New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-01-01
CHILD OF THEATRE. ROGERS'S
VOICE WON WOMEN'S HEARTS
Lawyers Mother Was Actress Who Won Fame in
Dixie Where Family Went After Brooklyn
Disaster-F1e Wed Senator's Daughter

The life OF Rogers, from the time of
his birth, in 1870, as the son Of o.
actress and theatrical producer, until
the climax through which he is now
struggling as, wringing his hands in
desperation, he PAGES the corridor be-
fore the room in which lies dying the
mother Of his children, is as pict-
uresque as the plays of the East
Lynne" cycle IN which his mother made
her reputation.
Lorlys T.. Rogers was born in Brook
Ign. His father, Lorraine Rogers, was
manager of the old Brooklyn Theatre,
and il was through mis- work there tnat
he met Miss Charlotte Thompson. she
was then one Of the most beloved OF
the stage heroines of America, but the
popularity she enjoyed in New YORK
and Brooklyn never attained the
height of warm enthusiasm with when
she was greeted throughout the South.
Below the Mason-Dixon line such
plays as EAST Lynne" with their stir
ring episodes, thrill the heart OF the
chivalrous Southerner, and it was in
east Lynne" that Charlotte Thomp-
son starred and brought the South to
her feet
When Rogers was still a lad the first
dramatic event in his life occurred.
The Brooklyn Theatre, of which his
father was manager, burned to the
ground during a performance OF "The
Two Orphans" The building was
packed. 295 of the frenzied audience
were burned to death, and a great
number-the records do not show just
how many-were permanently injured.
This, until the Iroquois fire in Chi
cago, was always cited as the standard
by which all public tragedies were
measured, and it may we'll be imagined
that after its occurrence the continual
references to it and the bitter censure
that was turned against the manager
of the theatre made Brooklyn an un-
spot for him to call his
home.
Quit Theatre for Plantation.
After a series of suits resulting
from the tragedy and a fruitless at
tempt to redeem himself in the eyes
of his Northern acquaintance, Lorraine
Rogers decided to move his family 10
a distant new home. His wife owned
a plantation near Montgomery. Ala,
and to this the couple retired with
their son, Lorlys, forsaking forever
the stage, with its unpleasant memo
ries, and becoming cotton planters.
Consisting of about 1000 acres along
the Alabama River, the plantation was
fourteen or fifteen miles out
side Montgomery. Montgomery is an
old fashioned Southern town, stlli
classed with Charleston and Mobile
as one of the towns in which nothing
except a noted Southern ancestry can
gain recognition among the first fami-
lies.
Dixie's rule of exclusiveness was
broken, however, for the Rogers lam
ily. which was received with open arms
at Montgomery by reason of the love
of the South for Charlotte Thompson
Among the families with which they
became friendly was that of John ID
Roquemore, prominent in that section
OF the country. He was invariably
STYLED Senator" because, although he
never served his term, he had been
elected TO the United States Senate.
Lorlys Rogers, when about twenty
wears old. gave up the career OF the
stage on which he had started work,
studied law and entered the once OF
Senator Roquemore, where later ne
became junior partner Of the firm OF
Roouemore & Rogers.
He was then a very different person
from the heavy. grizzle haired man
who j, now watching at the bedside OF
the woman dying at Lebanon Hospital.
Friends of the Montgomery days de-
scribe him "a a tall. handsome young
man of brave bearing and endowed
with a most winning and lovhble
nature. But as knew him sale
one of the friends Of his youth, the
thing above ali that must have made
him dear TO women was that irresiti-
biy wonderful voice of his
His career Of romance began when
the Senator's daughter, Miss Annie
Roouemore, fell in love with him.
They were welded in 1894, while he
was still practising law in her fathers
Office. A son was born to them-Lor-
Tvs Roquemore Rogers, who Is now
about nineteen years old and Is
thought TO be living in New York when
not az work as wireless operator on a
ship plying between this port and New
Orleans.
Upon the death of Senator Rogue
more the frm Of Roauemore & Rogers