davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1927-09-18

Grande Alice talking in an unknown
language"
told the Judge that had collabor.
ated with Rabelais. Racine and
Moliere; that 1t was I who taught
Anatole France to write French and
Clemenceau to speak 1t.
browning at the policeman, the
Judge said: "Oficer, this man Is not
speaking an unknown language. He
from the reservation"
Let us return to our mutton, or our
ham bone. The Star of the first three
weeks of February, 1868. shows that
Maggie Observation-Disclosures as "the
charming Maggie Mitchell" ~ was
playing Fanchon at the Washington
Theater. corner of Eleventh and C
streets, found the following in The
Star. February 4, 1868: "Theater bill
passed-the bill Incorporating the
Washington Theater Co. yesterday
passed the House. The capital stock
Is 100000. Richard Wallach. John
T. Ford, George w. Riggs. j. c. Me-
Guire. Joseph III. Brown, A. r, Potts,
F.. Tenney and Thomas Berry are the
directors" The Washington Theater.
c and Eleventh streets. had not made
money between it's opening In 1904
and its burning in 1920. I do not
know the date when Carusi's Wash,
ington assembly rooms became the
new Washington Tt ,ater. but in the
first three years of the Civil War it
competed with Growers and with the
variety houses--the Canterbury and
the Washington Varieties. The bill of
incorporation shown above. perhaps,
was an effort to raise fresh capital to
keep the theater going.
For the education of Washington
people, the Rambler takes the follow.
ing news from The Star:
Saturday, January 81, 1863: "a rich
musical treat Is promised our citizens
on Thursday evening next at Will
lard'S Hall. when grand vocal and
instrumental concert will be given
complimentary to Nine. Cecilia Young
Kretschmar. Mime. Young, whose ad-
mirable vocalism has so often delight
ed us heretofore, will sing some choice
pieces, and such performers az Messrs.
Wagner, Credini. Moran, Benkart,
Jungnickel, Koppitz (ths unrivaled
flutist) will also appear as evidence
that the entertainment will be one of
the richest musical treats offered our
citizens in long time"
Same date-"The Supreme Court of
the United States does not usually sit
on Saturdays, but the judges meet
on that day at their library room in
Morrison's Building, near Four-and-a-
half street. for the purpose Of looking
into authorities upon contested points.
The large library of the court now in
the old chamber contains about $4,000
volumes. The library at Morrison's
Building contains about 5000 vol
umes. In this building Justices
Catron, Green. Clifford. Swain and |
Davis have their lodgings Justices
Miller and Nelson are at the National |
Hotel upon the same square. Nearby |
is Chief Justice. Taney's residence in |
Blagden's Building on Indiana avenue.
Evening star., 1927-09-18

ii
first and the seeond--were
named washington Theater.
i This may have misled one
Washington historian. or
more, but I do not know that 1t has.
Washington historians are trusty folk
and respectful of facts. When they
disagree, it Is not that an event
evented on such or such a day, but
whether it rained on that day.
The Rambler, with the aid Of annal'
lists, to whom he has given polite
credit. has shown you that the frst
theater was subscribed for In part at
April 20, 1903. That theater, on the
corner Of Eleventh and c streets.
was opened November 16, 1904. as
the Washington Theater. 1t burned
down, or up, April 10, 1920, and the
site and walls were bought by Lewis
Carusi in June. 1921. Mr.. Carusi
had building constructed there which
he opened in 1922 as the Washington
assembly rooms.
In 1921 q theater was built on the
south side OF Louisiana avenue, be-
tween Four.and-a.Half and Sixth
streets, and it was opened as the
Washington Theater. That building
became the Washington assembly and
later Canterbury Hall.
The Rambler told you the story of
that theater and of that Washington
assembly in his story Of the Canter.
bury. He obtained most Of the facts
he got most OF the facts, is better
OF the second Washington Theater
from Evening Star advertisements
and from a story in The Star on the
day Canterbury Hall burnt. Friday,
July %, 1859.
Some parts Of that Canterbury
story may have fed your mind. and
to spare you turning to the scrap
book, wherein you treasure the Ram
bler's stories, he will repeat the facts.
He will draw his salary for repeating
the facts. Instead of referring, or
bearing back. to the account in the
,rambie of the Canterbury fire, I will
show you what A. ]. Mudd, our fel.
low.townsman-our municeps-wrote
of the second Washington Theater.
Theater is in my desk and Mr.. Mudd's
is on the desk. Thus 1t will save me
work 10 use Mr.. Mudd's story, and
the writing Is in better style.
Mr.. Mudd--"A new theater was
erected on Louisiana avenue between
Four-and-a- Half and Sixth streets and
was completed about August /. 1921.
IT was not large. but was more com.
modious than the former theater, and
was fitted UP in better style. The
building was arranged to hold about
700 persons. and the acoustic proper.
ties were good. Liquor was excluded
from the box lobbies and smoking
absolutely prohibited in all parts Of
the building. Separate boxes were
provided for colored people. The new
theater was also called Washington
Theater, and opened Wednesday.
August 8. 1921, under the manage.
ment of Messrs. Warren and Wood.
with the Philadelphia and Baltimore
Co, after an absence Of two years.
They received a very cordial welcome.
Among the members Of the company
were the old favorites. Mr.. Warren.
Mr.. and Mrs. Wood, Mr.. and Mrs.
Francis, Mr.. and Mrs. Jefferson. Mr..
and Mrs. H. Wallack. Mr.. and Mrs
Darley, Mrs. Burke. Mrs. Lefolle.
Miss Seymour, Miss Hathwell. Mr..
Wheatly. and Mr.. Hathwel. The
Plays given on the opening night were
Evening star., 1927-09-18

