Vigo County, Indiana - Chapter 21, 1908

Amusements Of Old And New

THE PRESS - LITERATURE AND ART AND THEIR ORGANIZATIONS - THE ARTISTS, ACTORS AND WRITERS OF TERRE HAUTE - THE THEATERS AND AMUSEMENTS OF OLD AND NEW TERRE HAUTE.

The first newspaper printed in Indiana was at Vincennes July 4, 1804. by Elihu Stout. The material was brought on pack horses from Louisville. How much a pioneer in the newspaper field of the middle west it was will be better realized when it is recalled that in the spring of the same year the Lewis and Clark expedition started from St. Louis to explore the great purchase west of the Mississippi river.

The Western Register was founded at Terre Haute in 1823 by the pioneer, John W. Osborn. ( See mention elsewhere. ) No. 44, \'ol. VI, of the Western Register, dated February 18, 1830, contains four small pages, of five columns each, printed closely with solid reading matter. Among other articles is a long speech in Congress by Mr. Test, of Indiana, on the distribution of public lands, which he did not favor at all. He referred to the useless millions spent upon the government buildings and white house in severe terms, and exclaimed that the west had already paid more than its share for these national improvements.

Part of the report of congressional debate was seven weeks old and part of it nineteen days. Over three columns of this copy are devoted to the act of the assembly providing for the construction of the Wabash and Erie Canal. The European news was from two to three months old, but it was fresh to Terre Haute, and must have been interesting to the intelligent readers of the Register. It includes the first report of the bequest by James Smithson to the LTnited States for the foundation of the Smithsonian Institute.

vice John F. Cruft. EditDr Kinney gives his opinion of this Jacksonian act by saying: ""Mr. Cruft was among the best officers of this department in this state and gave universal satisfaction. We kiiozi' that the PEOPLE iiniiicdiafdy interested in this office did not request his reinoial. * Mr. Cunningham is a respectable citizen, and we ho])e the pubHc will not suffer by the change."

The editor was much disturbed by the apparent design of Congress to modify the taritf. He foresees, if this is done, "The RUIN OF OUR ^MANUFACTURES, and the annihilation of our home markets. But we await the issue."

"According to an estimate made by De Witt Clinton, of New York, the expense of constructing a railroad from that city to New Orleans would be $11,825,000."

Obituary notices couched in elegant language and in warm terms of eulogy tell of the death of Nancy Linton, seventeen, and Mrs. Rebecca Modesitt. aged forty-two, who died while her husband. Dr. C. B. Modesitt, was in the east. (She was the mother of Mrs. Frances Warren, then about sixteen years old, who survived her mother nearlv threequarters of a century ) .

Two and a half colunms are given to extracts of the "elegant literature" of the day. The advertisements, of which there were six columns, as usual throw the most light on the town and its business. The Register announces that good flour, whisky, corn, wheat, cotton, beeswax and clean linen and cotton rags will be received for debts due this office until April, after which cash will be expected from all subscribers.

Harrison and Allen (B. M. Harrison and Henry Allen?) announce that all accounts will be put in the hands of officers for collection on March ist. previous to that date pork, whisky, wheat, deerskins, feathers, tallow and flour will be received in payment. Dry goods and groceries will be exchanged for these commodities at cash prices. John F. Cruft had received two hundred barrels of Kanawha salt. No. 1 inspected, very dry and white - pork or whisky taken in exchange at cash prices.

Rose & \\'arren ( Chauncey Rose and Chauncey Warren) a!Iso offered two hundred barrels of salt, just received by steamboat, and 1,500 pounds of lead at cost and carriage. Samuel Thompson, of Bruceville, Knox county, offers forty barrels of boiled cider at four dollars a barrel, and several young apple trees at $1.50 per hundred.

Henrv Shepherd, hatter (a cut of old-fashioned bell-crowned hat), offers hats warranted to be water proof, at wholesale and retail at Pittsburg- prices. Beaver, otter, muskrat and mink furs taken. Tilley & Scott, of Louisville, offer two hundred and fifty kegs of Boston nails and fiftv kegs of Dupont's gunpowder (it was not foreseen that this brand of powder would some day be made in Mgo county).

The new, fast-running steamboat Tippecanoe, Defrees, master, built expressly for the Wabash trade, will run between Louisville and Terre Haute, and being very light draught of water will be able to run the whole season. J- F. Cruft, agent. The Highlander is also announced to run all season after the river opens.

