself, it was case of Greek against
Greek, with the bartender favorite.
The police interfered and then the play
went on, after Kolb had thanked the
audience for its sympathy.
The performance was stormy from
that time on Every time Mrs. Nc
Cluskey appeared on tn estage she was
greeted with mingled Kisses and cheers,
which lasted until the cheers had
it." and then the course of the per-
formance went on without eggs until
she reappeared.
1t was in the third act when the fire
Of the Irish blazed up once more. This
time police or no police. they were
going to stop the show, Mrs. McClus-
keys query put to Kolb, Whose wife
am J. then?" being the occasion. Again
the committee struggled down the
aisle. where converging Gordon OF
bluecoats met IL at the stage front.
This time they did not handle the men
so lightly, and again there were women
shrieking and rushing for the exits
while the officers were at work. They
did not draw their clubs, but J. p.
Allen, who is chairman of the commit
tee. was rushed out of the house with
out ceremony by an Irish policeman,
who said afterward that he liked the
=