The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1908-03-28
TWENTY SEVEN DIFFERENT PERSONS NOW
LAY CLAIM TO THE AUTHORSHIP OF "DlXiE,

Olu WHEN Hc ulcu Ill BSIIeVue
Hospital Jan. 49, 1864, the result
VI severe fall in a Bowery hotel
the song must have been written
in 1S4S.
Negro minstrelsy was first pre-
sented TO the public in 1S43,, usu-
ally by small parties of six or
eight performers and known as
'Serenaders" and Dan Emmett
the author of "Dixie'' was among
the first black face dellneators. He
was "bones' in the troupe which
Foster saw at Plttsburg and here
the two illustrious authors met
and became acquainted
One week before his unfortunate
death Foster and myself spent an
evening together at variety thea
ter, situated, If memory serves me
correctly, at No. 444 Broadway.
| think It was called the American
md was under the management of
n man named Butler. After the
performance ! went with him to his
modest little room on Hester street
near the Bowery, and as he sat
upon his bed he sang In a tender
and beautiful voice and with deep
pathos his latest composition. that
rare song Hard Times Come
Again No More"
1t was the last time saw Steph-
en- Foster, but have often thought
how very sad It was that the man
Who was foreyer singing OF home
md loved ones had no better place
shan this to call home and hardly
q friend in the great city wherein
he constantly sang of Glove, love
and only love"
A gentler or more lovable char
acter never lived than Stephen
Collins Foster. his reverence for
the memory of his mother being
the consumirly passion of his ex-
istence. She was ever his idol dur
ing her life, and after her death
her memory became the subject of
lis alteration. To him she was ever
worshipped above all things and
often tears rolled down his cheeks
MS his mind reverted to her.
have seen this repeatedly. this sad
dening grief the grief that honors
man in the highest degree, and
~ this may be attributed the direct
cause of Fosters early demise. To
assuage his cvor-presept sorrow he
became willing victim to liquor.
and while under its hrleful in
fluepce he met with tho unfor-
tunato accident which terminated
the life of a genius.
Eighteen wears later Dan Em-
nett came into my employ. ] was
ut that time dlrectirlg the affairs
of large minstrel comnany. and
conceived the idea that the nreseu-
tation Of minstrel scene as first
produced would please, or at least
interest the public. To present this
scene | engaged the oldest per
formers In the business. and thew
we're Archie lHuSbes. Dave Reed,
sam Sanford and Dan Emmett 'ail
o' whom have gone to the sleeping
majority.
Dan Emmett was one of the
1 originators and founders Of what
is now termed nogro mlnstrelsy,
In 1S43. at the Chatham Theatre,
n
arce rendered to Dick Pelham. the
'ocd oi app, airing on the stage with
faces blackened, giving a perform
'ancc initiating the antics, the
songs and the dialect of the South
ern negro, was conceived by En-
NETT, and in It's first presentation
then appeared William Whitlock
Who died in New York in March
1878. as banioist; Frank Erower
who died in rhladelGhia in JHne
1874, as bones: II. w. Pollham
w..o died at liverpool, EnLlan' il
O. tober, 1876 as tambourlne, ant
Emmett who died at Mount Vern
. on. Ohio short time ago, aget
eighty six years, as viollnist
Meeting WITH success the quartz
resolved to continue the business
whi'h they did with subsequen
: great prosperitv under the nam
of erie Virginia Serenadars".
world 30 utterly impossible /
, enumerdto the many minstrel
| troupes that have grown from thi
:. event H. evolution and eXpansio
D into the modern display OF silk
! satins, velvets. powdered w'lgs, whit
faces, iRrdsnme scenery and grea
h talent. AZ well as invariably exec
n icnt singing voices found in th
Il lEninst;cl pageant of today.
: When Emmett joined me confes
Is | saw hr' little change in the ol
= mans face, although he was the
; s'xty-fve years of age. 1t was du
o ing The season that he rave n
q the particulars of how 'sDixieu WI
IS written, the memoranda of whic
n ! find in the pages of my lit
q diary.
1t ~ remarkable how mar
l.. n