Seven notices of horses taken up indicate a poor state of fences. The horses were reported to a justice of the peace, appraised at prices from eight to twenty-seven dollars, and advertised.

An advertiser forewarns all persons, storekeepers in particular, from trading with or trusting his wife Lucy, for she is deranged in mind and not a fit person to make contracts.

The editors of Terre Haute for the first fifty years, from the establishment of the Register in 1823, included a number of able men of interesting character, who were men either of culture or native force. To speak of none who are contemporary, there were John W. Osborn, A. Kinney, S. B. Gookins, J. B. L. Soule, Thomas Bowling, Jesse Conard, D. S. Danaldson, Captain Allen. R. N. Hudson, O. J. Smith, S. R. Henderson, P. S. Westfall, and others, all of whom have gone but Smith and Henderson. Most of these were prominent in other affairs of city and countv, and individual mention of them is made on other pages.

Charles H. Allen, who died October 21, 1907, was formerly editor of the Express, and was also identified with the Indianapolis Journal and the EransviUc Courier. He had taught English literature in Alaine Academy and served with conspicuous gallantry in the war for the Union. He was one of the organizers (with Jerome Burnett) of Ptiblic Opinion, and for the last twenty years of his life was in the editorial department of the Washington Post. "His editorial writings have been uniformly distinguished by that kindliness of spirit and love for mankind that shaped the entire course of his life."- It is said that he became an authority on the federal constitution, and made numerous suggestions that were enacted into laws by Congress. In a Massachusetts regiment durintr the war he was severelv wounded at Antietam, was taken to a western hospital, and when thscharged raised a company of Indiana vokmteers, of which he was made captain. He was half owner of the Express.

In the earlier days preceding the present generation there were occasional examples of the unfortunate black sheep of good families - not many, but always one or two conspicuously in view. Talented, fine young fellows, with everything in prospect of successful and honorable careers, they fell into dissipation and finally drifted to the very bottom. And yet such were their natural good qualities, their bright wit, that they were not despised but pitied. The war brought to an end much of this. Some of the ne'er-do-wells at home became gallant soldiers to die as heroes, and others after noble service returned to civil life softened by their hardships to become quiet, good men and citizens. In the earlier days, of the free and easy social conditions, there were some of the scapegraces who went down into the valley and came out on the heights.

Judge Jesse Conard came here prior to 1840 and was for seventeen years proprietor and editor of the U'abash Courier, which he bought from Thomas Dowling and which he finally sold to R. X. Hudson, who merged it with the Express. Judge Conard was judge of the probate court of this county. He was author of two novels, "Stephen Moreland," published in Philadelphia before he came here, and "Mount Echo," written while here and published in Cincinnati. He spent the last years of his life in Pennsylvania, where he died in 1877, aged eighty-three. Another "Judge" Conard, son of the editor, had a more melancholy fate. He was one of those wrecks, deserving of a better fate, that can usually be found in all communities. E. Worthington Conard, usually called "Judge," was the son of Judge Jesse. He was born in West Chester, Pa., about 1822. His mother died in a few days, and her family told Jesse Conard that he had better go west. He obeyed and in time came to Terre Haute, where he filled a respected position for a number of years. The boy grew up into a handsome young fellow, under the care of two aunts, who were much attached to him. But against their wishes, on becoming of age he journeyed west and came to his father in Terre Haute, and at once took up work in the Courier office. His father was said to have treated him very badly, which may have contributed to his downfall. He had inherited five thousand dollars from his mother, which his father wasted. He remained with the Courier until it was merged with the Express, and set type for that paper. In 1861 he was appointed mail agent on the Alton road, but lost the place for inattention to duty, and then he went down very fast and became a mere vagabond. .\n aunt dying left him property worth $9,000 and some money, on which he could have lived very well, but he became miserly in habits, and though he had plenty of monev in McKeen's bank, he would go to the National House at night to sleep, pay for his room each morning, and then go out to eat at the cheapest place. He was known of by everybody, but few knew him. When urged to put on a decent garb and go to meet the surviving aunt, who still loved him, he said: "No, she remembers me as a handsome, intelligent young man, and I will not dispel the picture by obtruding this bloated, diseased carcass before her." He died at the National two years after receiving his fortune in 1S77. _A few months later his father and the aunt sent for his body to lay it beside his young mother.

