Untitled

NZ Truth, Issue 75, 24 November 1906, Page 8

ager was getting £8 a week and a free house. His wife died. Some time later he -married a smart, pushful young woman. He did noit do any speculating, was inclined to drink a little freely, and it was never thought that he possessed more than a. nun dred or two, at the most.

Suddenly he blossomed out as a buyer of property. Among other purchases he made was that of one of the finest blocks of land m. the business part of the field, at a cost of £2000, cash down. He also set to work straightaway to erect new buildings on this property at a cost of £5000, and these to-day constitute one of the most valuable group of business premises on the Towers. Of course, the owners of the mill could not stand this, and he got

HIS WALKING-TICKET. .Strangely enough, at the time of. his death, which took nlace at the Et>heridjr.e ,1. few years later, he was not worth a penny. Indeed, it is related that he died- m actual want. The fact was that when he married the second time his wife egged him on to do the .steal ing, got him to m alto everything over to her, and finally cleared out from him.

Perhaps you have been wondering as to how the gold, when stolon both m the istono and the amalgam, is disposed of ? T will explain all that to y.ou (n duo time. (To lie continued. >

Before this, "Ostler "Joe" had been submitted to what we shall call a "variety" audience at Koster and Bial's and members of the audience leaving the building were interviewed as to their idea of the morality of the 'Ballad,' which, it may perhaps be advisable to state— for the benefit of my readers who have not made its acquaintance—had been recited all over the United Kingdom, and on one occasion—the magnificent send-ofi given to Mr Lionel Brough, at Drury Lane, previous to his departure for America —by Mrs Kendal.

There was absolutely nothing m it to cause the excitement which it aroused m America, an excitement whioh lasted .much longer than the proverbial nine days. After the "scandal" m America, Mrs Kendal gave the poem .again. She recited' it at St. James's Hall, at a concert at which Albani, Schalchi, Edward Lloyd, and Santley were her fellow artistes. The "Lady," m a notice of the concert, said : "When Mrs Kendal concluded there was not a dry eye m tire room,"

■This was, the poem that had shocked Washington I

Life stories of Mrs Brown-Potter and of the author were' contributed to the American journals by the usual "One Who Knows."

Of Mrs Brown-Potter, there were eriven many interesting ancestral details, m which it was stated that the Potters began with Dr. Eliphalet Nott, g.nd that the Browns came from Belfast to Baltimore.

The details concerning myself were ! more up-to-date. Here is an extract from the New York "Truth" of April 4, 1&86 :—

"I don't suppose Mr G. R. Sims will be particularly pleased when he learns the storm m a teapot his verges have created. He is rather a dis^ agreeable man personally, with a wonderful opinion of himself, and an abominable temper. He dictates all his work, not because he finds it a convenience, but because, as he says, 'it is only low newspaper writers nowadays who dispense with the services of a stenographer.' He has been signally successful during the past five or six years/ and I suppose he has put aside enough' money to make him independent for life;"

There is, I need hardly say, a Rood deal more New York than "Truth" m this "appreciation" of the author of "Ostler Joe." But of all things printed m connection with this simple, little story m verse, for which Edmund Yates paid me £5, and which I wrote m the ordinary way of business, having a contract with the "World" to furnish a "-poem" a week, the article' which appeared m the "Philadelphia Daily News" is the most astounding. -

The "Ostler Joe" scandal was then nearly six months old, but the American press was still filled with it. Here is what appeared m the "Philadelphia Daily. News" m July :—

■ "A young Englishman, now' travelling m this country, gives the following story of the origin of Sims' poem, 'Ostler Joe,' which was so much talked o f a. few weeks ago :— 'The heroine of that much discussed poem was , the English actress, and Sims mi n writing his verse merely chronicled her story, arid surrounded it with a halo of romance.

" ' was a woman of extraordinary beauty, and she will be remembered as having visited America, playing m - — . She was talented, too; but, alas ! she was dissipated, and intemperance wove her winding-sheet. Let her be spoken' of with charity ; perhaps she was more sinned against than sinning.

."■''At' all events, "Ostler Joe" is her story. The firse copy Ho reach' this country was a manufccfipt which Sims gave to Henry E. Abbey. Abbey gave it to Jeanie Harold, <an actress, who used to be popular m Boston, a sister of Lizzie and Donald Harold.- Then Ed. Buckley obtained 5 a copy of the manuscript and recited it, drawing tears to the eyes of all hearers—including himself. This was before the piece appeared m the London "Times," and of course prior to the discovery that it was so wicked as to cause the blush of shame to mantle the shoulder-blades of ladies m Washington society.' "

The name I have omitted was 'that of a charming and beautiful actress, who was years a great London favorite. I need (hardly say there was not the slightest truth m the suggestion of the Philadelphia journalist.

Mrs Brown-Potter was m England for the London season of 1886, and was presented to the then Prince of Wales at the Caledonian Ball, and from that time was a name m London society.

It was early m 1887 that Mrs Brown-Potter, through her father, Colonel Urquhai'tj opened up negotiations with me to write a play for her. She wanted something m which there would be a good part for Mr Kyrle Bellew, who was to be her leading man m the tour she had arranged through America.

I had not seen Mr Kyrle Bellew for a good many years when he came to my house, 43 Gower-streot, to chat about the play.

