Arizona republican., 1910-02-19
MCCONNELL ADMITS
 HE WROTE AN OPERA
He Tries to Throw the ResponsibiIit, on Various Relatives to no Avail.


 T C. Mcconnell is deputy revenue collector and is at present. engaged in Phoenix tabulating the corporations that have filed papers in this territory so that the government may know just how much revenue to demand from them according to the provisions of the corporation tax law recently enacted. When Mir. Mcconnell isn't busy taking tabs on corporations he decotes his time to writing operettas. This has been proved against him and the evidence is such that even an American jury would convict. A play bill of little thcater up in small Kansas town fell into the hands of a newspaper man the other day. It announced certain operetta called La Capitana,- which was to be played at the Perkins theater that same night The authors of this comic aperetta were T. C. Mcconnell and O. NJ Schoebei. Mir Mcconnell was shown the bill and asked if he hap peared to know the author of the play. He adjusted his eyeglasses.
 By Jove." he said: now isn't that strange. That's cousin of mine same initials you know-hayen't seen him for many years. He used to dab bc a bit in literature. but I really didn't konw he had taken to writing operas Where did you get this?"
 The newspaper man said he found" it. He asked for more information about MT. Councils cousin.
 
 all the desire in the world 10 tell ev erything he knew about his cousin: my uncle was great admirer of Lord Byron. He used to sit up nights boring over the 'Corsair' and other poems of great dramatic force. And then. in later years he became a stu dent and admirer of such men as Pinero and Sir Arthur Sullivan Now I don't say that he really got his in aspiration for this little opera-lets see. what does he call it?-'La Cap itana' from the -Mikado.' My uncle was very original and all that sort of thing; but l wouldn't be surprised if he was just little bit influenced by those wonderfully successful operas that Gilbert and Sullivan produced a few years ago
 ,.Is this the first play this relative of yours has writtcn?" asked the news paper man.
 "Oh. wouldn't be surprised to learn that my brother had written a few other trivial things. He just couldn't help being literary. I remember he was always writing what he called poetry for the local paper when he should have been helping me chop wood and do the chores. All he want cd was white piece of paper and a pencil and he would grind out the darndest lot of verse you ever read. Some of it would read like 'Thana- topsis' and then a whole lot of it would be verse that didn't rhvme-he called it blank verse. Sometimes I almost think he was q genius"
 Well. now. to get back to the sub ject. Mir. Mcconnell. when your grand mother wrote this opera called La Capitana,' was it a popular succcss?"
 ''How's that?' he asked sharply; ''my grandmother? Fiddlesticks, Say, give up. I wrote it and they have just produced it up in Kansas-tried it on the dog as it were: and from all I can learn it was favorably re- ceived with nice press notices and that sort of thing-but don't tell anybody It's my business in Phoenix to fuss with figures and capitalization and it dark