In selling the Courier Thomas Dowling promised Conard not to start another paper in Terre Haute within five years. The veteran Dowling could not stay out of journalism so long, and he sent for his brother John in Washington to come and assume the nominal proprietorship of a new paper. This was the origin of the Terre Haute Express, the first issue of which appeared December 13, 1841. No prospectus had been issued, and not a subscriber was on the books. In four weeks it had the largest circulation of any paper on the Wabash. Thomas Dowling's name did not appear as editor and proprietor until the five-year limit had expired. In February, 1845, David S. Danaldson bought the Express, moving it from the Linton block to an old frame building on the site later occupied by the Naylor opera house, and still later to a building next to the old town hall. Third and Ohio. May 12, 1851, the first number of the Daily Express was issued, which was the first daily paper published in this city. J. V>. L. and Aloses Soule purchased the Express in 1853.

September 14, 1855, R. N. Hudson entered the field of Terre Haute journalism, having purchased the Express, and also buying the property of the American (organ of the Know-Nothing party.) In April, 1857, he merged the Courier with the Express. The Express next passed into the hands of Gen. Charles Cruft, January, 1861, and remained in that ownership until sold to the Express Printing Company in April, 1872. C. A. Allen and Maj. O. J. Smith were editors during this period. W. R. iMcKeen bought the Express in August, 1879, Perry S. Westfall becoming his editor. In March, 1898, a stock company, in which the Mc- Keen interest was large, took over the Express, and it was published under that name until 1903, when it was succeeded by the syndicate paper, the Terre Haute Star.

In 1863 the Express was obliged to raise the subscription, by half owing to the advance in the price of paper within three months over nearly one hundred per cent. In January of that year the Express had begun to publish the entire Associated Press report, beginning with Gen- j. B. Edmunds and Isaac Coltrin established tlie Prairie C'il\ in 1850. In 1856 Edmunds, Cookerly and Thomas I. I'murne established the Terre Haute Journal as a weekly. IJourne soon retired and died in 1S57, and the remaining members of the firm established the Dailx liz'cuiiii^ Journal, which was sold to a stock company in 1862. Cookerhwent on a farm, but later bought the Journal with John Jordan, and kei)t it imtil it was sold to R. N. Hudson & Compan\ .

The Terre Haute Gazette was established in 1868 as a weekh . Under the ownership of Hudson & Rose a daily edition w^as started. The veteran newspaper man, ^\'illiam C. Hall, bought the Gazette in November, 1872, with John S. Dickerson as partner. Spencer V. Hall secured the latter's interest in 1874. and from that time until the Gazette went out of existence the Calls controlled its management and policw (See sketch of W. C. Ball.)

Jerome Burnett, who came to Terre Haute with his father, X'irgil Ihirnett, from New Jersey in 1845 (cousin of Linus A. Burnett), studied in the limited schools of the town and worked his wav up to a fine position and reputation as a government official and literarv man. He had worked in his father's blacksmith shop, was with his father-in-law, Albert Langc, in the cou)ity auditor's and state auditor's offices, was deputv auditor of the state for eleven years, and then went to \^'ashington, where he was chief of the bond division of the treasurv department when he died in 1891. He had gone there with John C. New under the Harrison administration, and served on under Cleveland. He was one of the founders of Public Opinion and worked on it for several vears. He was an excellent writer and a graceful poet. At one time he taught school in Terre Haute.

The following melancholy incident of Capt. George VV. Cutter, one of Terre Haute's early writers, was related in a Chicago newspaper after his death at Washington: "One bleak night in this very month, eleven years ago, he had been on one of his erratic cruises and wandered upon the street, where the heavy, cold and cheerless walls of the mansions of the rich rear their chilly fronts, sparsely clad, the wintry winds whipping around his trembling limbs, and the wolves of hunger howling after him, as he expressed it himself. He sat upon the curbing of the pavement to rest and brood over his situation. Soon he heard music and the voice of singing. He was wonderfully fond of each. A moment's listening and it was that of a lady giving in thrilling tones the notes of his own E Pluribiis Uiiuiii, to an admiring group of friends. That lady is now the wife of the gallant General Hooker. Little did the accomplished artist dream that the destitute author of the piece she executed so well and admired so much was so ver\' near at hand."

