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Show I i "Or.ro In Ih lain '7' ." "nil Manager Man-ager John .1. Murdoch of V iloago. "I toad been plating thrnui;h thn Booth with a company which had Hie nils-firtuno nils-firtuno In go broke Hi K'inin. Ala i fir nr ilM.ii which II inlxlit be cm- I barra-'iong lo recount my partner nii'l 1 I worked mir way hut lo HI. Minis. 1 V arrived In the Missouri mi-lmpo- I lis win : mill aa our Joint rapt- i u' ', "My partner had boon reared In the loan of Troy, N. Y.. anil the Aral ; day In Si I nula he ran across a professional pro-fessional swimmer wlio liail I n a aohisilmaio or hla In Troy. The swim-hit swim-hit hi. I been worklim In a HI l-uiils naialoiiuni. hut liail boon discharged tho day before we not In town. Ho hail a iol.il ranltal of an rents, which, after due consideration, he put Into tlii rommnn nwd. He alan hail a partner, alio hail no money at all. "Thn four of ii a lived aa long aa invisible on Ih" money In ham). Then matters became desperate. We hail tried In got work of aoiiin kind, but hail failed utterly. Finally n hold a session at which thn following scheme van evolved: "Tim grocers of fit. Isiuls hail arranged ar-ranged for a grand excursion on the river. It waa agreed, after a long discussion, that wo sViuld raise aa uiueh money aa poaHlhlii, buy tickets on the aii'amlioat, and atart on tho excursion. When the Imal wna a good distance out from Innd my part ner waa tn give a laat despairing wall and Jump overboard. Tho pro-. pro-. foaslnnal swimmer, who wah to ho oq tho upper dock, waa In throw off hla coal and vent, unloosen hla allocs, and leap nverlMianl tn thu rescue ut tho cry of 'Man overlioartl.' My part-nor part-nor waa a icood awlmmor, an wo figured fig-ured that notMHly Involved wna running run-ning much rink. "Wht'n tho professional hail beat-ea beat-ea my partner Into aiihiulaaloti In tho waler and a boat had put out from tho aliamor to complete tho rescue wo had arranged Unit I who at that time ran atmngly In allk liala and red norktlca should take off my allk hat, drop Ilia cssh wo had li'ft Into It, and collect aa much momy aa I ifMllld among tho paaecugcra for the oatnnalblo benefit of tho hemic roa-ctior. roa-ctior. "Wo managed to ralao anil apcnt mm Ha Leaped Into the River. 13 fur four lli ki'ia for tho oii'iiralon. ' The minute Ihe iHiat lirt the dock thuy coiunu'iirod arllliiK hovr. The barroom occupied moat of one of the dcrka. and yerybody In alxht helped bliuaolf, paylnu or not (or what he got alamt aa be pli-aavd. Aa a reault of thla frwd.un tho purtiiHr of tho prnfi'aalonal awlmmor, who had been on ahort ratlona fur icveral 'wooka, drank moro than aoud fur litin. aa we afli'rwarda Icaruod to our nrrrnw. "Finally the atoamrr reached a pine In the river where we thoUKlit It enfo to aprlnii our ureal arheine. Mv partner Juiuped Inlo the water, ami the man on the lookout ruined tlm cry of 'Man overlioard.' At the wurd tho profeaalonal awlinnicr, who waa liM-aleil on Ihe upper tlit-k. throw off bla coat and veat, kicked off hla ahuea. leuvlnn all hla rlolhea In 't charKo of hla partner, and made a apoctacular dlvo Inlo Ibe river. ' "Inaiantly tho paaaenKera were all attouilon. They crowded to the rail j and walched every motion. The , awlnimer reached my partner In a "t (' muiiienla and pretended lo beat him over the head ao that he nilaht ' be aorely handled. Tho captain f. ainpiuHl tho eteanirr, and a boat J pulled off for tho rescue. Aa toon aa tho two conaplralora wero pulled l"'o tie boat It waa my turn to come to the front. I cllmhed up on to tho railing, took off my allk hat, throw the laat three dollar wo had - lulo It, and called upon the p&aaon- (oi tn cmtrllnito liberally to a fund fur the hero who had rlaked hi life t-i roaeiiH the atraniter. Tho re-Dooae re-Dooae waa Inalanlaneoua. Almnet rerylindy put In aonielhlnir, and my threo lurae allver dollar aot an eumpla wliu h wua qulekly followed. Hy the time the bout wllh tho reanu-lii.t reanu-lii.t partv on hoard reached tlio a'eitner I had ovor a hundred rtol. lata lu tho hut, and I had only lieKun Out of tho comer of my oyo I haw th.) two drlpiilnn flsun pulled up oa board. Then aotnethlnii hnppened. , rkiraoVxly hit me. tin. allk hm, wlih i lia com. 