But I /recalled to his memory the days when his father was the Vicar of St. Mark's, Hamilton -terrace, and lie and I— the son, not the rather—used to wait outside the church on Sunday morning after service to watch the young and fair members of the congregation come forth.

The play which I arranged for Mrs Brown-Potter and Mr Kyrle Bellcw was called "A Wife's Ordeal."

Th* Amarican papers, direHly Ihr news was cabled, concluded that it was a version of "O^ler Joe " TLev %

all said they could see Mrs BrownPotter as the heroine, but not one of them, could imagine Mr Kyrle Bellew as an ostler. ;

The play has, as a matter of fact, nothing to do with "Ostler Joe." It was an adaptation from the French.

Mrs Brown-Potter took it with her to America and "tried it on a dog" at a one-night stand somewheire m the Wild West or the sultry South, I am not sure which, but she never put it m her regular repertoire. I gather that she did not. find the one-night experiment a success.

In "A Wife's Orde a l," a husband, ruined by unfortunate financial transactions, attempts to blow out his brains with a revolver. His wife is m time to strike, his hand up and prevent a tragedy. But the attempt tells her what he has concealed from her, that he is a ruined man, and m fear of disgrace.

Throughout the play she devotes herself to saving her husband's reputation, and at last succeeds m doing so, though not without going throueh a very bitter ordeal m her interviews with a wealthy .■ man of bad, moral character, who has discovered the secret of her husband's defalcations and the wife's pressing need of the money which will put .matters right and save her husband from arrest.

"A Wife's Ordeal" lay m my desk for many years, unacted anywhere except for that one-night show of Mrs Brown-Potter's.

.In the autumn of 1894 Mr Arthur Dacre and his wife, Amy Roselle, were going to Australia, and Dacre came to me to ask if he might (read "A Wife's Ordeal," of which I had told him something one night at the Green Room Club. Dacre read the play to his wife. She liked it, and thought the part would suit her excellently, and I agreed to let them take it to Australia on the understanding that they would produce it m Melbourne.

The Dacres had been having a very hard struggle for some time previous to the Australian offer coming along— how hard very few of their friends knew, for Arthur Dacre was a good and sensitive man.

They had unfortunately made up their minds to accept only a joint engagement,, and that sort of engagement is very difficult to find when the husband and wife want to play the two leading parts.

I know that at the time the long-looked-for oable came, forwarding the passage money, Arthur Dacre had becun to take a very deplorable view of things.

I know, because he told me so, on the Sunday morning that- he came to Clarence-terrace with the cablegram m his hand and said, "Thank God, the worst is over— l believe the luck is going to turn."

The Dacres sailed for Australia with every pood wish from their comrades of the London stage, and m February, 1895, they produced "A Wife's Ordeal" at the Bijou Theatre, Melbourne.

Amy Roselle made a striking success. The Melbourne ", press bore ungrudging testimony to the perfection of her art. One leading paper said :—

"She held her audiences spellbound by the reality and force of. her acting. She is a great artiste.- No more natural elocution was ever heard here —not even from the great Bernhardt herself." N

The play was an artistic success for the Dacres, but there were elements m it which did hot appeal to the Australian playgoer any more than they had appealed to the American.

The Dacres produced "Esther Sandraz" and other plays, but they had ill-luck and were -not happy. Arthur Daqre had been a doctor— his real name was James— and had an idea that an operation which he knew his wife would have to go through later on would be fatal to her. This and other worries preyed upon his mind, and his wife's mind also undoubtedly became affected by the continuous misfortune t 0 which they seemed doomed.

In November they were appearing m "The Land' of the Moa," by Mr George Leitch, and were m Sydney. ''The Silence of Dean Maitland" was m rehearsal, and Dacre was cast for a big part. The play was to be produced on Monday, and Dacre declared that insufficient time had been given to rehearsal.

All the week he had been m. a state of alternate depression and irritation.

> On Sunday night poor Dacre committed an act which there is no doubt the unfortunate couple had long premeditated. They had agreed, if fortune continued to frown upon them, .to die together; Dacre placed a handkerchief over his wife's face— it is believed that she asked him not to let her see him kill her— and shot her dead. He then took his own life.

(The- pistol "jammed" and he cut his throat with a razor, and wrote, heart-breakingly, an account of his "horrible agony" and feelings as he bled to death. —Ed. "Truth.")'

That, they had agreed to die together I was assured by Miss Mabel Hardy, a member of the company at the time, and a' lady who had gone out with letters of introduction from the Rev. H. R. Haweis.

Miss Hardy wrote me two days after the tragedy from Melbourne :— "I am terribly shocked: but not surprised. They had constantly discussed the matter (suicide) m my presence. They were universally; esteemed m the colony." ' In a room occupied by the Dacres was found a small casket containing some English soil and moss. It was from the grave they left behind them m England— the grave of their child. ' Some days after the news of the tragedy had reached England I received a lettcu- from Arthur Dacre, enclosing a draft for the fees of the performance of "A Wife's Ordeal" up to date.

In the play I wrote for Mrs BrownI? otter after the American sensation of "Ostler- Joe," the wife prevented Ihe husband from killing himself. In the life -tragedy, when the husband h?.(] drtprniinp'd to kill himself, the wife asVed him .to Im: merciful, and to take her "f« iirsi;