Show A VETERAN OF THE STAGE SKETCH OF THE CAREER OF JAMES E MURDOCH One of the Old Time Stage Celebrities Now living In Honorable and Peaceful Peace-ful Itotlrement at Cincinnati lie Inspired In-spired the Poem of Sheridan Hide CINCINNATI May 10 There lives in a quiet suburb of Cincinnati a veteran actor who was a foremost American Ameri-can star before most theatre goers of today wcicborn who trod the boards with the elder el-der Booth Forrest and other illustrious lights of the early American stage in plays hose very names smack of antiquity who was the ideal Hamlet of his day from whose acting Edwin Booth might have learned and doubtless did learn much of his art who was equally at home in tragedy or comedy com-edy and who won honors and applause in England such as have been bestowed upon I few Americans To them the very name of I James E Murdoch is but a dim reminiscence i Even when told that ho not only first recited that thrilling poem of Sheridans Ride but J that he suggested and inspired it they understand under-stand but little more of the personality of the I modest old man whose glory though I I achieved so long ago Is not the less solid because be-cause of time haste with which it has been forgotten for-gotten in this very rapid age It is nearly sixty years ngoto be precise it was on the nipht of Oct 131829 when his father yielding to the pressure of friends who fJJ believed in the sons I lr genius engaged for one night the Arch 1 T4 Street theater at II if J Philadelphia with I Pt ew the company then l IJ playing there for tr i icy the debut of the tlt 1 youthful actor a = when ho appeared i e as Frederick in 4 < d Kotzebues play of Lovers Vows t At that time ho was but a little over 18 years of age JAMES E MURDOCH having been born on January 25 1811 His father was Thomas Murdoch a book binder who was afterward I an officer in the war of 1812 Always inclined Ito I-to declamation and the stage young Mur doch made such progress as an amateur that JiN father had him brought out as has been stated Beginning with the next spring he eniiod upon the life of a professional actor his first engagement being a financially disastrous dis-astrous oneat Halifax where the company failed and his father had to send him money to return home Within two years however at Forrests own direction he was cast as Pythias to the formers Damon at Augusta Ga From that time on his progress was stradily upward A play was written for him by his bosom friend Robert T Conaid which they were unable to put up on the boards and which some years afterward when remodeled was as great a success as Jack Cade For ten years Murdoch continued con-tinued to play in the largo American cities In 1840 while stage manager of the National theatre at Boston he determined to devote more time to study and left the theater for a few years which he devoted to study teaching and He lecturing became an en thu > iastic disciple of Dr James Rush whose work entitled The Philosophy the Voice he has never ceased to commend and which ho has supplemented with The Cultivation of the Voice a work extensively used as a text book among elocutionists In 1845 Mr Murdoch returned to the stage reappearing as Hamlet at the Park theatre New York and for fifteen years he remained a leading light upon the Ameri American can stage His versatility was remarkable re-markable and he was equally successful success-ful in both tragedy and comedy His elocution elo-cution w as perhaps tile most perfect of any American actor mid his fidelity to the text and the intellecual refinement of his stage conceptions were as conspicuous as they were exceptional In 1855 ho played a most successful entrageinont in California The next year he wont to England for rest and recreation but his reputation was so great that English managers insisted upon his playing with the result that ho filled the largest consecutive engagement of his life his name heading the bills at the Hay market Theatre London for the season of 110 nights His reception at Liverpool was even more flattering than in the metropolis until in the very height of success he was taken ill thus compelling the canceling of engagements at other English cities During his London engagement he played comedy i mostly taking such characters as Charles Surface Alfred Evelyn Rover in Wild I Oats Don Felix in The Wonder and Vapid in The Dramatist characters mostly 1 unknown to the present generation At Liverpool I Liv-erpool he also played Hamlet and his rendi tion was favorably compared to that of Kean and JIacready After his return to America he settled upon i a farm he had bought smile years before near I Cincinnati but during the theatrical season he played in all the principal cities of the Union as one of the leading American stars I On the breaking out of the civil war in 1861 all the intense and aggressive patriotism of I his nature asserted itself He sent two SOilS Ito I-to the army one of whom fell at Chickamauga Chicka-mauga while he gave his whole soul to the cause of the Union and served for a time asa as-a volunteer aid to Gen Rosecrans By his I timely counsel his fervent exhortation his I unswerving loyalty and ceaseless devotion t < 5 the interests of the government and its sol diers he served his country as effectually as any who bore a musket or canned a sword He gave readings in aid of ladies societies for the benefit of sick and wounded soldiers and published a small volume entitled Patriotism Pa-triotism in Poetry and Prose the proceeds of which went to the same end The sum realized from these sources amounted to tens of thousands of dollars In the fall of 1864 just after the battle of Cedar Creek a patriotic meeting was to be held at Pikes opera house Cincinnati Cincin-nati at which Murdoch was to give a read ing That morning he saw a copy of Harpers Har-pers Weekly the frontispiece of which was a picture of Little Phil Sheridan galloping I from Winchester to the battlefield at Cedar Creek He gazed at it awhile in admiration nnil then handed the sheet to his friend Thomas Buchanan Read the poet saying i earnestly Buck theres a poem in that picture I Read looked he caught the idea and putting the paper in his pocket went at once to his room where he sat down and wrote the immortal poem of Sheridans Ride which Murdoch read that night to thunders of applause The room in which tho poem was written is the third floor front room of the building No 49 West Eighth street a large comfortable ordinary front room in a house now used as a boarding house the landlady of which did not know until a few days ago that she possessed a spot of such historic interest For many years after the close of the war Murdoch remained upon his farm near Cincinnati Cin-cinnati so closely retired that old friends who visited the city and desired to call upon him could not alwavs find out where he lived His time was given wholly to grape raising and the study of his old profession A series of lectures and essays on elocution were prepared pre-pared based on the theories of Dr Rush In 1879 he gave a course of readings and lectures before the School of Oratory in Philadelphia Since then he has lived quietly at his home making occasional appearances in readings or recitations at Cincinnati and other cities mostly in the interest of various charities His last public appearance was at a complimentary compli-mentary benefit tendered him at the Odeon at Cincinnati on the night of April 23 Shakespeares birthday when he appeared as Sir Charles Surface and Hamlet in suitable scenes selected to the great gratification 01 ho < ts of friends L iw ov |