He Looked Like Murder

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 256, 18 April 1888, Page 5

He Looked Like Murder

1 \\i an actor not unknown to lame. L .suppose there will alway.s bo amateni actois, just ah thcie aic country m.i^i--iiates, though it U the uiiul'iml e.xpen ence that what is done fui nothing i-> woith just what it is done Un. Oi coui^e, when I am asked to "he my assistance to such pei-ons, I am duly lemunoiatcd foi nn tumble ; but thu sulleiin*;- which [ ciuhuu fiom .1 piofessioual point ot view — the mangling done \shich i ha\e to witness — can never bo atoned foi bv pounds st oiling. The huppor, how evei, is gencially excellent, and I am always ticatul with the lc-jicct my superiority entitles me (o. What i- mo 4 tivingtomo in my amateui connection is wheiM am ieqiu>tod to play a seeondaiv pail, to Mirau unfortunate gentleman who coiibideis hnnselt qualified by nature to pi as the nrst po.it. The ehaiaetei th.it is most a Her ted bv these deluded pei-ons i & that ot ttn Charles Cold.stieam in " Used Up." Militan men in particular who have cultivated an impawn c manner and a diawling \oiee, arc prone to imagine themselves htted km this pcrtounance, ■which lequires, at one stage of it, all the energy and passion of aChailes Mathews, oi a' Blatheif. And man) a twenty-pound note hn\e i had tor play m^, I lie Black-mith to a \ery, veiy tad eai nature oi that pleasant baionet I was asked to do so down at. a ur. tain gioat man-ion at Richmond la-tKastei. At lust 1 positively declined, upon the plea that L wa.s (hawing I.iil'o house- a-, Loid Kiibble in m\ own tlieTitie, and eoui.i >.ot b^ , o, o« « single nii;ht. But the following lettci pe^uaded me to accede to tho ier|ue-t .-- "M\ 1)1 vu BIATULRs, \cm yfi/h'come, foi theie is no man in lOn^land I can // n*i to play the Blacksmith to m> Nn Chailfs except youiselt. A.» to> ytmi theatie. that is easily managed. Yom Loul riii>l)leiovei by ten o'clock, then pimp into a cab and catch tiie 10.30 to Richmond. L -if ('/> will be made oiu la-t piece espies- sly to suit this «in«in»einont, and \mi can change >oui costume m tlu> cab oi tiaiu. t cnclo-e cheque foi ii\ c-.nul twont\ pound-, lest in my huiiy and excitement on the niuht I should cluniee to ioijiOi it. " ovu.sc\ci , " I'IAN 1 V.i.l M I. The Captain, you observe, was a lord, which had its weight with me as atiue bom Biilon, and, mcico\cr, when one haoot money in onc\ hand it (aoe-s ( aoe-s greatly arjainst the plain -oi at lca a t //>>/ unain -to icttiinit. At Kllft, then, on the nipht in question I hunted fiom the theatie m the splendid attiie of Lord Fribble, and jumped into the cab that was at the door in leadmess lor me, wlnl-t an attendant ]>laced a eaipet bac; by ni) side eoni.unim,' thceostmnuoi thtTßiacksuuth. llunicd as I was, 1 could not help olhcimu^ with a -mile the widemouthed admiiaUon ot tho cabman, and j (ecciwu<_r with sitifctaction the compliment j es toiled"" fiom hi- lips b> my -übei 1> appeal anco '• Mj c^e !An heieditaivnoblem.il). \\'h> " liei'edi'taiy ' itw.is dilliciilt to sa\ " Dn\e (|uiek, -inah, wciems last wonN and -I'll make 'em spin, m % \ Urn I ' mi alhiMon piobably to the wheels), w a- the oli^c<(iucm» ic[il\. Independently ot the mental confusion incident in one of a modest letninf? natuie to di(^s.inu m a cab, it is an escecdin<.-h dithcult thin^ to i\o. To ha\e exchanged the blacksmith's M ( it lot the loicl's-- to have pur, in all the ])ins and Irill- and <xew^aws while exposed to the ceahcles.s jolting; and observation of ten thousand pail. s of eye.-, would indeed have been impossible, and e\en a^ it was, 1 took twice the tune thai- I should have taken in my own dressing room at. the theatie to accomplish my object. My pel iwig was still upon my head, though in> Blacksmiths clothes weie on my body when 1 pas.sed through Watciloo Biidfj;e turnpike ; and no\er piobably had the tollman betrayed m) much astonishment duviu" liis otHciaf duties as at that nioinonb w hen he received my twopence. But the no\t mo ment L had thru-b it into the carpet bag w it h the rest ot my Hue attire, and became, A\iUi the help of a 'little lamp black, as genuine a son ot the anvil as' any man whoso carriage has broken down on the road would wi*h to see. For tin instant the idea did crops my mind that perhaps Ihe railway clerk would hesitate to me ,i lir.st-class ticket, but tho clock in tho Waterloo had showed but I live minutes lo the half-hour, and all my thought* were concentrated upon the question of whether t should reach the station in time. J did reach it in time, though with a minute or two only to *parc ; and jumping out upon the ptatfoim, I held out my hand with half-a-ciown in it to the cabman lb wa? alw a} smy custom to pay such men liberally, and at lirbt I thought his astonishment was clue to the magnitude ot the sum Lima olVered to his notice. His eyes became tho size of .saucers ; hib mouth approached the dimensions of a punch bowl, rather than fchose of a slop basin. "None of your blood money !'' cried he. "Oh mother of Moses ! here's a villain been' and murdered an hcrodifcory nobleman '. Police ! police 1 " I At that fatal cry the porters, who, I n.ust say, had not bhown themselves xcry alert to take my carpetbag began to Rather round me, and at thobamo time an inspector hhowod him,selt at tho tieket-otlicc door. "That man is mad," said I, addressing that olticial <l 1 have given him hU fare and sixpence over, and he won't take it. But