The kaiser, Ludendorff, Hindenberg,
and an AustrosTurkish military COM
mission were to DO on hand. They
hoped that the wholesale use OF this
new shell would inevitably bring about
German victory.
That was vitality important news!
Moreover, II was unquestionably re-
liable. The men who had given 1t to
me-two superintendent In the fac
tory-were In on this secret Of the
gods!
The rcws was confirmed that very
evening by one Of the special police.
men who guarded the factory. had
made friends with him by drinking
with him often. He closed his re-
marks with the statement that
"these damned Frenchmen and these
thrice.damned Englishmen would
shiver IL they knew what they have
coming to them"
As / pretended to attach slight ipn.
portance to what he was saying. he
became more definite.
1--WE are going to produce new
projectile, one 10 powerful that moth
ing will be left alive within radius
Of a hundred yards of whore 1t bits"
bah! Some more gossip" an,
SWered. Thoy'Ve peen talklng tnat
sort Of stuff for six months!'
Vexed to hear me question his
statement, the policeman burst out,
Gossip! Why. the other day ! saw
them with my own eyes putting the
charge into one Of those shells!'
Eyes. they were probably putting a
mysterious magic power into then,"
laughed. Some one has been
stringing you! why. IL they really
had such an important secret, do you
suppose they would let common po-
liceman like you In on It? Oh, IL
you were an ofIicer of or an en-.
gineer-but a. common policeman"
At once the man became furious!
Not merely had I questioned the truth
of his statement. but ! had belittled
his self.importance. 1t was too
much! He banged his fist on tho table
Evening star., 1927-09-18

|, watched the test. OF course, you
understand, you must keep all this
strictly to yourself"
"Of course! But what test do you
mean?"
"The one they are going to have in
the presence of the Kaiser In a few
days!'
1.-THE Kaiser at Essen! You are
dreaming! What On earth makes you
think that the Kaiser Is coming to
Essen? Some one certainly has been
stringing you now!'
The policeman started to get mad
again, but he stopped, thought a min
ute, and then asked me, How much
will you bet the Kaiser won't be here
Friday?"
"Well--another thousand marks"
Done! I'll meet you here on Fri
day morning at 10 o'clock, and I'll
show you IL I'm liar! And don't for.
get to bring two thousand marks!'
Agreed"
When we had shaken hands. he
started off down the road singing at
the top of his voice.
y **
|WHEN an agent is sent to a for
" eign country he must include
among the documents he hands in
some Photographic proof of the au.
thenticity of his report. On this trip
I was able to send my chief photo
graph of the Kaiser, Hindenburg and
Ludendorff, checking up on a map
a report that they had just received
from an officer attached to general
headquarters.
The photograph had been taken
that very day by the official cnl'rt
photographer. whose duty 1t W to
follow the Kaiser everywhere a'' to
:record for history" the variuuJ acts
OF the war lord" OF course. this
photograph did not pop into my brief
case of it's own will. No more did a
second photograph that I procured,
which showed the Kaiser just getting
out of his field automobile"
If the photographer was important
enough to be a member of the Kaiser's
personal staff. he should have known
that it was a serious mistake to leave
his apparatus In the cloakroom. espe-
cially when it contained such interest
ing plates as found in It..
A few days later, just to let them
know that we were aware of every
thing that went on in Germany, we
sent copies, of those two photographs
to Berlin. They created widespread
uneasiness. Think of it! A French
Evening star., 1927-09-18

