The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, February 6, 1898, Page 29

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 13898 it “TEmT i S AN DIEGO, Feb. 3, 1898.—The city and county San Diego have not made much noise, in comparison with other parts of the coast, dur- ing the past vear. No Klondikes have been fc no School Board scandals and no great catastrophes have occurred. But the steady onward march cf development and progress been d in fact, has ac- no other city in the percentage of Diego en- tom-house fig- he exports by sea jumped ,000 in 1896 to $440,000 in 1897. The e in lemon and orange shipments per cent, being 219 cars of lemons 162 cars of oranges during 1506 and cars of 24 cars of or- ted, fornia can ease of exports that § a per show The C xports by the p Company from port were: IS 0 tons; 1897, 10,979 tons; increase in one year, tons, or 110 per c If any city in California can show this compar: ments the fact has points, 0 pounds. < n Diego business inder way in round numbers more_ than twice not far Water Company is composed principally of two men, E. S. Babcock and John D. Spreckels. Ir. Babcock, who built the Hotel del Coronado, dent of the water company, and . Spreckels is vice-president.. 1hey are interested in many other important i besides the Coronado and in fact are the moving spirits of San Diego. The water company Is capitalized at $3,500,000, and the cost of the system is estimated to be $3 0. The lands to be covered by the stem embrace Jamul, Janal, Otay, Rancho de la Nacion and other large ranchos, with inter- mediate lands, comprising in all 100,000 acres of fruitful soil, most of it suited for the growth of lemons, oranges, olives and other desirable and profitable fruits. The city of San Diego has a contract with the company for the development and delivery of 1000 inches of water per- from Morena dam for the use of . The city has voted bonds to pay $1,500,000 for this water, delivered at the city limits, and including an entirely per cent cater capacity t sent system. large municipal supply will enable to give its inhabitants the lowest ter v city in Southern Cali- fornia, which will mean the rapid d velopment of fine lawns, grounds, parks and orchards within the city limits. The f owns S000 acres of old pueblo A of it suitable to fruit-grow- the application of water will in- e of these lands to such an the water will practically extent th cost nothin Du Moun the Southern California n Water Company, on the au- MOUTH OF SAN DIEGO HARBOR—GOVERNM | thority of its officlals, expended $1000 per day for every working day, and has done | so ever since the city voted the bonds, in | June, 18 The consequence has been | that every branch of business in the city has felt the benefit of the construction | | work, even before there was any direct | benefit to the lands themselves. The United States Government has recognized the importance of San Plego harbor by expending large sums for harbor defense and improvement. The work of defending this bay is going on very rapidly, more rapidly in proportion than at any other harbor on the coast. | The contractor building the gun em-| placements has had a force of 100 men at | work night and day for more than a year | at Ballast Point, and the result is that | within a month two 10-inch disappearing | rifles of the most modern type will be | pointing seaward, and another will'be be- | | ing assembled. Worl: on the fourth em- | placement is to be started shortly, and these four guns will complete the battery | at Ballast Point. | | | | | ENT JETTY AT OF ENTRANCE. | Then, on Point Loma, two more bat- | teries will be placed. Two S-inch guns | will defend the extremity of the point and two 10-inch non-disappearing rifles will crown the heights. Near by will be a mortar battery of _thirty-two nch mortars, firing each a pro- tile weighing 1000 pounds. An- other mortar battery of the same size will be placed on the sandspit a mile south of Hotel del Coronado. The to: pedo casema sunk in_ the bay, complete the defenses of San Diego. Of this work there has actually beec: accomplished the construction of thre: | gun displacements at Ballast Point and WHERE 1S THE LOST HEIR OF THIS FAMOUS ENGLISH ESTATE ? mise made him the onl OMEWHER among the inhabi- of this great earth there rs a couple suffering all \rdships of daily toil with the pleasures of life, and zgle on all unconscious that cne of England’s proudest titles and richest estates awaits them. They fill some place in the lawly walks of 1if ) doubt in their humble way fol- lowing their vocation to the satisfac- tion of a master, but as completely lost to public notice as an indlvidual atom of the drifting sands of a desert. Their fellow workmen rub up against them ignorant of the fact that they are hob- nobbing with an earl and a countess. The strange part of the story of Ar- thur Augustus Perceval and his wife, for