OCR Text |
Show HE STARVED TO DEATH. An Author and Actor Goes to HU Grare J-'roiu Want of Food. ew Yokk, Aug. ...-The death uo-lice uo-lice of Spencer F. Pritchard, author aud actor, August 1, is published today. There are a great many pathetic circumstances cir-cumstances surrounding the death of Spencer F. Pritchard. l'ritchard comes of an old theatrical family of that name. He was bom iu Philadelphia iu 1847, and was a student at the University Univer-sity of Pennsylvania. He studied medicine, medi-cine, hut never took his degree as M. D. lie engaged in mercantile business in Boston years ago, and married in that city a sister of Lewrenco Barrett, the actor. Two ehildrs, , vho fruit of their marriage, arc in England today. to-day. Pritchard's tirst wife died some years ago, and in 1883 he married Mai ti Crocker at Chicago. She was a soubrette, ami died about two years ago, leaving an iufaut boy to her husband's hus-band's care. Ho was the author of a number of plays which never became prominent. His only sister, a Mrs. ! Williams, is the wife of a down-town broker, and lives in elegant stylo at the Grenoble apartment house. Oue of his friends, in fact the only friend he really had in the vast metropolis, the one who gave him shelter and administered to his wants during his last hours, remarked re-marked to a reporter this morning: "Poor Spencer! Starvation and pride caused his death." This friend was Win. J. Morrisscy, at whose house Pritclmrd passed away. "I met Spencer in a Third avenue saloon sa-loon a week last Wednesday," .said Mr. Morrisscy. "Ho was very sick, and I brought him to my house He was suffering suf-fering fearfully, und I uotilicd the Actors' Ac-tors' fund. They sent Dr. Barm around and he prescribed for the poor fellow, but he grew rapidly worse and died yesterday yes-terday morning. Poor Pritchard told mo ho had not eaten a good square meal in four mouths, lie was too proud to ask for assistance, and if you wanted to do him a favor and ho thought it was prompted by charity, he'd refuse with scorn. He has played in awful tough luck for tho past two years. lie had started out to fullill a number of different engagements with small companies, but they would invariably invar-iably go, to pieces on the road, and ho would soon be back loaling again in New York. And yet ho was the last man you would ever pick up as really .suffering from the very necessities of life. Ho was always dressed very nicely, nice-ly, and looked the prosperous professional. profess-ional. But ho time and time again had not money enough for a decent meal or the price even of a night's lodging. He told me when I met liim ten days ago that he had been sleeping in chairs for several nights. The doctor said Spencer Spen-cer was suffering from kidney and liver troubles, ami ho was affected with dropsy, too. It was uot a case of drink causing his death. In all the years that I knew hiin I never saw l'ritchard tlriiuk. llo U6ed to take a glass now and then, but that was all." The Actors' Fund will have the body, buried in their plot in F;vergrecu. ' |