Cutter wrote as late as 1863, and his poems always were welcomed and cojiied. He wrote "The Song of Steam," "The Song of Iron," "E Pluril)us Ununi," "The Song of Lightning," etc. Captain Cutter fell ill love with an aetress, ]\Irs. Drake, at Indianapolis. His passion was rapid and he impetuonsly hurried the marriage and woke the county clerk. Joseph Brown, at midnight to get the license.

"The Bird That Sang in ]\Iay" appeared anonymously in Harper's ]\Iagazine in 1864, made the round of the papers and was published in the Terre Haute Gazette in 1870 with the name of the author for the first time - J. B. L. Soule.

A poem written by Jacob Hager many years ago, while he was still a young man, at a time when the minds of the youth were under the spell of Byron and Shelley, floated through many papers, where it attracted the attention of George D. Prentice, himself a poet and famous writer, who copied it in the Louisville Journal, prefacing it with a highly complimentary note. The poem shows the culture of the mind of Mr. Hager, and a few verses may be allowed here. (The Mary was Mary Linton).

Mary, my days of hope and joy are ended; Gone are the happy hours of life's sweet June, And the bright dreams that with my being blended Their glowing tints, have vanished all too soon. But I may love thee still, though love be folly, Though crushed and withered every hope may be; Dearer to me this passion, pure and holy. Than a successful love apart from thee.

But ask not me, beloved, to forget thee. Oblivion's blessings would be sought in vain. For I must ever love thee and regret thee. Though every memory be fraught with pain. Thou art the one deep thought of my existence, The sad remembrance which will not depart, The worshipped idol, whom no time nor distance. Nor hopelessness may banish from my heart.

. judge David Davis and Edward M. Stanton. He came to Terre Haute with his father in 1835. He served a time in the legislature. He had a studious, rare literary taste, was an elegant writer and poet, and was familiar with several languages, being one of the most cultivated among a number of intelligent contemporaries. It is pleasant to repeat the words written of him by his friend. D. W. Minshall : "His nature was one of childlike simplicity, absolutely without guile, frank, artless, honest and sincere, with a heart wide open that all men might read and a hand that shamed us all to more generosity. This ingenuous, open-hearted nature attracted and refreshed men, and held them to it as a magnet holds its afifinitA', for each could feel some better part of their nature, which the cunning and subtlety of the world had not yet reached." A rare tribute, and at the same time affording a glimpse into the reserved Air. Minshall's nature, not often given.

Hager fell dead while talking to his son. For a short time he was in the dry goods business on the north side of the square. He was chief clerk of the Wabash canal board of trustees (Ohio street office) for about twent_\--five years, and was paymaster of the \'andalia for several years. Once he was presented, with another classmate of Kenyon, a large man, by Stanton, also a large man, to Lincoln. As Lincoln looked at the small figure of Hager and his robust companions, he made one of his quizzical remarks : "These gentlemen must have horned you away from the trough when you were at Kenyon." Hager was extremely well versed in English, French, Spanish and Latin literature. He married a daughter of John Ross, of Mncennes, brother of James and Harry Ross, of Terre Haute. Her sister married Charles McCulIoch, son of Hugh McCulloch, of Ft. Wayne.

The career of James F. Gookins as an artist had its original inspiration in an event that belongs with the history of literary affairs of Terre Haute. In i860 there was a band of youthful spirits associated as a debating and literary society, who invited Bayard Taylor to lecture here in the city school house. The famous litterateur arrived in the midst of a storm at the little station on the prairie, where he was met by a young fellow and introduced to two others equally boyish, who constituted the reception committee. Taylor was a little dubious about the outlook, but the spokesman forced him to take a carriage and go to the home of his . father. Judge S. B. Gookins. Taylor thought it useless to lecture, but the lecture committee insisted, and as they drove him to the old city school at Fourth and Mulberry the streets were seen to be full of umbrellas moving in the same direction - and the hall was packed. The acquaintance formed between Bayard Taylor and James F. Gookins led the latter to go to Europe to begin a career as an artist, following the author's advice on the subject.

