Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1909-01-24
kthR cafyssea Convicted d
Having Indecent Vaudeville.
GOES TO CORPORATION COURT
Proprietor Of Dreamiand rheater Not
Satisfied With Seventy-Doliar A.
sessment by Justice Christian
Number Of Witnesses.

Because he permitted vaudeville
performers TO perpetrate i series OF
obscene and vulgar jokes In the
Dreamland theater. OF which he Is
proprietor and manager, Arthur
Chrysson was fined $50 and costs in
each Of three cases. by Acting Justice
Christian In the police court yester,
day morning. An appeal was noteu
and ChryssOn was admitted TO bali
for his appearance In the Corpora
ton Court on the first day OF the
February term. A. A. Moss beccm'
ing his surety.
This case attracted unusual atten-
ton on account of the talk on the
streets concerning the indecency OF
the acts objected to ly the authort
ties, and when Justice Christian
opened court yesterday he had a
big audience in which citizens CT all
classes were to be found. Common
wealth's Attorney Berkeley was on
hand to prosecute the case. and Mr..
Allan d. Jones appeared as counsel
for the defense.
Arthur Chryss0n. with his brother.
George, were arrested last Thursday
upon warrants sworn out by CHIEF
of Police Reynolds. Various COM
plants about the character OF the
performances given at Dreamland,
Monday. Tuesday and Wednesday had
been brought to the attention Of the
chief. and the warrants were secured
as soon as that officer had had a
conference with Captain Berkeley.
Only One Prosecuted.
The charge against George ChryS-
son was not pressed after Arthur had
testified that he alone owned and
managed the theater, and that George
was merely an employe Of the place.
Mr.. Jones insisted on having all
the legal technicalities Of the case
observed, and the case developed In
to one OF the biggest little affairs
imaginable. Directing to the form
Of the warrant upon which the Chrys-
sons were arrested, Mr.. Jones desired
to have the charges against his eli
ents given in full. Therefore there
was delay Of an hour or so. during
which time the commonwealth put
on several witnesses to bring out
facts which were recorded In the new
warrant. In its amended form. the
warrant covered several sheets Of pa
per and contained summary CT
the most coarse and indecent
sayings of the vaudeville performers.
Indecent and Vulgar Jokes.
When this had been done. the case
was regularly gone into. The wit
nesses for the commonwealth were
men all of whom had seen the acts
objected to, some Of them having been
in the theater Monday night, others
Tuesday night and others Wednesday
night. They we're unanimous In
their condemnation of the perform
ances, which were given In the pres
ence Of audiences composed OF men,
women and children. as being indie
cent and disgusting Inc specific
language cited ir support Of these
statements was unprintable. The
witnesses were c. G. Nelms. A. A.
Moss, John 3. Locke. Horace Epes.
l.. A. McMurran. W. E. Kitchen. c. c.
Epes aud Louis Littlepage. When Ar
thur Chrysson took the stand in his
own defense. a letter received by him
from Captain Berkeley last month
was put in evidence In this letter.
which Is similar to ones sent to all
OF the places CT amusement In the
city, Captain Berkeley warned Chrys-
son against showing vulgar. or sug-
gestive pictures or allowing vaude-
vile performers to make Use Of any
thing obscene or coarse and gave him
notice that II the warning was not
needed, arrests world follow imme-
diately. and that he, the attorney
would do all in his power to have
the theater put out Of business.
chrysson Says Ne Censored.
Chrysson said that he invariably
showed this letter to the vaudeville
performers. and in order to make sure
that nothing improper was shown on
the stage he always witnessed re-
hearsals before an act was allowed
to 10 on for q performance. He said
that he saw the acts In question In
rehearsal and afterwards. and that
such people as n. G. Smith and
George A. Schmelz had told him
that the show was fine
Mr. Schmelz was summoned and put
on the stand for the defense. He
said that he saw the show at Dream
land early In the week and that
when asked about it by Chrysson he
may have made use OF some such
expression az the latter quoted. Up
On being questioned. he recalled hear
ing one Of the coarse jokes under
discussion. and said that he did not
think the show vas q proper ono 20
be seen by women and children.
Captain Berkeley argued briefly
saying that there was no room for
doubt that the chow given in the
theater was Icwd and vulgar and cal
culated TO shock and degrade the
women and children Who witnessed
II. He said that Chrysson had beef
On; upon warning. and that. aitei
hearing these disgusting acts fo'
three days he certainly know wha'
sort Of stuff he vas allowing 10 W
put on his stage.
0.~r, Rpa~k cauidnss tInderstaod.