that is the couple referred to, is that their whereabouts and history are well known up to within a very short time of their falling heir to the titles and estates of an earldom. Arthur Perceval has served as a com- mon sailor, later as first mate of a ship, again as a London fireman, as a hack- man, a statesman and was last known as janitor of the Town Hall at Chel- sea, England. An adventurous career and a training quite unusual for a British nobleman. However, his ad- ventures and mishaps are only in keep- ing with the peculiar spell of misfor- tune that has followed the family since the time of Charles II of England. Now that the young earl cannot be found is quite in keeping with the strange ca- reer of the House of Edgmont, for that is the earldom that this man is heir to. Arthur Augustus Perceval was born forty-one years ago in Papanui, near Cantérbury, New Zealand, to which country his father had gone with his young wife to escape a London scan- dal. Young Arthur at fourteen was placed on board the training-ship Wor- er to be educated for a naval ap- prentice. s adventurous could not be curbed and his pranks got him into no end of trouble with the officers, He spent more his time doing penance under the eye who s of a guard than he did as a well-be- | haved apprentice with the run of the ship. One of his anks caused him to desert and changed whole career. One evening just after sunset he had been assigned to cabin duty. He es- pled the captain asleep in a hammock strung from a swinging boom. To cut the rope and tumble the captain out on the deck was beneath his dignity. Such a commonplace trick was not becoming the name of Perceval. Something bet- ter than that must be done. swung the boom over the side of the ship, then cut the rope and dumped the captain into the sea. The serious- ness of his trick dawned upon him, and in the confusion of rescuing the cap- tain, young Perceval let himself down the side of the ship and swam ashore. He landed near a country residence, and the rich man's son chanced to be walking in the garden. Young Perce- val approached the boy and by some of | He slowlyj y heir. Percival sailed for America, and that pretext induced him to go down to the beach. When on the beach and where his cries for assistance could not be heard, Arthur forced his newly made acquaintance to disrobe and they ex- changed suits. The dry suit was no sooner on him than Arthur lit out fast as his nim- ble legs would car! him. He spent two weeks crossing the island, meeting with all sorts of adventures as a tramp. He came to a seaport and. shipped as a sailor boy on a small schooner for Australia. He spent veral years crulsing in the Chinese seas, and in 1881 turned up in Lndon with a first mate’s certificate. He had had enough of the sea, but still hankered for adventure. He con- cluded that the life of a London fire- man offered more of the sort of sport that he wanted than any other lands- man’s vocation. He applied and was admitted to the London Fire Brigade, serving as a fireman in different parts of South London for six years. Mean- time he had made himself known to the seventh Earl of Edgmont at Cowdray Park, Midhurst, who was his second cousin. The late earl recognized in Ar- thur a possible heir to the earldom, and tried to persuade him to abandon his calling and attend college. Arthur had about tired of his life as a fireman, and it is said was seriously considering the offers made him by the | late earl, when an American girl stepped in and changed the whole pro- gramme. She was pretty, of course, and her chic ways as a waitress in the cheap restaurant near the éngine-house ted the attention of Arthur Per- He forgot all about the old earl and devoted his attentions to.the wait- re: He won her regard and respect by one day knocking out a big bully who attempted familiarity with thegirl. From that day Arthur Perceval and Kate Howell became the closest friends and a few months later were married. The pretty waitress is now described in Burke's Peerage as “Kate, daughter of Warick Howell Esq. of South Caro- lina, U. S. A.” How she came to leave her South Carolina home and wandered to London and sought employment as a waitress has never been told. The young couple began housekeeping in a humble way, but happy, nevertheless. Arthur Perceval soon began to be known as one of the best and most dar- ing firemen on the South Side. The training at sea had accustomed him to climbing dizzy heights, and he feared neither flames nor accident. His brav- ery won for him the approbation of his chief, and on one occasion a reward of £50 from a merchant whose build- | Ing he had risked his life to save. The | earl was very much incensed at Arthur | for choosing matrimony and the fire | department rather than a college life. Soon after the wedding Arthur wrote | to the old earl hinting that congratula- itlnns were in order. The earl curtly | replied