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Show Hj TILIC 1SMSTU MJi&omtArA. B Big money in not made lecause of the law, but H in spite of it It is made by men who can afford H to hire big lawyers to show them how to break the H law. I went to jail for something I did not do. H When I ( ime cut the police wouldn't let me earn H nn honest living. Well, nqw I'm making more than H a living dishonestly and my lawyer if showing 9j me how to do it." , , . 9 Such is the theme of "Within the Law," by 9 Bayard Veiller. With this play the new "Eltlnge's 9 Forty-Second ireet" theatre was opened last night. 9 It is not merely one of the most vivid and suir- 9 ring, but without .exception, the most satisfying IB melodrama ever written. For it is more than a 9 play of. suspense apfi situation. It has a real nrnd 9 vital .theme, and it poses a question absolutely un- H 'inswerable under present conditions. No more 9 entertaining and exciting play has ever been seen 9 here But over and above this essential qualiflca- 9 tion of any dramatic entertainment, "Within the B Uw" is profoundly moving. For a melodrama to 9 t thieve the effect of making an audience feel 9 deeply and actually perpetrate, a little thinking is a 9 feat( for whkh the author really deserves all credit. 9 Moreover, he has drawn a fascinating character 9 in the central figure. As a shopgirl she is nr- 9 rested' and wrongfully convicted railroaded, to bo H precise. She Is given an. extra severe sentence be- 9 cause the proprietor of th department store pays H a persenal visit to the court and impresses upon K the judge the necessity of making her a warning R to the others. jB Before she- goes to prison the employer offers HR to make things easier for her if she will give any Hh information to help him put a stop to the thievery H) that Is going on. To hi indignant nrnaaement M she eays "Yes pay the girls a living wage. H How do you expeet them to bp honest on six dol-H dol-H lars a week'" I cannot think of any more affectum affect-um lag. pitiful scene in the modern drama than this B one. It is superbly acteI by, Jaiio Cowl as the H girl and Dodson Mitchell as the department store proprietor. It is a scene to wring the heart anu make the, blood boil of even the most callous. "If , you .want tq know the name of the person ie-sponsible ie-sponsible for the thievery, I can think of nobody , but EKlward Gilder yourself." t For the theaters a place where ideas usually arrive twenty years late this is unusually, radical matter. The girl is carried off to prison, promising prom-ising to moke, the onen ptiy-fqr avery. seconds of the time she spends there. In the next apt we find her practicing crime "within the lavyv", She lias two confederates. She is-.the- brain, at the gang, aided by her lawyer. Her specialty, is.blnck-mall is.blnck-mall by means of breach o promise suits and similar sim-ilar instruments. We lenriNnlso that for the4 first few months after leaving the prison she attempted attempt-ed to be honest. Bach time she' secured employment she was hounded by the police, who invariably informed her new employers of her term in Jail. Now, however", she is defying the police. Moreover, she has become acquainted with Edward Gilder's son, and before the end of the act she marries him out of revenge. "Four years ago you took away my name and gave me a number. Now I have discarded the number and taken your nnmo." The police try to drive her out of New York. She defies them. They send an agent provocateur, known as a stool pigeon, to tempt her to a profitable profit-able burglary. She declines to do anything not "within the law" But in her absence one of the weaker-minded confederates consents. We learn that this is all a scheme to trap the woftia'n. The house to be burgled is that of Ed-wnfd Ed-wnfd Gilder. Detectives are plante m the premises. prem-ises. The burglars arrive. Hardly have they commenced work when the girl shows up to try to prevent their putting themselves within the law's reach. Just then her husband, Edward Glider's son, comes In. The next momfeht'n signal is given. On the verge of capture -oneof the-con-fedeiates shoots the stool plgeo.n ivith a Maxim silent pistol b?:.ML.. Tho list art takes place at polhje-heMquarters. The problem is solved by trapping lhemurdecer into a confession, thus i eleaslng tile -girPand her husband, both of whom had kept silenceT al- though accused of the muider, Then she gives yp her ideas of revenge and gjuesjgjh'er lujsband?' The fault of the play, ofjgqjffise, ffitJl6i::i splendid, powerful tlieme vvithch1Pl lost in melodramatic theatricallsm in the last two acts. They, of course, are nothing but frankly incredible meloJramo. Nevertheless, they are so exciting' $.hat one forgets how incredible they are. It does seem as If Mr. Veiller might have refrained from abandoning It so completely. Had he retained re-tained It it would be a more complete, logical and satisfying play. However, he has done an excel-lent excel-lent piece of work. There never was a play In which the suspense was better sustained. There is ample humor in K as well. Most of this is provided by n young girl criminal a blackmail artist of racy speech and frank utterance. This character is delightfully acted by Florence Nash. Every one of her linos was given its full effect. Quite apart from tho comedy of it her acting was an exceedingly clever piece of characterisation. The play Is very well staged and admirably cost. Jane Cowl as the heroine gives the best exhibition ex-hibition of sincerity and emotion without pathos that she ever has done. She was nt her best In the first act. In the second she was also profoundly profound-ly moving. In the last she was at her beat in tho ( comedy ports. William B. Atnek, who never does anything but good work, is quite at his best In the role of a forger, of which ho gives a Very human .anjfl creditable lm-personaion. , JMHjton Tvayxlorv is , Hfellko as the fat, muddle-headed -Hibernian in-Hlpctjor in-Hlpctjor of police. Louis Sherwin in Now York Evening Globe. , , , , |