Los Angeles herald., 1908-04-13


presented for the first time in Los Angeles
yesterday afternoon on tho stage of the
Grand opera house by tho Ulrich stock
company.
THE CAST
Truxton Boone. Harry Won Meter
Jim Caruthe. Lawrence Underwood
Augustus Jones .........E .E. George Clancy
Colonel Davis Claypole. ........ Arthur hin
Tom Ford ,......,s........ Nelson Leayitt
I. NJ. Keene. ......,.... Frank Richardson
Longman Hunt. .,".......... Harry Frazier
ft-Handed Pete. ......... Arthur Seat0n
Captain Crawford. ........ james DuFrane
senator vaughn. .......... Earle Gardner
Miriam Vaughn Miss Florence Barker
Queen" Ann Blake. Miss Myrtle Selwyn
Monterey Rosa. ,... Miss Lillian Hayward
Lily White. Miss Lule Warrenton
TT HE first act of THE Card King of
the Coast contains all the
amusement necessary to make le-
gal tender of Grand opera house tick
cts this week. 1t is satisfactory act
from every point of view. The audi
ence likes 1t because it tells q complete
story. The actors like it because it
closes in a manner that gives every
body a decent getaway" And Stage
Director Gardner likes 1t because it is
effective, sensational and gives him a
good send-off for his first play.
Act L of THE Card King of the
the play in one place and tells their
several stories with so much detail
that the rest may be imagined Gold
Hill camp, Klondike, is the locality, and
The Palace dance hall the scene.
Harry Won Meter, who is the card
KING, gets an excellent entrance,
shooting the gun from the hand of
quick Trigger Tom, the minor villain.
Follows then the summary trial of "the
king for claim jumping, as charged
by Tom "The king" whose shorter
and prettier name is Truxton Boone.
from Kentucky, turns the tables on his
accuser and proves that Tom is really
the claim jumper. Boone shows the
patent and assignment from Pat Ri
ley's widow and charges Tom with
numbering Pat and then jumping the
claim.
This little tempest has just subsided,
when the stage comes in bringing the
ladles. First there Is Queen" Ann
Blake known to most Of those present
by various other names in various 9TH
er mining camps But the richest prize
Is an unknown girl whom the stage
driver has enticed there on the prom
ise that she was to be a housekeeper
or governess or something of the kind.
This little beauty is claimed by Jim
Caruthe and adjudged his property by
Colonel Claypole, because, as the colo
mel says, she owes him the $500 he paid
the stage driver for her, and "horth of
fifty-three there's no law to prevent a
man collecting his debts in his own
way" The coloneIs judgment is ac-
cepted as final but Boone comes to the
girls aid and gives her a thousand dol
lars.
There 1t is," he says, throwing down
suspiciously clean canvas bag.
Colonel you count it," OF course he
should say weigh 1t" away up north
-
count 1t. Whereupon the girl pays
over to Jim the amount of her debt
and is supposed to be free.
Here's Some More Plot
But not So AS soon as all have gone
Jim returns and tells her he knows she
is Miriam Vaughn, a fugitive from
justice, and Offers her the alternative
of becoming his wife or being handed
over to Justice. He reminds her that
it was her cloak with two bullet holes
through the shoulder. that Senator Clay
Preston held In his hand when he was
found murdered In his own house.
Again Truxton Boone comes to the
rescue. out OF doors the wind has
been increasing in volume. The bliz-
zard is upon them, and as a signal of
it's coming violence there falls through
the roof a boulder torn from the
mountain by the STORM. From this
tempest without enters a red-clad
whirlwind, Lillian Hayward, who as
Monterey Rosa is jealous of the new
arrival. "Oh, you would steal my
loveri' she Kisses. The avalanche is
coming 1t will bury this cabin hun
dred feet deep. / lock you in here. You
would steal my lover, eh!'
But Boone returns in time to rescue
her. Scarce has he beaten in the door
when a great rock falls in front Of it.
They flee through a trap door in the
roof and as they go up the rocks come
down.
Realistic Wreckage
There was more than stage reality in
the wrecking of that dance hall by the
Klondike trail, for those rocks made
great dents in the floor, reduced tables
and chairs to splinters and did sad
damage to the faro and roulette lay
outs. The Grand stage hands should
practice "just missing" Their aim is
far too good. Manager Drown will
have a fine large bill for smashed props
before the week is over.
But the pair escaped the avalanche,
and they continue escaping from bull
let's, police officers and other dangers
through the remaining acts with mar
velous regularity. At last, however,
Jim Caruthe carries out his threat and
Miriam finds herself in the hands of
blind justice--any other kind of justice
would see at once, as the audience does,
that Miriam is innocent and Jim Ca
ruthe really guilty. 1t is so proved in
the last scene, when Colonel Claypole
says:
%The murderer must carry the marks
of those bullets in her shoulder If she
wore that cloak"
And Miriam's father answers:
"Thats so, Judge. Permit me to re-
tire for a moment with my daughter"
OF course he finds no bullet marks on
| ~1rs.. e,ta t11.t
ends the show, but the senator might
have made a hit with the audience by
letting them share in the discovery.