Evening star. [volume], April 15, 1934, Page 6, Image 88

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
LINCOLN ASSASSINATION DATE RECALLED
- i 1 "■ ? i ’■ —— " " - J r : —- !
Death of Civil
War President
Occurred 69 Years
Ago Today, After
Tragic Night.
Theater Had Pre
sented ‘ '‘OurA meri
can Cousin ”—Na
tional Interest in
Chair on Which
Lincoln Sat.
BY JOHN CLAGETT PROCTOR.
IT WAS just 69 years ago this morning, at
7.22 o’clock, that Abraham Lincoln, the
sixteenth President of the United States,
passed away at the home of William Peter
son, 516 Tenth street northwest, opposite
the old Ford’s Theater, where one of the
foulest deeds in American history was com
mitted the night before.
Both buildings still stand as mute reminders
of the dastardly tragedy, and since both struc
tures are the property of the Government, the
chances are that generations to come will view
them with awe and sadness. Indeed, the far
ther we get away from the Civil War, with its
many unpleasant memories, the greater will the
martyr President loom in the hearts of the
American people, for some day all will know
him alike for his sympathetic nature, his kind
ness of heart, his unselfish motives, his high
ideals and his devotion to country.
The interior of the theater building has
been stripped of everything that went toward
making it the most attractive playhouse in
Washington in 1865, but its walls are the same,
and a picture of the building at that time would
be a good view of it today, though it stands
in a new neighborhood, where old buildings are
the exception.
As has been said before in these columns,
the First Baptist Church originally occupied
this site, with Rev. Obadiah Brown as pastor.
The building was erected in 1834, and the first
services held there were on June 26. A quar
ter of a century later the church property
was offered for sale and was sold December
10, 1861, to David W. Heath, who soon con
veyed a part interest in it to John T. Ford.
A month prior to this, however, the building
was first used as a theater by Miss Carlotta
Patti, -the celebrated cantatrice” (which in
plain words means a female professional
singer), who opened the house,-the date being
November 19.
George Christy and his minstrels followed
Miss Patti, and the theater is referred to as
“George Christy’s New Opera House.” Christy's
lease having expired, John T. Ford got control
of the property and opened the theater on Au
gust 28, 1862, as "Ford’s Theater.” Four months
later, on December 30, the building was en
tirely destroyed by fire—and this was the end
of the structure that had once done duty as
a church.
R. FORD was an alert business man, and
in just a year from the burning of the
old building, the ruins had been removed and
a modem theater erected on the spot. The
proprietor did not hesitate to advertise the fact
in the city directory for 1865, as follows:
“FORD’S
NEW THEATER,
Tenth Street, between E and F,
One and a half squares North of Penn. Avenue,
WASHINGTON, D. C.
Erected A.D. 1863. Opened Aug. 27, 1863.
Capacity, 2,500.
JOHN T. FORD,
Proprietor and Manager.
Post-Office Address, Baltimore, Md.”
Exteriorally, the new building was severely
plain, just as we see it today, but the interior
is said to have been very attractive, the ar
rangement of seats "being totally unlike that
of most theaters.” The parquette was equipped
With cane-seat chairs, rising in gradual eleva
tion, so that a clear and unobstructed view of
the stage could be had by every one. The first
tier, or balcony, was said to have been com
modious and opened into a retiring salon,
brilliantly illuminated. A second tier, Corre
sponding to the family circle, completed the
Beating part of the house.
There were eight private boxes in the thea
ter, built on new and original lines, four on
each side of the stage, two lower and two
upper. The lower ones are said to have been
scarcely more than loopholes, and to have been
excellent points from which to see and remain
unseen, if one wished to do so. The upper
boxes were elevated but 9 short distance above
the stage, and from them any one might easily
kw onto the stage.
1- ... mm -
Scene from “Our American Cousin ," as first produced at Laura Keene’s Theater, October 18, 1858.
The four upper boxes were the best equipped
and arranged in the theater, and were roomy.
“It is in them,” an old account says, “that the
most magnificent displays of toilette are made
upon nights of opera, and they at once com
mand the whole house and are central points
of inspection from it. Each accommodates
quite a party, and the locale is so arranged
that the greater portion of the occupants, ex
cept those in the back of the box, are in full
view of the audience.”
THE box which the President occupied, and
which was known as the President's box,
included the two upper boxes on the right-hand
side of the house, facing the stage. With Booth,
everything was planned with exactness. "Our
American Cousin’’ w7as being played, the lines
of which the assassin was quite familiar with,
and so he sought a time when the action of
the piece required the stage to be almost
vacant, and when all eyes would be turned
toward the stage awaiting the entrance ot
Florence Trenchard (Miss Keene), when she
would say, “What do you mean by doing ail
these dreadful things?’* This came about 9:30
o'clock.