that he hoped his cousin would | find both the fire department and mat- | rimony closely akin so far as a good | warm time was concerned, and further- | more suggested that if Arthu. did not find either quite warm enough he might, by again addressing Earl of Edgmont, learn of a place that bore | the renutation of being several degrees ival, who was born in New Zealand forty-one years ago and spent his life in the capacity of sea- |‘ ter and numerous other callings, disappeared from England a short time before the death of his is the last known of him. He is very the pangs of poverty and the hardships of toil, while millions in money and vast estates are waiting for him. e r—— | hotter than any fire London had )'et‘ | experienced. | Arthur and his young wife only laughed at the wrathy old earl, and continued on in their own quiet way | to enjoy life. A few months later came | a fire at which Fireman Perceval ‘“5‘1 tinguished himself by scaling a danger- | ous wall and by playing a stream | | stopped the progress of the fire, sav- | ing a big warehouse. The owner pre- | sented Perceval with a £10 note, and | the favorable press comments on the work of the daring fireman attracted | the Earl of Edgmont’s attention. What | seems to have impressed him most was the smallness of the reward, for he | wrote to Arthur stating that if the old merchant did not know a good thing, | an Edgmont did, and with the letter came a check for £50. At another time Perceval risked his life to save that of a child. The crusty old earl heard of this and wrote a very curt letter advising his cousin that if he must risk his neck ‘to do it in saving buildings that cost piles of money to | replace, and not in the saving of mere | kids, the like of which filled the streets | and’ crowded the foundling asylums, | This time he sent only £25. This dis. | gua:]te(;l Peroevak and he concluded then and there to throw up hi iy p his badge and By the intercession of fri ‘secured the position of mmmrer:gs(:; new Town Hall'at Chelsea. This was a job in which the perquisites of of- fice exceeded the salary. Peceval had knocked about the world and rubbed up agalnst all sorts and conditions of men and learned how to take ad- vantage of such a position. He had | carefully put aside every penny do- nated by the old Earl, and with his savings as a janitor was soon in a position to go into business on his own account. He bought an interest in sor B ment works, but the venture t?l’de r‘;;l prove a success. He sold out at a loss, and from that day to this has not been heard from. A few weeks after the closing out of his interest {n the cement works the old Earl died, leav- ing Arthur heir to his title and es. tates. Attorneys and others have searched the world over for the heir, but the new Barl and his American wife seem to have wandered to some out-of-the-way place where the news of their good luck has not followed. The general supposition is t! for America, expecting to find :gfnele:; her people, and when they landed changed their minds and went West. If they came to the United States they did so under assumed names, for the passenger lists do not reveal the name of Perceval. There is no known reason why Arthur should choose to take another family name, yet it is not surprising if he did so, for it runs in the Egmont blood to do strange and unaccountable things. One time when Arthur was a at home in Papanua he was sadlybc;x need of pocket money. He was afraid to ask his father for it, as he had al- ready overdrawn his allowance. A case of French sardines, something of a luxury in that far-off land, had re- cently arrived and had been placed in the storeroom. Arthur figured that the sardines were not likely to be called LEFT AND FORTIFICATIONS AT RIGHT the completion of a torpedo casemate near by. The public is not permitted to know what the torpedo casemate con- tains nor what is its offensive and defen- sive power. The Government gineers state, however, that the most modern armament only is being employed for the coast defenses, both at San Diego gnd rizm Frgn{clscm The total cost of San Diego’s defenses, as outlined, is esti- mated to be $1,500,000. San Diego Harbor, the pride of every resident of the city and the envy of her neighbors, is being improved by the con- struction of a jetty at the east side of the harbor mouth.” At this point the Zuninga shoals have worked harm by dividing the flow of the tides, dissipating their strength and causing the piling up of a shoal at the right of the entrance. The tides have not scoured the bar and chan- nel as they would have done but for the Zuninga shoal. The Government has built a jetty, running from the east side of the harbor mouth seaward a mile and a half, which confines the tides to a BRITISH CRUISER LEANDER AND ANCHOR IN SAN DIEGO HARBOR. straight course In and out of the bay. Thus the tremendous force of the tides is used to scour