New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-08-11
BY HAYWOOD BROUN.

speaking Of indigestion" the hero
inc remarked, and in an instant we
were al attention. But she was no true
dyspeptic. She contributed nothing TO
our vast knowledge of the things when
positively will not cure fatulence, YER
tigo, acidity and distress from over
eating. Unfortunately, "The Silent
Witness" soon deserted the promising
gastric field to become obstetrical and
melodramtic.
Eighteen years after the baby was
born, and just before the murder, we
were convinced that "The Silent Wit
ness" would be thoroughly bad play.
1t isn't. Such a thing is not possible.
When a curtain is raised and actors are
sent upon a stage to speak lines, drama
of one kind or another is bound TO de-
velop. -.
Otto Hauerbach goes about the bust
ness of getting drama slowly and
clumsily, but the fact remains that ne
gets it.
must thrill. A lapse of eighteen years,
bit of rice powder for the hair ana
a scene where the man and woman
, meet again is bound to hold the atten-
ton. Mr.. Hauerbach has not written
this scene well, but he has the dra-
matte instinct to hold it and hammer
it home And the scene is superoly
played. When Emelie POlini and Hen
ry Kolker talk their voices silence the
! cyreaking of a most ramshackle melo-
| drama. Miss Polini is the sort OF an
actress who can hush a house with
such a line as "They told me your
were dead"
Later on Donald Gallagher brought
the audience up straight again with
a fine fash of power With all the
| sleaziness of the last act il has IN 1t
| the stuff ii make on watch and walt
and hope that the boy will be ac-
quilted all right. And so we think that
| it is not fair to make too much fun
| of Mr.. Hauerbach, who has gone ABOUT
| his Job with seeming sincerity ana
| earnestness and at certain times
| heavy-handed, clumsy sort OF power,
ct it is difficult freely TO forgive tne
man who wrote the act Outside the
college library, near Rushville. A sep
TENDER afternoon" Rushville has the
| architecture of Princeton and the man
ners and morals of Yale. Much hap
| pens there on the lawn before the
! Rushville library on this particular
| afternoon. There is fight and a
| murder and some place of stage loot
! ball game. Wheneved the author
wants to get rid of a character he SIM
/ ply gives him some line about looking
on the game and let HIM CO. IL Is
most convenient contest:
When the act begins the hero is chop
ping wood while waiting to learn
whether or not he has been expelled
for beating a boy who said that his
father and mother had never married.
As a matter of fact, the story was true:
Worse vet, the mother of the hero had
left her home thinking that the father
of her child was dead. He was only
seriously i'll, and he lived to become the
! District Attorney.
By and by the gossiping lad tells ms
story again and the student is wood
chopping IA, which counts half a point
toward a degree at Nashville, hits him
with his right and left. The left is
more effective, for in that hand the
southpaw slayer holds club. The boy
is indicted and prosecuted by his father
who learns of the relationship Just on
the eve of the trial.
Fortunately the prosecutor gets a
scientific bunch in time to work out a
complex theory concerning blood STAINS
and proves that the dead boy met an
accidental, and not left-handed death
The theory has something TO do with
pernicious anemia, and it pleased the
jury nightly.
Anamia may be all right in its way
but you can't convince us that It has
ANYTHING like the dramatic possibilities
of indigestion. By the way, don't LEI
ANYBODY interest you in drinking a
glass of hot water the first thing in the
morning. There's nothing in it.