The Ulyssean Debating Society, an organization of young men, for the cultivation of oratory and mutual improvement included among its members James B. Harris, Joseph Gilbert, James Gookins, C. E. Hosford, Putnam Brown, O. J. Smith, John Risley, Lucius and Theodore Bailey and others. It gave a fine course of lectures, in which noted lecturers spoke at the city school at Fourth and Mulberry streets or the Universalist church, Ohio street, west of Fifth. In the seasons of 1859- 60, there lectured for this society Bayard Taylor, the famed traveler, who spoke of Moscow : Horace Greeley, whose illegible note of acceptance had been one of the wonders of the town ; Carl Schurz, who, the next year, was to win the mission to Spain, by his speeches for Lincoln and Hamlin : John G. Saxe, the genial poet, who coined the line, "The Yankee's initial number is number one" ; J. T. Headley, the historian of "Napoleon and His Marshals," and last, though not least, Lola Alontez. Those who saw and heard Lola, the Countess Lansfeld, have an interesting personality to remember. She had been the most famous danseuse in Europe, noted for her beauty and her escapades. Later, her relations with the king of Bavaria, and her influence over him, wrecked that merry monarch's throne, and the riotous mobs which drove him into temporary retirement, made Lola Montez fly the country. She finally settled in New York, and when not making a new marriage, wrote books and articles and lectured. She died about a year after her appearance in Terre Haute.

We find an item of business in the council meeting of May 3, 1841, which was the prelude to a theatrical incident of great interest. A short time before citizens had petitioned the council to reduce the charge of five dollars per day for theater licenses, which request was granted and the rate made seventy-five dollars per month, payable in advance. Doubtless, it was understood the rate for shorter terms would be pro rata, for it was hardly to be supposed that any traveling company of that time could deposit seventy-five dollars in one payment.

The first company to take advantage of the new license charge was AIcKenzie & Jefiferson, as shown by the following note from the council record for May 3, 1841 :

"Petition of McKenzie & JeiTerson, asking liberty to have application of the five dollars per night for their theatrical performance was paid to the treasurer to be made on the seventy-five dollars per month demanded by the board of council. On motion of D. S. Danaldson this request was granted."

As the treasurer's record for the year 1841 shows the receipt of eighteen dollars from theatrical license, it may be assumed that the company made a week's stand in Terre Haute, which would have cost eighteen dollars, and that Joseph Jefferson, the beloved, spent a week here when, as a boy of thirteen, he traveled with his father and mother and sang- and danced between acts.

Of public amusements during early times one of the fir.st we have record of is an official report of town licenses issued to Chapman Brothers, who played nine nights in 1838-39, tlie license fee being $10 a night for three davs and $5 a night for six days. The character of the performances is not mentioned. During the following season the traveling entertainers paid thirty dollars into the town treasury.

The first theatrical manager of Terre Haute, of whom we have an^' record, was Samuel Dodson, who was among a number of useful citizens brought to Terre Haute by the Wabash & Erie canal, in the construction of which he had some share. Soon after the completion of the canal and his settlement in this city. Mr. Dodson saw money in the show business, and, leasing Corinthian hall at the nortlieast corner of W^abash and avenue and Third street, in the early fifties he launched this first theatrical venture by introducing to the jiublic the then novel play, "Uncle Tom's Cabin," evidently a powerful drama, since, after fiftyfive years of wear and tear, it still draws good houses in Terre Haute. Mr. Dodson had to rely on home talent principally. The "little Eva" of the play was the daughter of the veteran railroad engineer, "Billy Baugh," and a son of Samuel Dodson shyly confesses that he once was drafted to take the part of the baby in the cast, which, not being a speaking part, he filled with distinction.

In 1843 S. & H. Nichols petitioned for a reduction of the circus license. A rate of fifteen dollars had been fixed for exhibiting "a caravan menagerie or other collection of animals or circus for gain," under regulations as adopted in 1841. The license was $2.50 a night to exhibitors of wax figures, puppet shows, wire or rope dancing, juggling, tumbling, ventriloquism, concerts, theatricals and other amusements, excepting circuses.

The character of some of the early amusements that once took the place of the modern theatricals, which now amuse Terre Haute people may be judged from one of the attractions of 1848, when a "family concert" was given bv a traveling troupe, consisting" of father and mother and two daughters. The younger miss danced the Sailor's Hornpipe and Scotch Fling, and together the sisters, one in male attire, were loudly encored for la polka. Another entertainment in February, 1848, was a band of minstrels, the Harmonians, who played for a week at the court house, rendering instrumental music on the banjo, tambourine, castanets, and their singing was pronounced excellent, embracing "The Slave's Eament," "The Floating Scow," "Stop That Knocking," operatic se- lections, etc. The performance began at 7 o'clock, admission twentv-five cents. The awarding of a gold pencil for the best conundrum crowded the court house. Dr. Ezra Read won the prize. A very popular conundrum was "Why is a certain merchant on the square distinguished for good health, good sense and good fortune?" "Because he's Early to bed, and Early to rise."