the channel and deepen the water over the bar. Though the jetty has been completed en- | only 4400 feet, the good effects of the work are already noticeable. ‘he so- called middle-ground channel has been | deepened and the bar is scoured several | inches. The old Zuninga shoal is a thing | | of the past, and deep water exists where | it formerly stood. Thus the finishing | touch upon San Diego's priceless harbor | has been made. The harbor, as is well | known, is the safest haven on the coast, | and the equal of San Francisco’s lordly bay except in size. Mariners are invari-| ably pleased with San Diego harbor, and praise it for its shelter. The shlppln% through San Diego har- bor Increased largely during 1897. In 1396 the harbor was visited by 367 domestic and foreign vessels, with a tonnage of 192,058. In 1897 the number of vessels in- creased to 422, and the tonnage increased to 220,833, The only deep-sea ships leav- ing Southern California with cargoes dur- ing 1897 were from San Diego Bay. The most important commercial institu- | tion completed during 1897 was the San Diego brewery, at a cost of $175,000. The capacity of the brewery is 66,000 barrels er_year, and the capacity of the stock | ouse, 25,000 barrels, is to be increased | because of the surprising demand for the | product. Mexico, Southern California, Arizona and New Mexico are supplied by the brewery. Another growing industrv is the shipment of fresh fish to the East. | The teeming waters of the bay and ocean give up thelr food to SHRFIY such distant points as the City of Mexico, Chicago, | and all the Middle West. The filsh is shipped in ice, and arrives in SDlendld‘[ condition. At first there was a prejudice in favor of Atlantic Ocean fish, but con- sumers were forced, after trial, to the conclusion that the Pacific Ocean fur-| nishes just as good meat as its smaller | neighbor. A movement that is belleved to have the | most important bearing on the future of | this county has begun on a small scale, | in the culture of tobacco. Several inde- | Eendmt and enterprising men, who had | ad experience in the South, began in a | small way to cultivate tobacco in EIl Cajon Valleg, near this city, and proved to the world that a product not inferior to any tobacco grown in the United States could be grown In this county. This small beginning has already grown into | an industry of some importance, and Is\ engaging the attention of growers and manufacturers. Specimens of San Diego | County tobacco submitted to some of the | largest manufacturers of the East and South brought forth the most enthusiastic praise for the product. The San Diego County Tobacco Grow- ers’ Association was formed as a result | of the: se experiments, and now a number | TORPEDO-DESTROYER VIRAGO AT | of ranchers are trying the cultivation of the weed, on plats of ground running from five to fifty acres in extent. While many of these will no doubt prove fail- ures through the ignorance of the grower, { 29 it has been absolutely demonstrated, be- | as though it was about the limit of yond question, that tobacco of a fine qual- ty can be grown in this county, and that is sufficient to bring about vast results in due time. So far as the city proper is concerned, it is growing at a healthy and satisfactory rate. The population, as shown by the school statistics, Is on the increase at a rapid ratio. The schools are crowded to such an extent that several hundred chil- dren are denied the privileges of attend- ance. The city proposes to Increase its school facilities by voting bonds for a new high school, to be the equal, in size and architectural beauty, of the fine buildings already in use. The act passed by the last Legislature, providing for the construction of a State normal school in this county, has been followed to the extent of appointing a board of trustees, choosing a beautiful site on University Heights, in this city, and advertising for plans and specifica- tions for the preliminary buflding. The cost of the whole building will be $100.000, but on account of the fact that only $50,000 | | | | was appropriated and the great need of | immediate work the trustees have devot- ed $35,000 to the prellminary building and the balance to teachers’ salaries and equipment. TheJ}reHmlnary building will be so constructed as to become a part of the larger building. The construction of business blocks and fine private residences has continued un- interruptedly during the past year. The attractions of this city and Coronado to persons of culture and refinement looking for a permanent home in a congenial cli- mate are such as to bring about the erec- tion of semi-tropical vegetation, and command- views of charming, varied scenery, in ch glorious sunshine and summer’s magic touch are the benign influences which make all residents here so loyal and zealous lovers of the place. So, with resources of sofk.and climate, facilities