Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1939-05-25
VARIOUS ACTIVITIES MARK
CLOSING OF SCHOOL YEAk

With the closing OF the schooi
there are many activities. May IL
was the junior-senior reception; FIJI
day night, May 10, was the class
nIay. presented to an audience when
filled the auditorium, and was splen-
.didly received Sunday night was
the baccalaureate exercises; this a.
ternoon (Thursday) the eigntn
grade commencement; tonlgnt -
the high school commencement, anu
Friday night the alumni
.sThe Wasp's Nest"
The following splendid account OIL
the class play is furnished us by Roy
Clifford. M. & MS outstanding SEN
ior:
The senior class presented their
dramatic production, "The wasp s
Nest, to the public last Friday ev-
ening. May 10, under the direction
of Mrs. Evelyn True Button. The
scene of this three-act mystery COM
edy by Adelaide Matthews and Mar.
tha Stanley was the entrance hall OF
the old Mcdowell mansion deep IN
the woods outside Of Ellison, va.
THE action was continuous, starting
at nine-thirty on Halloween. Roger
Mcdowell, the last Of the McDowells'
by Jack Bell, was the rightful own
er of the mansion, while Henry FL
fieId-Ralph Broedel, trustee OF the
estate. was trying to defraud Roger
by compelling him to pay large
sum of money which he claimed as
his. The estate would revert to him
if the money was not paid him by
g. 1pfiC h G.
paw" Billy White, was with hlm'
while Roger was accompanied by MS
pal, Steve Nelson, Bob Tombaugn.
Reid Carson, a smooth h1ghWayman,
Sam Cordray, and Hank, co-worker
of Reid's, Thomas Butterfield, had
held up train nearby and were tax
ing refuge in this haunted mansion
Nancy Merrivale, an ingenious miss,
Dorothy Miller, had escaped from the
train when it was being robbed and
had stumbled into the mansion also.
Mrs. Emmeline Jessup, Nancy's aunt.
June Martin, had arrived from the
same misfortune, but from another
direction.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Nicely Mcdowell,
Rogers mother, Maxine Roberts,
had arrived with her superstitious
maid, Lille, Muriel Winegardner, to
take a last look over the old place
before it changed hands. The char
acters were constantly being terri
fed by shots, screams, and grOans;
by skeleton appearing where an
unconscious man had been placed,
by their companions who, seated up
on a chair, would suddenly vanish;
and by the grey enigma, Myrtle,
Jane White. Ben Hickman, a
neighbor of the McDowells, John
Anderson, proved to be of valuable
aid in times of need.
The entangled plots slowly unrav-
eled themselves in the last act when
Myrtle proved to be a certain Acker-
strom who was interested in pur-
chasing the haunted house Roger
was then jubilant to think that he
could get money to pay Fifield. How
eer. since Fifield demanded the debt
in cash, and since AckerstrOm could
not pay cash for the house, they all
became downcast again.
Eventually, they recaptured from
Fifield some valuable papers that
had been found and stolen by him,
and that proved this estate and 9TH
er property besides belonged right
fully to the McDowells. Aunt En-
incline, whom they thought to be an
escaped lunatic because she wore
her nightgown, found her niece,
Myrtle, who had been hiding, had
taken the loot from the robbers bag
and replaced chimney stones in its
place; the smooth highwayman es-
capped with his supposed loot; FL
field, the villain, was trapped in his
own clever scheme, and Roger and
Nancy fell deeply in love with each
other.
The cast presented it's production
almost perfectly with the aid Of the
electricians under William Abel,
with the aid of the state crew and
the promoters-Helen Anguish and
Carol Murray-who also performed
their duties excellently. Scenery for
the play was made by the stage
crew under Burdette Ham, chief,
was supervised by Mr.. ]. A. Rich,
and was painted by Mrs. Twyla Ed
Continued on page two)