tho cabman had by this time swum? himselfofl' his porch. "He has mmdcrert an [ hereditory nobleman !" was the idiot s reiterated cry, which being takeel up by the porters, the passengers, the passers-by presently swelled into a tempest of accusation. It was in vain for me in my blackhinith's trarb to oiler a .single syllable of denial. M y accuser was evidently actuated by a genuine sense of public justice ; und the fact of my having come in a cab at all hoomed doubtless of" itself to demand ;m explanation. If I had only had my hammer I do believe that in my indignation ani chagrin i should lm\o been tempted to make use ol it; but fortunately T was quite unarmed, save for the dress-sword of my Loid Fiibble, which the cabman had already possessed himself of, and \va«« hold intr up (o the excited spectators a<< the weapon, f suppose, wherewith the bloody deed with which I was chained had been areomplishcd. While I was thus in custody the doom weie closed, the bell was rung, and my tLain stalled off to Richmond. Within two minutes afterwards, in the see elusion ol iin inner oHiee,wherepiekj)oeUeUs, 1 bclio\c, are till the police anivc to take ch.u^e ot them, I had made the inpet'loi undoivtand how matters really .stood. Isut])om Loid J'lantagenet had to play Sii- ( 'hailos that night without hi< Bla'eksimth ; and I will answer for it, though not a witness to the crime, that on the chaise of niurdeun« that baronet he would not befoie any jury of eiities ha\e cleaied himself so easily as I did from that of nnmlciinj' an hereditary nobleman. Tho humoLii oi the whole advontuie was Mich that my own annoyance was ?oon ioigotlen in it; -tnd I even empliryed the fi.ime ililjeminn diivci to take me home as had eomc^ed me to tho station. " What on earth made you think 1 had mmdeied the nobleman, I'ab— merely because he had disappeared / feaid 1. (1 Well, shure, your honour, 1 can'b tell, except that you looked like it."