for commerce, and blessed by nature, San Diego presents to the home- seeker a variety of attractions such as are not offered by any other one city on the Pacific Coast.” IRA E. BENNETT. MEMORIéS OF THE CIVIL WAR. Some Stirring Incidents of an Ex- pedition Down the Coast. “The first time I ever heard guns fired in earnest,” said the old soldier, “was in a storm at sea; from troops on | a transport that was foundering. There were a lot of troops, twenty thousand or so, on vessels, bound on an. expedi- tion down the coast. Besides the trans- ports there were a lot of naval vessels of all sorts. And then there were some vessels in tow, with supplies and sub- sistence stores. regiment was aboard had a ship in tow. Altogether it was a fleet of fifty ves- sels or more. We went along down the coast slow and easy, so as to keep to- gether—no use of getting there piece- meal, because nothing could be done | till all were there—and so as to accom- modate the slower boats and those that were. towing others. “We had one day of bad weather that | finally worked up into a storm. There | was a high sea all day, and the ship | we had in tow charged over it at a great rate. Sometmes when the steam- er's nose was in a valley and her stern in the air, looking astern from her after deck you couldn’t see the lower masts of the ship we were towing. All you could see was her topmasts, and to'gal- lantmasts and upper yards. The ship was out of sight in the valley. Next minute the steamer’'s bow would be in the air and her stern buried, and then looking at the ship, as she rose up on a great wave behind us you could see er's stern would be in the air again and the ship would be sliding down the face | of the wave into the valley. It seemed {deal homes, surrounded with | | | The steamer that my‘\ | | her forefoot. A minute later the steam- | | they had their towing and I almost wondered they didn’t cut her loose. “As the day went on the weather got worse and night shut in early, with the sky overcast and the wind blow- ing a gale, the sea rougher than ever, and vessels all around us rolling and tossing. We had heard once or twice, just before dark, when the blasts of wind had let up a little, sounds of fir- ing to windward, and we knew there must be a vessel there in distress. Af- ter nightfall we could see in the dis- tance the flash of the guns; the vol- ley firing of men apparently drawn up in line on deck. It wasn't our place to help them, there were many vessels nearer. They had all the help it was possible to give them. We learned later that nearly all on the vessel were saved. There were about twenty-five Vhen we came on deck on our ship the next morning we saw something that interested us very much; the up- per part of the after chimney—the steamer had twol smokestacks, rang- ing fore and aft—had been carried away completely, and it lay on deck over on the port side of the ship. On the starboard side, a boat hanging on davits had been smashed, and the steamer’s rail cut down to the deck. This damage had been done by the ship we had in tow. Her jibboom had poked off the upper sections of the smokestack and her cutwater had smashed the boat and cut down the rafl. According to the story aboard | we had occasion in the night to back. The story was that there were break- ers ahead. When we went astern the ship kept coming, and came aboard of us on the starboard quarter. They cut her loose as soon as they could, and the men on the ship made sail on her. She hadn’t done us very much damage—I have sometimes wondered what would have happened if she had struck us a little harder blow. “We went on easily enough with one long and one short chimney. We were going slow and we didn't need the draught that we lost through the cut- ting down of one of them. We didn’t pick the ship up again, but we saw her a few days later, at our port of desti- nation, trim and all right. It hadn't disturbed her to be cut loose in the storm, in fact, I have no doubt that she liked it so much bette: ———e——— THE MATTER OF “HISKER$. London Truth. The day he went to the Palais de I'Industrie to inform the Emperor nn.d Empress of the Archduke Maximilian's execution the revealing whiskers fell quite lank. They recovered their tri- umphant air soon after, to lose it on September 4. They certainly did not recover that air at Tours or Bordeaux, where Prince Metternich looked very much the fish out of water. Jules Ferry's whiskers were often an index to his state of feeling. I saw him on the day he escaped from the Commune of Paris to Versailles. He related his adventures at the Hotel des Reser- Voirs to friends who gathered round him. The whiskers which habitually stood well out like those (his enemies said) of a garcon de cafe, were 1imp, and lay flat to the cheeks. The most leonine whiskers I ever saw were Skobeleff’s. They were of im- mense length when he drew them out, as was his wont, but when