Show TRAGEDY OF AS the adventures ami sad of jeffreys lewis jeffreys lewis one of the greatest of all american actresses and who might have been tho greatest was recently discovered deserted by her scoundrel of a husband Harry mainhall and actually in want having really not money enough to purchase food enough for herself and child suffering the pangs of hunger with a generosity characteristic of that boblo and groat aati r edwin booth had no sooner heard of it than ho immediately pent her a check for and set on foot a pro gramme for her benefit from the proceeds of which it is expected that she will be able to go east jeffreys lewis has had enough to suffer in the last eight years and whatever mistakes she may have committed have been bitely repented in tears and poverty who among our theatregoers theatre goers does not remember how she flashed upon a san francisco audience some years ago in the old daly company she was a very juno in beauty and grace then she is a beautiful woman yet bufa time and sorrow cruelty and most brutal treatment followed by a dissipation born of heartbroken recklessness have left their imprints she fairly took san francisco by storm well that engagement was short lived poor harry montague died back or the stage one night the company was disbanded and the members drifted here and there but jeffreys lewis remained shortly after she married maitland a san francisco stock broker who had been paying her devoted attention and she undoubtedly loved he was reputed to be well to do and it was her intention to leave the stage and settle down to social and household life in san francisco they were a splendid looking couple and when the writer saw them during the days of their honeymoon they were tho observed of all observers at the state fair she with her rich and regal oriental beauty ho six feet two broad muscular manly looking and handsome they made a picture thit thi t the eye could feast upon but the other sid 3 of the shield came only too soon he proved to be a bully a coward a brute and a cur his wealth existed entirely in his imagination jeffreys lewis soon had to go back to work again to support not only herself but her worthless husband she was not long in securing an engagement as the baldwin the tre snapped her up immediately as its leading lady vague whisperings began to go about that maitland was not treating her well but only a few were perfectly well aware that all she received in exchange for tho food clothing and money sho furnished him were kicks bruises and blows the walls of a fashionable lodging house near tho baldwin theatre have echoed more than once to the shrieks of jeffreys lewis the beauteous form of this great actress was dragged i by the hair of the head one night in san francisco hotel by brue until her shrieks called help to her aid and she was protected from further maltreatment one of tom maguires lieutenants recently dead told the writer some years since that he saw maitland after a performance at the baldwin one night strike this woman full and fair on the mouth and knock her down on the asphaltum pavement with bleeding lips and gashed head she staggered to her feet to protect the brute from tho bystanders who would have beaten his face to a jelly from bad matters went on to worse maitland grew to be an offensive nuisance around the theartres theatres the atres where his wife was playing and the managers put in very vigor ors protests it came to be so that jeffreys lewis projected an australian tour her friends advised herto break the fetters that bound her but she would not and took him to australia ill luck appeared to follow her wherever she went maitland seemed to be her jonah he would do nothing to help her at last desperate and despairing she procured a passage to san francisco he remained behind but we think ho has since returned to the metropolis however he has not followed her fallen fortunes at that time there was a young man named harry mainhall in francisco a passable actor and rather handsome ho had married a young girl named laura yirgil what devil prompted jeffreys lewis to her work who can tell that a woman so refined so educated so full of tha more delicate sensibilities who had always been so thoughtful of the feelings of others should have so tortured laura yirgil mainhall ia past comprehension it may leave been infatuation for mainhall though he proved himself to be but a menu cur at best it may have been which is more likely that a reckless devil had taken possession of her and she cared not whether it impelled her at any rate she drew him away from his wife the poor heartbroken heart broken wife pleaded and pleaded to r er husband for the return of his love once he returned but his temper followed and drew him away once more the wife was driven to desperation and soon after a sensational attempt at horsewhipping horse whipping occurred in the lobby of the alcazar theatre the wife and her mother attacking mainhall jeff drevs revs lewis rushed out to bis protection and the bystanders took the two women away the wife obtained a divorce from mainhall on the ground of desertion while jeffreys lewis was divorced from mail land on tho ground of cruelty was not long after this that the actress maddened madden ud with an excess of stimulants probably pulled a pistol on mainhall in tho alcazar lobby and had to be disarmed the next act was the death of laura virgil mainhall aged only 27 the doctors say she died of consumption god knows if it was not of a broken heart I 1 then the woman who no matter what else she may have done had made mainhall all ho was on the stage and had defended and befriended him against all other was by him deserted and left in an absolute ly starving condition with no food even for her child what would have become of her who knows for she is a high strung and a desperate woman perhaps the bay would have told another tale bufa the elks came to her rescue and edwin booth that noble man whose purse is ever opened at the moan of suffering or the wail of poverty immediately sent her his private check for us chopo she will rise from the ashes of tho past and take her place again as an actress and a woman sacramento bee |