Raymond's circus was one of the summer attractions in 1848. One of its most advertised features was Herr D.. who enters a cage of wild animals. He had "exposed his life in subduing the largest and most terrible lion ever caught. This animal is at present in his possession, and has repeatedly saved his life when exercising the other beasts in the performing cage." Herr D. will appear in the scene entitled, "The Dreadful Doom of the Sultan's Slave."

AIcKean Buchanan and his daughter. \'irginia, spent some time in Terre Haute in the spring of 1866. giving a series of classic and other phys at Dowling hall. They were artists of much dramatic ability. Mr. Buchanan related a story of how he once had to play twice for the same money. While in California his treasurer carried ofif the night's receipts at the box office. The player said nothing but managed to meet the treasurer at a gaming house and engaged him in a game. Buchanan succeeded in winning every dollar he had and that was the time he played twice for his money. He was popular here and a benefit was tendered him in a communication signed by J. H. Hager, Dr. J- C. Thompson, Luther Hager. W. R. McKeen, W. H. Buckingham. Perry Tuttle, P. ]M. Donnelly, Dr. John Wood and other prominent men. The play of "Hamlet" was anounced, but on the night Ophelia could not be given, for Miss Buchanan was watching beside ner mother at the Terre Haute House, as she was lying, at the point of death. Mr. Buchanan struggled manfully to do his part, but he had not spoken half a dozen lines of Hamlet's soliloquy, when his voice broke and he exclaimed: "JNIy wife is dying; take your money; run down the curtain: I can not play!" and the audience slowly and sadly dispersed.

A part of the Miller-Parrott bakery is the old Dowling hall, the first important amusement hall of Terre Haute in which appeared many people of fame, who have since passed oft" the stage. Dowling hall, which was built near the close of the Civil war by Colonel Dowling, at wliat seems now the very high cost of sixty thousand dollars (war time prices), was for the times a very fine building. In it for a time was the office of the Wabash & Erie canal. On the little stage in the old hall, Edwin Forrest played and Parepa Rosa sang. Artemus Ward and Josh Billings delivered their humorous lectures. "Billy" Emerson introduced from it "Captain Jinks of the Hoss Marines." Bayard Taylor,

John B. Gough. ^\'endell Phillips and Horace Greele_\- also lectured there. Opera, minstrelsv and the drama were presented by the stage lights of the period.

The first opera house ( Xaylor's) opened in 1870; was built by a company of business men to maintain the prosperity of the west end of Wabash avenue, and if it was not profitalile as an investment it fulfilled very well the original purpose by holding the center of business in its vicinity for manv years. When it was completed in 1870 the directors and moving spirits in the enterprise were : S. S. Early, W. B. Warren, Charles E. Hosford, F. V. Bichowsky, L. A. Burnett, W. E. McLean, O. Miller and others. This, is the most imposing building of the city for manv years, was built by James Hook. The ground dimensions of the buildings were eighty by one hundred and thirty-eight feet. The painting contract was given to the painter who is now Sir Robert Buckels, of Oxford, England. The architect was J. .\. Vrydagh. Designed, to cost $66,000, the building cost when completed about $178,000, including the land. It seated comfortably between 1,300 and 1,400 persons, but at times held audiences of from 1,800 to 2,000, As indicating how far advanced in modern building construction at the time this structure was and how great the advance has been since that time, expressions of admiration were frequently heard when the six by ten plate glass windows were put in on the first floor.