My old friend Thoreau came by and
said: "Well. we'll, Harry! Glad to see
you here! I heard that you were in
Mount Olivet, Congressional or Rock
Creek. So you are still writing ram
bles? Well. well! They ought to be
stopped. Give my regards to all the
literary folk in Washington who dis
cuss me- but never buy my books"
While I am playing on this string
I will tell you that ! was also in Que
bee. Grand old French city--140. 900
French. had a great reception
there. ! had not been In town long
enough to find a nail to hang my
razor strop on when the chief of police
called on me. He said: Monsieur le
Rodeur, Quebec salutes you! The
mayor sends me to extend his greet
ings and to say that he hopes your
Evening star., 1927-09-18

stay in Quebec will be happy. But he
also hopes that it will not be prolong.
ed later than the next train back to
Montreal, Two walters and II bar
tenders are already dead from laugh.
ing at your French"
\ X
I WAS conversing with some natives
on La Grande Allee-the swell
street. I was congratulating them on
the beauty of Quebec's women and
the favor of Dow's stout. when a gen.
darme pinched me. He took me
before the prOcureur du roi and
Monsieur le Marie and lie conseil des
echevins came down to the trial. The
judge said, "Officer, what's the charge
against this fellow"
The officer-"I found him on La
Evening star., 1927-09-18

She stoops to Conquer and The
Spoiled Child There was a dance
by Mrs. Wallack and the opening ad-
dress was delivered by Mr.. Wood.
august ], 1922, the elder Booth.
from the Theater Royal and Covent
Garden, London. made his first appear.
ance in Washington as Richard Third.
He also appeared in the Iron Chest
King Lear, The Mountaineers,' and
Hamlet On this occasion the Ma
tional Intelligcncer departed from its
usual custom and printed a very COM
plimentary notice of Mr.. Booths
acting" 1t was not the custom OF
the Intelligencer to print uncompli.
mentary notices Of actors. It's custom
was not to print in its news depart
ment anything about them.
Mr.. Mudd-"Mr. Cooper, another
celebrated actor, made his first ap-
pearance September 3 as Macbeth.
Mr.. Booth played an engagement in
1923, during which, on the night of
his benefit, July rs, he appeared for
the first time In his great character
of Sir Giles Overreach in A New Way
to Pay Old Debts March 90, 1924
the new opera of 'Clari;' or the Maid
Of Milan written by John Howard
Payne. formerly of this theater, was
presented. and during its performance
Home. Sweet Home or as 1t was then
called, Sweet Home was sung by Mr..
Waring to great applause.
Gen. Lafayette, being in Washing.
ton as the guest OF the Nation, visited
the theater on the night Of December
4, 1924. The theater was handsome
ly decorated for the occasion and the
distinguished French officer was re.
ceived with much enthusiasm. The
comedy Of Soldiers Daughter and
the farce, The Review: or, The Ways
of Windsor were played, There was
also dance by Mrs. Florence and
Mrs. Dinneford, and Mr.. Somerville
sang comic song.
During the year 1925. Mr.. Cooper,
Mr.. Booth, Mr.. Burroughs, Mr.. and
Mrs. Barnes and other celebrated ac.
tors and actresses Of the day played
benefit, February 8, a large and dis.
tinguished audience was present, in
cluding President Monroe, Secretary
OF State John Quincy Adams, Secre.
tary of War William II. Crawford,
Gen. Jackson and Gen. Lafayette. The
plays given were Damon and Pythias'
and The Irishman in London
ION the night Of July II. during the
engagement Of Mr.. Booth, row was
started In the theater, in which most
of the participants were strangers In
the city. In suppressing the disorder.
the managers were assisted by a mum.
ber of Congressman and citizens Of
Washington.
"At the beginning of the season the
word Washington was dropped, the
name 'Theater' alone being used. In
1927 1t was called Washington Thea
ter but in 1928 IL again became the
'Theater,' and retained that name for
several years."
WHEN the Rambler writes "the FIRST
w theater in Washington" he
means the first building constructed
for use az 4 theater. There was q
Evening star., 1927-09-18

