Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-11-18
BY ADELINE cARRIcK WELLS

DEOPLE that like mystery murder
plays will accept with avidity the
offering at the Newark Theatre this
week. Robert Baker and John Elmer
son, the cola borators, have not only
made of THE Conspiracy an excel
lent vehicle for the exploitation of
Mr.. Emerson's ability as delineator
of character. but they have insured
two hours of keen mental enjoyment
to those that watch the various hap
penings in the play unfold themselves
and take their proper places
This is the day of the crime story,
the detective play We have come to
know rather intimately the processes
by which great detectives run down
guilty folk. Therefore, we expect
much of the modern mystery play
Events must not only be plausible,
they must be possible. If detective
accomplishes clever coup we want
to know how he came to think of 1t.
II important evidence comes suddenly
TO his hands, Immediately we think
could such a thing happen? And IL
we decide that it could not, our in
terest in the play departs. Its SEM
blance of reality has fled.
In a large degree THE Conspiracy"
measures up to expectations, though
there are moments. For that mat
ter there are always moments"
The perfect play has never been writ
ten, nor will II be until man himself
has reached perfection.
For instance, the girl in the case
lost her purse as she entered the taxi.
Was the taxi driver, then, a good
angel In disguise? And If he was a
good angel, how ever did he happen
to be taxi driver? And how did
she manage to get away without pay.
ing and without argument? Such
things as these intrude themselves
upon our minds in spite of us. But
taken as a whole, 1.-THE Conspiracy"
is an admirable exponent of the
school for which 1t stands
1t is probable that John Emerson
never showed to better advantage
than in the role of Winthrop Claver-
ing, eccentric writer of modern thrill
ers for Sunday papers, the activities
of whose bran have centred them
selves on the solving of crime mys-
teries.
Holding the police and the detec-
tive bureaus in profound contempt
Clavering gathers the evidence at
hand, puts this and that and the other
together, complies, as II were, his
own theory, and puts the whole into
a story that Is eagerly absorbed by
bne InTlll-nunBry multltuue OF SUNDAY
paper readers.
He IS slightly stopped, is this Win
throp Clavering, and more than
slightly irritable. And he wears long
plaid scarf of the fashion of decade
ago. This scarf does more than serve
as protector for his throat IL is a
symbol of his independence and his
indifference. He trudges along his
grabbed way pounding with his stout
cane, having no friends and wanting
none, wholly absorbed In his crime
deductions and the stories that spring
therefrom. One wonders at moments
if he is quite human.
At last, when he has discovered in
his own home the girl that committed
the murder, he Is determined, despite
her pleading, to turn her over to the
police, and is only to be deferred when
the vision of a greater coup is pre-
scented to him by the girl, who tells
him of a plan to catch the band of
criminals that caused her involuntary
killing of their leader.
Mr. Emerson'S Characterization of
Clavering is wholly satisfactory. At
Ter few moments we sit back, not
TO criticise, but to enjoy.
Briefly, the play tells OF a man
Shat has been found, murdered, in a
hotel. Evidence points to the guilt