Of course the dedication performance was Terre Haute's most notable amusement affair to date. John E. Owens was engaged for that grand occasion for two nights. Seats for the first night were sold at auction, the first choice going to O. Miller for twenty-five dollars, next choice to S. S. Early and D. Deming for ten dollars each, J. C. Mc- Gregor at six dollars, G. W. Bement, L, A. Burnett and J. O. Jones next at five dollars. There was a full house, and the central chandelier, which subsequently was lighted only on rare occasions, shed abundant light over Terre Haute's best and most fashionable folk. The opening night was a mingled lark and misadventure. The company failed to arrive on time, and, the audience declining to take its money back, waited till nearly 1 1 o'clock for the curtain to rise, being amused in the meantime by an exhibition of all the fine new scenery, music by J. E. Tonti's orchestra, recitation of "Shamus O'Brien" by W. F. Burroughs, and an Irish song by Oliver Wren. Owens arrived finally and presented "Everybody's Friend," with C)wens in the character of Maj. Wellington De Boots. The next night was "Happiest Day of My Life," and "Forty Winks." C. E. Hosford was manager of the house,

Co., of Baltimore. In it is an account of iiis opening of our opera house, as follows : "While in Cinciimati a flatterino; offer was received to inaugurate the new opera house in Terre Haute. He hesitated about accepting it. as he was wistfully looking toward home, having arranged to give himself two or three weeks' vacation at Christmas time. However, he finally telegraphed an affirmative for the nights requested. The management offered as an additional inducement, relief from rehearsals ; the company engaged having recently played as Mr. Owens support. He left Cleveland in ample time to reach Terre Haute Monday afternoon ; but en route detention occurred, road was blocked by debris from a collision of freight trains. In consequence he did not arrive in Indianapolis until 7 :30, some while after the hour he was due in Terre Haute - seventy-eight miles further on.

"Much annoyed, he gave up all hope of fulfilling his promise to inaugurate the new opera house ; but nevertheless continued his journey, having telegraphed the manager about the dilemma. At the first station after leaving Indianapolis a telegram was brought on the train to him (a response to his own) which read: 'The audience will wait for you.' At every succeeding station was received a telegram to the same effect, variously worded. The entire ride of seventy-eight miles was made while the audience were waiting for the star of the evening. Upon arriving at Terre Haute he drove rapidly to the opera house, and exceeded even his own record for quick dressing. The curtain arose at 1 1 o'clock, and when "Major De Boots' stepped on the stage a deafening shout of welcome arose. The whole performance went off with eclat, the major and Solon being applauded to the echo until the fall of the curtain at 2 o'clock in the morning, when the crowd dispersed in jolly good humor.

"Previous to (Jwens" arrival telegrams had been read to the audience, from time to time, giving information that "(Iwens was within seventy miles of Terre Haute,' then "fifty miles,' then "thirty miles' and so on. The entire episode made quite a talk, and was dilated on in the various newspapers."

The construction of the Grand opera house at Terre Haute began May I, 1897, and was completed November i, 1897. The theater was opened on November 2, 1897.

The academy of music was much frequented thirty-five or forty years ago by amusement seekers. In the fall of 1870 there is mention of Luke Schoolcraft as an entertainer, and about the same time at the Dowling hall some theatrical troupes were giving variety shows. One night during the season of 1870-71 the famous singer, Christine Nilsson, assisted by Henry Meuxtemps, was advertised to appear, with prices of admission ranging from four dollars to one dollar. But the prima donna was detained by illness in Indianapolis. Among the lecturers in January, 1871, were John B. Gough, who came to the opera house on a very rainy night, and the noted traveler, Paul du Chaillu.

Several well-known stage people have had their home in Terre Haute. Aliss Alice Fischer, daughter of Frederick Fischer, some years ago plaved with the Joe Jefferson company, and was married in Terre Haute to an actor of note, William Harcourt King. Terre Haute is the birthplace of the famous "Sis Hopkins" (Miss Rose Melville), and her sister, Mrs. Samuel Young, also once on the stage, lives at Collett Park place.

]\Ir. and ]\Irs. William G. Davis were two delightful people. They beamed with hearty good will and geniality, and possessed a homely unaffected manner. They came here with a flock of children, all of them full of music and some with the voice of a lark. The father was an accomplished vocal musician, from the music-loving land of Wales, and had sung in many a Welsh eisteddfod or national musical convention. He drilled the little ones constantly, if practice in what was second nature could be called drilling. The Davis family - the father and mother and the children - used to sing for little gatherings at churches and schools, usually for mere good will, but the time came when the Naylor opera house was crowded at benefit performances just to hear the Davis family

A few people in Terre Haute heard Jenny Lind sing during her American tour, 1851-52, at Indiana towns along the Ohio. Capt. Jesse Robertson was one of the fortunate ones who heard the Swedish Nightingale as she sang on the deck of the floating palace which P. T. Barnum, her manager, employed to make the river trip. He heard her marvelous singing at Lawrenceburg, where he lived as a boy. The family of Mrs. Margaret Fowler on Eagle street was then living at Jeffersonville, and also heard the singer about that time.