, Justice Wayne resides at franklin
place." There was considerable dis
tinction In having lodgings in those
old buildings. The Supreme Court
justices took their meals at boarding
houses. Young people will not see
much swank in that.
You may get glimpse of Wash
ington's lack Of sanitation in 1863
from what follows: February 2, 1853:
1.-THE smallpox graveyard-It is sub
ject of very general complaint that
the bodies of those who have died of
smallpox at the hospital near the
contraband camp. which are taken to
the graveyard on Boundary street, be-
tween Eleventh and Twelfth, are
buried very carelessly. Many of the
coffins seem to be laid on the ground
and few shovelfuls of dirt thrown
over them. This street Is now much
used, persons passing nearby the
ground at all hours. but not knowing
the horrid condition of the ground and
being ignorant Of the danger, no at
tention Is paid to IT," One contraband
Ia fugitive slave who found refuge in
Washington camp was bounded by
Vermont avenue. p and Twelfth
streets. That part OF the city was
commons and think the camp GOV,
cred Iowa Circle and the streets
named. Smallpox was frequent in
that camp In tha Winter of 1862-83.
Several complaints were written to
The Star of dead horses on the streets
and common In Washington, and
charges We're made that the police
were not faithful to their duty. This,
from The Star, February II, 1863:
"Seventy-five men have been set to
work burying horses. Two hundred
and sixty have been buried at Airing
ton. 240 near lexington Gales
Woods). 240 above Georgetown be.
tween 800 and 400 at the upper end
OF Twenty.frst street and 200 near
the almshcuse,' I believe the aims
house was on Seventh street. near o
and streets. at that time.
The police defended themselves
from the charge of letting dead horses
strew the town. This was the defense
as printed In The Star: Much OF the
complaint that this business has not
been attended to properly arises from
notices not being sent to the proper
place. A box Is kept for them at the
ONCE OF the chief Of police" The po-
lice were not expected to know that
about 1,400 dead horses were lying
about the city unless q notice to that
effect We're dropped in certain box |
at police headquarters.
February 16. 1868: "A New syna-
gogue-Last week the agents of the |
Hebrew Congregation |
purchased the building on Eighth |
street, near II. formerly used by the |
NJ. +. Church South. for $4,000. 1t is
now used for Government purposes. |
but as soon an It Is delivered to the |
new owners they will proceed to at II |
for use according to the rites of the
Hebrew Congregation"
February 5, 1853: 'Improvement--As
arge three'story frame building Is in
Evening star., 1927-09-18

agent at Essen at the very time that
the Kaiser and all those dignitariss
were there!
don't know whether this poor pho.
tographer, M. S.. ever knew
what had happened. do know that
bright and early one morning he was
arrested and put away" He stayed
there seven months and. of course,
lost his job at court.
On Friday morning my policeman
came for me as we had agreed.
His first question was, Have you
my two thousand marks?"
II have" answered. Here. Where
ara yours?"
"Humph! I see you haven't much
confidence In me.'
"Sure! But you've been telling
Evening star., 1927-09-18

so hard that he knocked over our
teuffel! 4 common policeman like
me knows more than a fool like
you! He knows more than an officer
and more than a good many en-
gineers. There are some places where
neither you nor the engineers nor the
Officers can ever go"
you can Just look around In those
places. You don't know what's going
on"
"Just look around! Donnerwetter!
I saw them put gas into the shells
with my own eyes,"
T STOPPED laughing; under
= stood. :. But / wanted to
push the policeman completely out
into the open.
What do you take me for?" I
smiled. "Do You want me to believe
that you can put gas inside shell?
Why not water in a wire cage"
MY policeman became absolutely
rabid. His eyes were popping as he
exclaimed: $50 that's 1t! You take
me for a dumb-bell! don't know
what I'm talking about! Well, how
much will you bet that there Is no
such thing as a shell filled with gas?"
burst into laughter, "But my good
man. think a minute! You are going
to lose your money"
That's all right--how much will
you bet?"
I pretended to think for minute,
and then I said hesitatingly, Look
here. I'm a good fellow. don't want
to bankrupt you. Well, I'll bet a
thosuand marks the only gas shells
are in your mind!'
shake on it," he said, bursting into
a broad grin.
After which asked him. with the
air of politely trying to make conver'
sation, when are you going to show
me those famous shells?"
"Oh. whenever you want. But /
suppose It would be best, just so you
won't have any doubts left, IL you
Evening star., 1927-09-18
Tuning Church Bells.