let alone seemed only half as long. I dare say lank days, but not so far as I know. The term “whiskeran- do” (now well nigh obsolete) had more meaning than those who used thought. it for for some time, so he put the case on the wheelbarrow and wheeled it downtown and sold the whole case to a grocer. A few days after the father began a hunt for the sardines. Arthur owned up as to how they had disap- peared and told the figure at which he had sold the case. The father looked at him a miute, put his hand in his pocket and handed him a sovereign, remarking, “You sold them too cheap: you should have got at least a sovereign more. Here it is. My boy, whenever you take a mnotion to sell the roof from over my head see that you get full market value for it.” Arthur was placed in boarding- school after boarding-school, but in each instance with the same ending— he either played some unforgivable prank and was sent home or if the discipline was too severe he ran away. It was because the list of boarding- schools had been exhausted that he came to be placed on board a train- ing-ship, and how he escaped from it has been told. He seems to have turned out a profi- cient seaman, else he could not have obtained a first mate's certificate at the early age of 23. Of his adventures at sea little is known, but his com- rades in the London Fire Department describe him as a rattling good fellow. While he was jovial and fond of com- pany and joking, he was inclined to be non-communicative. It is due to this characteristic probably that he has never written any of his old friends. The strange part of the disappear- ance of the new Earl and the Countess is that he should have gone to some unknown point just at the time of the death of the old Earl. It was just three weeks after Arthur Perceval sold his interest in the cement works that the death of the old Earl was widely proclaimed in the English and Continental papers. Advertisements and rewards for information as to Ar- thur’'s whereabouts appeared in nearly every part of the world, but up to the time of publication of the latest Lon- don newspapers that have come to hand Arthur is still a wanderer and unknown. When he does turn up he will find that he is Earl of Egmont, Viscount Perceval, Baron Perceval and Baron Arden in the peerage of Ireland, Baron Lovel and Holland in the peer- age of England, Baron Arden in the peerage of the United Kingdom, and a Baronet of Ireland, to say nothing of a few minor titles. The family seems to have been un- der a peculiar spell of misfortune. The late Earl’s father died of jail fever, contracted from the prisoners he was trylng at Cork; his uncle was myste- riously assassinated in the Strand, London, in the reign of Charles II; his grandfather was the famous Spencer Percival. The present Earl’s misfortune seems to be in his having lost himself just at the time when he ought to be very much in evidence. HE other evening, at the Cali- fornia Theater, a sedate, be- spectacled, blonde young man left his seat and crossed to the other side of the house, where he shook hands and chatted cordially with M. B. Leavitt, who not so long since reigned supreme in the theatrical world in this city. When the blonde young man walked away Mr. Leavitt said to his com- panion: “Five years ago I met that young man in Grand Forks, N. D, where he was managing the theater and running the dally paper. He got so much the best of an argument re- garding a contract which he wanted for one of my attractions that I im- mediately engaged him to manage my theater in Chicago. Soon after I transferred him to the Bush Street Theater here. At that time he had not written a line for the stage, but this year two of his plays, both suc- cesses, were running at the same time in Broadway houses.” George A. Broadhurst isthemanwho jumped from the snows of North Da- kota to the sunny side of the metropo- lis in five years. He was the last man- ager of the Bush Street Theater under Mr. Leavitt's administration, and it was while occupying that position that he first thought of trying his pen at dramatic writing. “The idea of doing this,” said Mr. Broadhurst, ‘“was suggested to me by Bronson Howard. During the en- gagement of Mrs. W. J. Florence he came to the office. of the theater to request the courtesy of a box for one of her performances. We chatted awhile, and then the conversation veered to Mr. Sothern’s production of ‘The Maister of Woodbarrow,” which was the current attraction at the Baldwin. Mr. Howard had not seen the play and requested my opinion of it. I said that I thought that the scene in which Mr. Sothern put on his gloves was too long, and being asked for my reasons I answered that When Mr. Broadhurst was manager of the old Bush-street Theater, play-writing. The latter gave him several valuable hints on the way to test the public on situal clever use the young man made of the suggestions is told in the following story. the audience began to move uneasily and to rustle their programmes. “‘That,” said Mr. Howard, ‘is a sure i slgn. Whenever I have a new pro- duction I watch the more closely than I do the criticisms, and if they show signs of restlessness during any scene I promptly cut it During the production of ‘Shenan- doah’ in Boston I noticed how thor- oughly absorbed the audience was in the signals on the mountains and I determined to try an experiment. I said to the stage manager, “Continue the signals until I tell you to cease,” and then I stood in the prompt en- trance listening alertiy ror the first uneasy cough or rustle of pro- grammes. 