'ula. aa pidled out of my htiida, und I waa liuilleil Into a durk anil cramped little hole. "Preiotitly iu& in fragment 1 lenrneil what waa tho natter. The milium the prnfei'tional awlmmor wna l r:i a u.-.l on Uinrd hla partner, a ho had heeti holdlnK bla clolhea, came atniuicrlnK doa-n to ti apot. "Ilerea your rlolhea. illil," aald the Inelirlaieit pnrlner. throwing tiiem doan on the deck. "Murdoch got a hat fill of money already and I'm tired carrying 'cm around." "Soinehoiiy who waa wlao enough to k" on to the erhomn heard the ri'inarli and lie aiieceafiriilly pumped the drunken man till he fathered the w.iolii arn. Then ho apread the tory of our put up Job and the crowd which had been coutrlhiitlng began lo clamor for our blood. They took the hat away from me and ran me Into that dark hole. Tho reat of our crowd worn aerved in thn aiiino way, "Once In tho early '7'i." any Mr. Murdoch. "I wua memlier of a lit-llu lit-llu theatrical ham alonnlng company com-pany which wua playing the lltllo off. the railroad ton in In New York and I'ennaylvanla. At Cranvllln, 1'a , our manager 'Jumped' I lie town Willi the total pna la. amounting to $1 or $1(1, leaving iik tn get forward a beat we could. I ftnully waa aeut ahead lo Jamealown, I'a., to eo what ar-rangemeiiia ar-rangemeiiia could bo Hindu to allow there. Ily telling a aad alory of our nilHfiirtunca and enlarging on tho dramatic ahllltlc of tho company I flnully pcraiiadcd tho achnul commit-tro commit-tro lo allow ua the lino of the echool. houau mi condlllon that they ahould have tho flrat money taken In from the aale of ticket. The holelkoeper waa alan perauailed to lake hi chancea on getllng hla money orier tho perfurmuucfi v.aa novMr- M,lu X went buck to Gninilllo uud hy punning punn-ing two allver wnlehia we rained enough money to hlro a rarnier to drive the company over to Jamealown Jamea-lown In a bohaled. I remember that he flrat put a big featherbed Into the led bo. On that tho member of tho company knelt down on oil her aide and on top of u nil atraw waa heaped on until nothing could ho aeen but here and there tho top of a cap or bonnet. At any rule 1 went to alitop flvo minute after wo alnrled out and never have I enjoyed a more peaceful and realful aleep than on that fourteen mile drive wllh tho thermometer flfiueu degree below torn. "I had madn arrangemenla In Jamealown for the diuicliler of tho town bluekamlih, a girl liami-.l Murphy, Mur-phy, to furnlali l!io iiiiihIo on a new pluno the flrat In tho town, which her father had Jiiut bought for her. On arriving at Jaiiiealowu with tho company I loon leurned that thero wa a bitter feeling eilatlng becnuaa another girl, who had alwuya played lor dramatic companlca on the melu-dcon, melu-dcon, hml been overlooked. Bo we arranged tu play two night, with Vilaa Murphy aa tho orcheatia on tho niwt night and thu melodeon girl on Ihe aecond nlglit. Aa a reault wo had two liugo houaea and I gut well atrrted on my flrat experleuco aa a theatrical malinger. "At that time the oetlur clam of t Playing th Piano, coinpanlea playing tho amall town traveled In big red wagon, usually hiring their home from farmer or livery men nlong tho route. Not longer long-er go than lssr, I remember mooting an actor who wna at III running a red wni.-o!i ahow throiiKh tho central part of Iowa." |