TT Is said that an English clergyman
was the frst to call attention to
the fact that bells are rarely in. tune
and that the fault can be remedied
II a church bell was originally In tune
with itself, According to his theory.
a bell must have at least Ave tones
at correct intervals to form per-
feet musical chord. 8
At first the work of tuning was
done with a hammer, a chisel and q
file, and magnificent tenor bell In
England, was thus reduced
of an inch in diameter;
but modern bell foundries employ q
machine with a revolving cutter that
shaves the metal near the crown OF
the bell until the tuner. aided by q
tuning fork. has hit the right pitch.
Evening star., 1927-09-18
nbler Studies Stage Enterprises Preceding First Theaer
Copyright, 1877

course of erection on the corner of
Third street and Pennsylvania ave-
nue., the site of the late fire there"
They We're building Mades' Hotel
Same date: Real Estate Sales by
Green & Williams. Auctioneers-Brick
house and lot corner OF Eleventh and
III north to G. Alexander for s3,S00."
The Rambler believes that became a
new home of Columbia Alexander.
February Is, 1868: Sent to Old Capt.
tol Prison-Thomas G. Gheen and
son, William Thomas Gheen; John
S. Owen, John Day. Albert G. Harley.
James w. Smith and David LONE"
The names of hundreds of old Wash
ington families were written on the
register of that resort.
Evening star., 1927-09-18
AeEg.
sCon~qeu

such extraordinary things I've got a
right to be q little suspicious
We'll, get ready to see some even
more Extraordinary things! Let's get
started before the sentries get there
and keep every one out of the artillery
range. / know of little place. Just
big enough for us, where you will have
a flne chance to watch the firing"
WE started out and had to piow
w through almost impossible roads
before we reached the range. Near
the middle Of 1t. some 1900 yards from
the battery that was to conduct the
test, noticed flock Of sheep.
What the devil are those sheep
there for?"
My companion smiled, "Those sheep
are supposed to represent the damned
Frenchmen and thrice.damned Eng
lishmen! See how many Of them are
alive In a few minutes"
Farther down. toward the outskirts
of the target range, lines OF soldiers
were moving. Near the gate officers
were getting out of automobiles and
standing around waiting for the kaiser
to arrive.
Soon he came. accompanied by his
personal staff. He inspected the guard
and shook hands with few. Then he
started for the field where one could
see II and a naval gun of larger
caliber.
My policeman and had already got
into the little hole and were anxiously
awaiting further developments. Sud-
denly we heard two short orders called
out. They were followed by the sound
Of two shots. We could see the shells
explode within a few yards of the
sheep.
cloud of yellow.green smoke arose and
was blown toward the flock of sheep.
1t seemed to cover them like a veil.
When the smoke had cleared away
Evening star., 1927-09-18

This is the first of series of ar.
ticles by a brilliant French opera
tive Of the allied secret service sys.
TEN In the Great War.
In these articles. corroborated by
many excerpts from official docu-
ments, NJ. Lucieto describes the
amazing hidden warfare. indefat-
igably carried on behind the ar
mics by the two contending sys-
TENS. In startling detail he re.
veals the scope and intricacy of
the German service and the coun-
ter measures taken by the allies to
meet them.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-07-24

ing copper coil springs to which sew
eral sets of phones can be attached by
forcing the end tips of the phone
wires between the coils Of the springs.
Tubes for the radio set should be
carried well protected in padded box
in which may be carried also the
light bulbs for the car itself.
Should the motorist not desire 10
take along one of the larger portable
sets, there is much enjoyment to be
derived from small sets, provided he
is willing to go to a little bit Of extra
effort. An effective aerial may be
had by swinging wire over the
limb of a tree. This aerial may be
attached to any crystal set.
1t is we'll to insulate that part of
the antenna which hangs over the
limb of the tree. Reception depends,
generally speaking, upon three fac
tors-efflciency of the set, efficiency
of the aerial and proximity Of the
broadcasting station. The poorer the
set the better the antenna should be,
unless one is near a powerful sending
station, in which case reception will
b, good, as a general rule, even with
an inadequate aerial.
The motor tourist usually is in a
good position for satisfactory radio
results, and he who is hoping to get
the greatest pleasure out Of his trip
this year should include a. set In his
eOlliDment