Evening star., 1936-02-02
By Ward M0reh0uSe.


A TALL. lean, gray man, 80 years
~ ole and brisk in movement,
~ wearing blue overalls, an en-
4 a gineers cap and heavy gloves,
climbed into an undersized locomotive
and blew a whistle, and a miniature
train lurched from under its shed.
The stubby little locomotive chugged
uphill ard downhill, puffed its way
over high trestles and careened
through winning tunnels. AS sat in
my individual compartment and took
the 3-mi,e ride over 2-foot track I
marveled at the ingenuity and the
zest of the man who devised, owns
and operates this fascinating rail-
road-WIllam Gillette, alias Capt.
Thorne Of the secret service. Union
Army, aDas the great Holmes Of Baker
street, who escaped so many times
from that fearful gas chamber.
There at the throttle was Gillette,
the actor playwright, contemporary
of Frohmar. Pinero, Fitch. Shaw,
Irving, Tree and Henry Arthur Jones;
there. in the engineers cap. was Gill
lette of the dry. shrill voice, Of the
calm intensity, the man who became
an apostle of understatement and
underemphasis. who, through reti-
cence ard repression, was unsurpassed
in the art of holding the stage. Now,
80 years old and serenely out of it, he
runs his one-man railroad and lives
in his feudal castle overlooking the
winding Connesticut River.
IN VISITING Hadlyme you marvel
at the man, the railroad and the
house, a structure Of stone and oak
and steel, which Is suggestive Of the
hilltop castle of Christophe, Negro
King Of Haiti, gray and gaunt and
frightening in its austerity. In his
fortresslike retreat Mr.. Gillette is a
recluse, surrounded by Japanese and
numberless yellow cats.
First. let us consider the private
railroad. It's a thing of magic. 1t
purrs, it pants, it lives, it runs. 1t
pours forth great billows of steam as
its aged builder and owner guides 1t
over the narroW-gauge track. 1t is
an exp1 1essi,n of the mechanical gifts
of mar WHO turned to the stage in
stead OF to engineering. A miniature
railway, vet practicable; q toy, yet a
contrivarce of steam and gasoline and
power. A train that glides along at
20 miles ar hour, past thickets OF
birch and hemlock.
It was built at great pains and ex-
pense, this railroad, and only after
a passage was hewn through heavy
forest. Three miles Of track, auto
matte switches. high trestles with
strong cedar supports and q whistle
that screeches as you start your ride,
as you finish it and as you approach
the tunnel. Engineer Gillette is a
man of caution; there are deer on his
200-acre estate.
The Gillette house. high above the
placid river. is wonder work. Like
the railroad, it was designed in its
entirety by Hadlyme's actor-drama
tist-engineer. Its great walls of steel
and field stone are from 2 to feet
in thickness. The countless doors are
of chopped oak and all Of the latches
knobs. crossbars and light switches
are of oak There is grass mating
upon the walls of the great living
room. An enormous stone fireplace. a
high ceiling. narrow balcony over
hanging the living room, great divans,
a built-in bar, soft lights and Japs
and cats. mostly yellow ones. There's
a trick doorway to q trunk room, and
this door, when opened, becomes q
ladder. There are tiny safety lights
with wooden switches on the stair
way.
There's an art gallery. library,
and, off the living room, room IN in
describable disarray, which is the Gill
lette study. There's a great stone
water tower, to which you climb, and
which affords q magnificent view.
Just below is the quaint ferry which
brings you across the river. Down the
river is the sound; Up the river lies
Hartford, birthplace of the creator Of
Sherlock Holmes.
WILLIAM GILLETTE. at 80, is
" alert, vigorous, courtly: he has
retained all his humor and his charm.
I saw him first as he stood beside his
locomotive, clad In his overslls and his
cap: an hour later, wearing black. q
gold watch chain looped across his
waistcoat he came silently down the
balcony stairway to the low-lit living
room. dignified, calm. erect, command
inr. And as he spoke-laconic, crisp,
cracking, shriu-I felt that Mr..
Holmes Of Baker street had slipped
into this great stone house. that it was
now under his spell, and that the sew
eral guests before the open fireplace
were somewhat stirred and strangely
awed by his presence. He spoke ever
so precisely. almost family, good
and said that he, too.
would have rum with his tea. 1t was
the japanese butler, who
poured.
Nearly all the year round, William
Gillette, son of q United States Sena-
tor and the most distinguished Of
Americas retired actors, is to be found
ut Seventh Sister, his home on the
river bank. He goes to New York now
and then. and stays either at the But