There exists a letter written in 1847, without envelope or stamp, sealed by a red wafer, postage "10" written in ink by the postmaster (from New York to Illinois). The four pages are closely written except a blank space across the middle of the fourth page so that when folded it would be on the outside to receive the address. Along with the making of quill pens there was a method of folding letters which was one of the arts of the graceful correspondent of pioneer times.

dent happened, which deeply impressed Mr. Early, and was described by him at considerable length in an article written for the Baltimore Bulletin, a paper with which ]Mr. Early was connected during his residence in Baltimore. Briefly stated, the facts were as follows : During the voyage home a friendless passenger sickened and died and ]\Ir. .Early and others, commemorating his sad and lonely ending, did what they could to give him a decent burial at sea. After the funeral service was read and the body had descended into the sea. it rose again, floated in full view for a few moments, and then disappeared from view. Displaced coverings allowed a glimpse of the face, but to Mr. Early's surprise the pallid face wliicli he knew well took on an entirely different aspect, and was that of a beloved friend and relative then in Kentucky. He felt that it was an illusion, caused in part by recent thoughts of the distant friend, as he wondered why the correspondence between them had been interrupted. He was troubled and made a careful minute of the peculiar occurrence. On arriving at New York, by which time he had dismissed the incident from his mind, j\Ir. Early hastened to the office of an elder brother of his young Kentucky friend. He scarcely had greeted him when the friend said : "As you were at sea when it occurred, you have not, of course,

On comparing the time of the two events, making allowance for the difference of time and the position of the ship, Mr. Early's relative had died at the time at which he had seen his face as the stranger's body sank in the ocean.

Capt. William Earle once related a singular incident in his Arctic voyages, which borders on the supernatural, in a very fine account of a boat cruise on the shores of Siberia, while he was in command of a whaler. The whole story is too long to be repeated here, but enough of it to enable us to follow the Terre Haute village boy to an Arctic peak, and to tell of the curious incident will be given. He had left his ship with three boats and crews of eighteen men, to look for whales, and after a pull of about twenty-five miles they had landed in a little bay partly filled with a glacier. He told of how they enjoyed a hearty meal of cold, salt beef, scouse, ducks, curlew, broiled reindeer steak and excellent coft'ee. After sending his men to their tents to sleep just four hours. Captain Earle walked to a range of hills and climbed one which was very high. "What I saw from that peak I shall not soon forget," said Captain Earle. "Above me was a clear, cloudless sky. A dense fog spread over land and sea, while here and there peaks rose like islands from a sea of down. To the east the shimmer of the morning sun clothed the undulating vapor in a robe of silver and gold. It was such a scene as I had never witnessed before and never expect to again, but I would not

"There was one thing I would hke for somebody to explain to me, viz., while I was most deeply absorbed in the strange and enchanting scene, I became sensible to a strain of music, soft and sweet and low as the gentlest notes of an aeolian harp. I turned to see whence it came, but it ceased ; no living thing could I see ; no insect, no bird ; no animal of an_\- kind, not even a shrub or blade of grass on that bleak mountain top. I was alone, and looked again on that scene, to become more entranced by its surpassing loveliness and the more I felt and heard the music around me. I turned again to ascertain its source. This time it did not cease ; it was in the ground beneath my feet ; it was in the air above and around me. My blood seemed to be coursing through my veins with electric speed. I began to fancy that my mind was wandering, but the cold, keen air, the hard, gray rock on which I stood told me of the reality. While thus gazing with admiration and listening with awe and wonder, a flaming feeling came to my lips, and upon wiping them I found my handkerchief stained wnth blood. ^ly mouth and nose both were bleeding."

While the music still was sounding Captain Earle rushed away and down the mountain side, stumbling, falling and bleeding and reached the plain, weary and faint. After further unsuccessful search the boats returned to the ship, after suffering considerable hardship, during an absence of forty-seven hours, in which the men had only four hours' sleep and the captain but half an hour. \\'hen the captain stepped on deck, his little bov, thirteen years old, flung his arms around his neck and said : "Oh, father, I am glad you have come back safe," and then told him that he had been on shore among the natives and brought off eight reindeer.