The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-10-19
IN HOTEL LOBBIES
Mr. Youna,s Story.

| of Harvard spent yesterday in Birming- l ham. His company closed an engagement l in Chattanooga Saturday night and will ] appear in Huntsville tonight. MT Young 1 Birmingham engagement is for next Thursday and Friday at the Jefferson, but he said he liked the city so well that he l oouldnt be anywhere in this section with out dropping in socially.
 MT. Young has a wide personal ae- quaintanee and in every city in the south he numbers his close friends by the score. In this respect he is like Frederick Warde, the actor and lecturer. At the Hotel Hill- man last night Young told this story on himself:
 'I had the good fortune to secure an en- gagement with the late Sir Henry Irving and I went with the great hstrione to England in 1901. I felt that l was hon. ored. especially when it was learned that I was the only American who had ever been admitted to Irving's company of players.
 Now il seems that Irving had rule that no member of his supporting cast was to be allowed to appear in print in
 
 his or her picture in a newspaper Tho rule was all right but I did not happen to know about it. Well, here is how I found out.
 "When Field Marshal Lord Roberts came to England from South Africa, as the British hero in the Boer war, I nat urally wanted to get look at him. got myself up regardless and went down From London to Old Freshwater, off which the man-of-war which had just brought Lord Roberts to England was lying at anchor. Nearby was Cloves. on the Isle of Wight where one of Queen Victoria's summer residences-Osborne House-was situated And as the Queen was at Os- borne the .eonquering hero made his first stop in sight of the place by command of her maiesty. The public ovation was to be at Portsmouth the next day, but l didn't know about that and when I reached the town of Freshwater I hired me launch and steamed out to the man-of-war. There was no crown around. Everything was remarkably quiet On reaching the side of the ship l climbed up the ladder. A sentinel on deck said to me: The orders are that no one shall come aboard
 Ut was here that my American au- dacity stood me in good stead, for was bent on seeing the famous Lord of Kandahar. I replied to the sentinela Those orders do not apply to me, but see to it that they are enforced on per- sons ill general With that I brushed by i the man. He had concluded that l was parsonage of exceptional consequence and assumed an apologetic air because he had ever questioned my right to go on deck Presently the Queens personal attendant-an old Seotchman in kits came aboard ship bearing message from the sovereign to Lord Roberts He also brought a collie dog as gift rom the Queen. Lord and Lady Roberts soon came on deck and l saw the Scotchman hand the Queens message to the great soldier. Roberts eyesight was gone and Lady Roberts read the message to him. I saw all that and as I had my camera with me l photographed the various scenes
 " How is this?' I said to myself. No newspaper men on hand and no sketch
 
 chance to serve the press and make some extra money I hurried back to London. l had seven pictures and they were all good. l first offered them to the Graphic, but the man who. passed on them said he would give me 10 shillings. That small sum struck me as ridiculous and 1 de- clined To make long story short, I showed the pictures to other papers. Tho Illustrated News bought two, Black and White two, Sketch two and The Gentle Woman one. All told l received what was equal to $250 in American money. It was really a scoop for the newspaper men were waiting for Lord Roberts at Portsmouth. But I made the mistake of selling the pictures with the condition that these lines should go under each cut: Photo by James Young, the only American actor in Henry Irying's com pany of players
 "The Englishmen with Irving always seemed to resent my being in the con- pany and l should have had better sense than to seek notoriety. But l was green then.
 "The day after the pictures were ] printed 1 was dismissed from the com pany. Sir Henry was one of the kindest and most considerate of gentlemen But the rule was there and Irving's manager promptly carried it into effect. I packed up and came back to the United States d bit wiser even if considerably sadder." 1 Unfair Taxation.