1 waited in vain so long that I lost my nerve and gave the cue for the resumption of the play proper. Next night I determined to see it through, no matter how long it took, and so gave the stage manager the same instructions as before. 1 waited four minutes by the watch, and then gave up in despair. It was my last experiment of this nature, and so my curfosity was never satisfled.’ “Mr. Howard. called several times after this and discussed plays and players quite thoroughly. While leav- ing after his last call Mr. Howard sald: ‘You ought to try to write a play. I think you have the dramatic instinct.” The seed took root more firmly perhaps than expected. I did try, and the result was my first play, “The Speculator.’ It dealt with hile on the Chicago Board of Trade, and I had the advantage of knowing my subject thoroughly, as I was connect- ed with the institution for five years. ‘The Speculator’ was produced by Thomas Q. Seabrooke and ran for two seasons. “My next attempt was ‘The Wrong Mr. Wright,” which was written for Roland Reed and first produced at the Boston Museum in August, 1896. “The reception accorded my first two plays having shown me that I had some aptitude for writing for the stage 1 determined to produce my next piece myself. After considering the matter 1 concluded that the trend of public taste was toward the romantic and the farce. Feeling that I was not as yet competent to write the former I tried my hand at the latter. The result was ‘What Happened to Jones.’ What happened to ‘What Happened to Jones’ is now a matter of record. ““While “What Happened to Jones’ is being presented in New York and Chi- cago it will also be seen in this city, as Harry Corson Clarke has purthased the rights of presentation west of the GEORGE BROADHURST S EXPERIENCE IN WRITING FOR THE STAHGE. Bronson Howard advised him to try his hand at | tions and dialogue. What audience even | Missouri River, and rehearsals for its production have already commenced. ‘Although Mr. Clarke pays for the piece the biggest royalty ever given an Am- erican author, this would not have tempted me had I not thought he was unusually well adapted for the part of Jones, to whom various things happen during the course of, to him, a very eventful evening. The rights of pro- duction in Germany, Australia and South Africa have also been sold, and arrangements are practically completed whereby the farce will be seen in Lon= don next season under the manage- ment of my brother and myself. “We had a peculiar experience re- garding the copyrighting of ‘Jones’ in England. In that country no play can be produced unless it has been sanc- tioned by the public censor, a provision, by the way, which would work for the benefit of the stage in this country. One of the characters is the Bishop of Ballarat, and during last summer I was surprised to receive a cable from Miss Elizabeth Marbury, the well known play agent, who was looking after our London interests, saying: ‘Censor re- fuses license. Objects to Bishop.’” For a time I was very much puzzled as to the ground for his objection. There is no word in the play derogatory to the dignity of the cloth, and many comedy ministers have been portrayed on the English stage, notably those in ‘The Private Secretary,” and ‘In Town.” Var- jous reasons suggested themselves as to the cause of the censor’s action, but they were all dismissed 'as being un- likely and trivial. After a while, how- everal struck what I thought, was the right one, so I cabled Miss Marbury: ‘Reduce Bishop to curate and try it." Two days aftor word came, ‘License granted. MEDIEVAL STUDENTS. ‘We find a Paris scholar complaining of the disorders of the schools and express- ing fear of personal violence, and a stu- dent at Toulouse writes that a certain against whom he had been warned befo; leaving his home in Narbonne, had taken forcible possession of his room and so disturbed him in his work that he would like permission to go home at Easter. At Orleans a young man pleads for help from his father because, having quarreled with a certain.youth, as the devil would have it, he struck him on the head with a . stick, so that he is now in prison and must pay 50 livres for his release, while his enemy is healed of his wounds goes free.