| Show Tl f 17 TT IT TTTik fT Tl T 710 T QT l WHERE WIVES ARE IN DEMAND I I oW + + I cleared 1000 on the season said he old manager but the game IB too v itrenuous Cor me At Golden Gulch nl 1 narrowly escaped lynching at Dead Ilora Mont I was cluuicd for wo mlles by six infurIated miners hllo my first baan and my tenor held he prima donna of the company so bat he couldnt Jump out of the window o win-dow < of thc hack at Black Mountain Vvo I stole a bride from the office ofa Justice of the peace Just as that iofflclnl wns about to begin the marriage ccrcmonj and all throuGh the Western mining country I left behind me the reputation of being a cruel brutal savage sav-age slave driver I Incidentally If any Chicago girl who is not older than 40 wants to got marred lis mar-red I can tell her several towns where Fhe can take her pick of husbands from among all the leading citizens I started out from Frisco last season sea-son with an opera company of twenty els people twenty of them being young women We were In the repertoire line ready to sing anything from II Trot tort to The Mikado Altogether welt we-lt Ai twentyfive operas on our list 1 and It will be understood that I had t 1Jecn at considerable expense and trou 4 tie I In seleetlnc1 and training my peo Il 3 took particular pains to pick out pod looking chorus girls because we here < < going Into the mountains where era had never been sung before and I anted to make a good Impression Orr route lay up along the Pacific coast io < > Portland and then over cast through Montana and Wyoming and down the jflssourl river Most of our dates were wenlzht stands ° The third night out one of the leaders lead-ers of the chorus did not appear for the She way a pretty blond I r < rfoi mance girl and one of the best singers In the npnny I was Just about to start out iTrearehlng party when she came Into I t L theater accompanied by a large ban In a blue flannel shirt and a big I Mack moustache Mr Goo well she said allow me b t present my husband Mr Tom Parker We were married an hour ga fcBut how about my contract I eked Youre bound to sing for me fjr twenty weeks and I cant let you yve me In the lurch this way ° Say party the happy bridegroom tke In liv I youve got any fault to fJ with my wife why Im here to nnr to It see f I hastened to assure the gentleman bat not for the world would I venture 1 I jcriticise his blushing bride In fact went I so far as to congratulate them oth and In the conversation which followed I began to gel an Idea or what rag ahead of me Three of the other girls are engaged en-gaged paid the bride Tlieyn going to be married right after the perform nce Is over 1 called In the tenor the first bass and the basso profundo and laid the v ar > before them If this thing keeps on I said I there wont bo anybody but us men I 1etl In the company by the time were out three weeks Weve got to do something some-thing und do It quick We got three hocks all there were In the town and lined them up outside the stage door and when the last actor act-or The Mikado was half through we called the roll and packed the women of the company In them one man going with each hack to see that nobody escaped es-caped In that way io managed to get out of that town with only a single wedding to our credit But evidently the news of our coming had been pasHed along the line for when we reached the next place on our list the station was crowded with mining magnates und other prominent citizens By way of precaution I made the girls all wear heavy veils but that only served to stimulate curiosity We got in at noon and right after dinner I was called on by a delegation consisting of the Mayor the City Marshal Mar-shal and several of the Aldermen They told me that although Summit City had a population of 1300 there were only twentyseven women in the town The Mayor produced documents showing that he had 7000 In gold dust and a mining claim potentially worth half a million and asked permission to pay his addresses to some member of tho company He needed a wife he said In order to give proper dignity to his official position He was plenty able to support a wife In comfort and he was too busy to go down to Frisco to find one The other gentlemen in the delegation dele-gation were almost equally Impressive and forcible I put them off by declaring that the young women were alltiredout and I would have to rest during the afternoon after-noon Then I tried to queer the game by suggesting that In my opinion young women of the stage would not make good wives for such rough and ready pioneers Whereupon the Mayor rose up and allowed that he wouldnt allow me or any other man to slander a woman And I rapidly took It back Anyway the Mayor sent a written proposal of marriage up to the prima donna of the company accompanied by documentary proof of his good I financial and social standing and after a conference confer-ence his proposal was accepted I heard of It Just in time and knowing full well that If our leading songbird I left us wo might as well close our season sea-son I resolved on desperate measures I The girl refused to listen to reason She liked the Mayor and he liked her who might never get such a chance again and she was going to take It I The basso the tenor and I resolved I to kidnap her After she had sung her last solo a note was sent back to her asking her to come outside the stage door for a moment She came expecting expect-ing to see the Mayor Instead we w reIn re-In waiting and without wasting time on explanations we threw her Into awaiting a-waiting hack and started away down the trail for the railroad station which was fortunately two miles away on the side of the mountain Before we could get the door closed on the young woman wo-man she had uttered a shrill scream whch called most oC the audience out to see what was the matter The Mayor May-or and the City Marshal were at the head of the crowd and they made it I tholr first business to investigate and I dlspovcr that the promised bride of the former was missing Fortunately also the train started soon after we reached I the station With the assistance of the trainmen we managed to stand oft the Mayor und the two or three who had followed him until the rest of the company com-pany got on board Then we pulled out for the next town to practically repeat re-peat there the experience we had had The men who live In all these mining towns are splendid patrons of a good show They pay 1GO or S2 for a seat quite as readily as does the theatergoer theater-goer of Chicago or New York But Inmost in-most of the towns a fairly goodlooking woman IB a rare and precious sight and the twenty stage fairies I had picked out won their hcarls At one r citizens camp In Wyoming the leading ens made up a sort of matrimonial syndicate syndi-cate and agreed to furnish a reliable and trustworthy husband worth at least 10000 for each of the fair twenty At another camp the leading contralto started to marry a local magnate and had got as fdr as the office of a justice of the peuce when the first and second tenors stood oft the bridegroom tho Justice and the witnesses at the point of revolvers while the other masculine singers and myself kidnaped the contralto con-tralto and carried her I off screaming and kicking to a waiting wagon It wouldnt have made so much difference dif-ference if we had not been out with n repertoire company I might have filled the place of c missing principal In a company which was singing only a couple cou-ple of operas but women who can take the leading roles In twentyfive stand ard operas are not plentiful And I had to do my best to protect myself against the matrimonial designs of the wild West Several times we had a number of Indians In our audiences They would come in from the reservations with plenty of money and nothing but the best scats In the house would satisfy them At one place I remember a drunlcen Blackfoot got so excited that he drew his revolver cocked It and I started for the stage to put an end to I the miserable career of the heavy villain vil-lain with the deep bass voice Fortunately Fortu-nately most of the audience were used to gun plays and they put the Indian to sleep before he did any damage That Western country Is a great field for a theatrical man but he wants to make sure before he starts that the women of his company are ih Ihldcously homelH M H In Chicago Tribune Trib-une |