Mrs. H. Huzzy, as Mrs. Mountchessington In
the play, had just retired from the stage, say
ing to Asa Trenchard (Harry Hawk) as she
was leaving:
"X am aware, Mr. Trenchard, you are hot
used to the manners of good society, and that
alone will excuse the impertinence of which you
have been guilty.”
It was then that Booth leaped onto the stage,
crossed seme feet in front of Mr. Hawk, passed
Miss Keene and W. J. Ferguson, then standing
in the passageway, rushed past Withers, the
orchestra leader, made his escape by way of a
rear door, and a crime was consummated that
made a nation weep and the whole world
mourn.
Much has been written of the death of Lin
coln and little can be added at this late date,
but no doubt there are many who would like
to know something about the old play that was
being so excellently performed on that fatal
Good Friday night, when even the humblest
; -M's cf Washington were decorated and
' -
Laura Keene, who tooh the role of Florence Trenchard in "Our American
Cousin,” on the evening Lincoln was shot.
Illuminated in token of the surrender of Lee’s
army at Appomattox, just five days before.
‘‘Our American Cousin” was comparatively a
new play when it was being performed at Ford's
Theater on the night of April 14, 1865, having
had its initial performance at Laura Keene's ,
Theater, New York, on October 18, 1858.
FREQUENTLY the best source of information
for settling upon dates and for the obtaining
of facts are the early newspapers, and so in his
quest for information tile writer sought the files
of the New York daily papers. Here he was
rewarded by finding a write-up on the original
production of the play, together with its first
cast, as follows:
•'Laura Keene's Theater, 624 Broadway.
‘‘The necessary arrangements for the produc
tion of Tom Taylor's new and original three
act comedy having been completed, the man
agement would respectfully inform the pubiic
that the first representation of 'Our American
Cousin,’ which piece has been written especially
for this theater by one of the most popular
dramatists of the period, and never before acted
on any stage, will take placfe on Monday eve
ning, October 18, 1858, with new scenery, ap
propriate costumes, properties, appointments,
etc., and a cast comprising within its limits
nearly the entire strength of the comedy
company.”
Then follows the original cast: Asa Trench
ard, a live Yankee, Mr. Jefferson; Sir Edward
Trenchard, a Hampshire baronet, Mr. Varrey;
Lord Dundreary, Mr. Sothem: Lieut. Vernon,
R. N., Mr. Levick; Capt. de Boots, Mr. Clinton;
Coyle, attorney-at-law, Mr. Burnett; Abel Mur
cott, his clerk, Mr. Couldock; Binney, a butler,
Mr. Peters; Buddicombe, Lord Dundreary's
man, Mr. McDonall; Rasper, a groom, Mr.
Wharton; John Wicker, an under gardener, Mr.
B. Brown: Florence Trenchard, Miss Laura
Keene; Mrs. Mountchessington, Miss Mary
Wells; her daughters, Augusta, Miss Effie Ger
mon; Georgians, Mrs. Sothem; Mary Meredith.
Miss Sara Stevens; Sharpe. Miss Trenchard’s
maid, Miss Flynn; Skillet, Mrs. Mountchessing
ton’s maid, Mrs. Levick.
The play was in three acts and proved a great
success. It made a reputation for Jefferson
and the elder Sothem, who created their
respective parts of Asa Trenchard and Lord
Dundreary, and fame for Miss Keene, the
Florence Trenchard of the play.
MR. JEFFERSON, after the play had a long
run at Miss Keene's theater, left the com
pany to star for himself, and finally met his
greatest success in “Rip Van Winkle,” which
few older folks have not seen. He was especi
ally popular in Washington, and well that he
should have been, for here it is said he was
bom, and he dees not deny it in his autobio
graphy, when he says: "I may almost say that
I was bom in a theater. At all events, my
earliest recollections are entirely connected with
one; it was a rickety old frame building with a
broad gable, facing on a wide avenue and sit
uated in the City of Washington. The door
from our back .entry opened upon the stage,
and as a toddling little chap in a short frock
I was allowed full run of the place.”
This reference by Mr. Jefferson is evidently
to the old Circus Building, on C street be
tween John Marshall Place and Sixth street,
which was demolished in August, 1898, to make
room for an addition to Havenner's Bakery.
The Washington Theater—that is, the one
erected in 1821 on Louisiana avenue to the
north of the Circus Building—was a brick
structure, and would not fit the description of
the building remembered by Mr. Jefferson frem
his childhood days.
An old-timer, about the time the C street
building was being razed, said to a Star
reporter:
"I remember seeing Joseph Jefferson and
his father and mother playing in Walker's cir