The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, June 12, 1898, Page 29

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, JUNE 12, 1898. 29 pany has been a step upward. It has still far to go. And just how far it will go depends upon its manager, mainly. articles on Augustin Daly and his com- pany, in which J. Ranken Towse tells what qualities are necessary to the ar- | tistic success of a theatrical manger. “The ideal manager must riot only be a judge of good acting, and a thor- | ough ‘master of the principles that gov- ern it, but must also be ca tecting and developing ability in begin- | quainted fully with all the possibilities MAUD WINTER. | of stage representation, and have suffl- cient literary judgment to be able to recognize good play in manuscript | form. More than this, he must be well infc ties on matters of architecture, orna- mentation, furniture and costume, and on the artistic use of light and ecolor in stage pictures. He must, in short, be the possessor of a vast fund of general and special information. as well as of great executive ability and tact. How many of our ‘managers’ are there who | can boast of all or of any of those qual- ifications?"” To which question Mr. Towse nishes his own answer. country, he says, there are not more than three, and Mr. Daly stands at the head of the list. Mr. Frawley is not a Daly. If he were he would not be identified with fur- cannot realize the imminent and that continually threaten the br The following story gives a fain IFE on a torpedo boat is with- out doubt the most thankless task a sailor can have allotted to him, for it is a life of intense misery, alternating with risk of | death. In the first place, a torpedo boat is constructed on lines totally dif- ferent to any other seagoing cratt. For the sake of speed almost every other warlike and seagoing essential is suppressed. All the parts are made 80 light that they are marvels of work- manship. The frames are as frail as they dare be made. The skin Is skin, indeed, of the thinnest steel. The lon- gitudinals are mere strips of metal. So delicate, in fact, is the construction that a bump even into a floating spar will twist the bow back on itself, and | to brush against, say, the spile of a dock would twist the body out of shape as easily as one might crumple a piece of stiff paper in the hand. Not infre- quently the space below is so low that men under the usual height have to be chosen. On some & man six feet high | could only stand erect in his quarters F' the greatest of Frenchmen, Who |y jetting his head go up through the understood so well the value of a hatchway! matic situation off the stage,| mne first six or eight feet behind the 14 take a glimpse of San Fran- |y .se_eqged bow 18 given up to a col- cisco’s theatrical situation just now | oo ™ iyhenq and is not unlike & he would probably repeat his cele- | == v iq04 nollow-ground razor. The brntea' motto to the effect that there! space is much too narrow to be used Is 1o indispensable man, or manager. | $P2Ge 8 FPRER (OO OIS the torpedo But just now San Francisco, though room then the men’s quarters, and the it may not admit his necessity, IS Very ' eijghteen or twenty men are literally glad of Mr. Frawley’'s existence. The packed like sardines. Next come the historians who claim that the oppor- boilers and the engine room, occupying tunity will surely produce the man will | the entire waist of the vessel and part assure you that if Frawley had not ar- | of the afterbody. There s not an inch ved some one else would, But the | Of Waste space and the heat issuchihat 58 : e | he men who have to keep the fiery fact remains that Frawley seized the ;g aglow with all the fuel they can opportunity to establish a western|eat must be able to stand fire with stock company and built up its west- | nearly as much immunity as do sala- ern reputation. He had the courage | manders. In the engine room the en- The Century for June publishes two | ble of de- | ners, and of exercising direction and | control in the case of players of wider | experience. He must, of course, be ac- med concerning the best authori- | In the whole | to try, where so many before him had railed. He had the good fortune, and the merit, to succeed. And success is the most irresistible of virtues. Since its modest beginning some years | ago every step of the Frawley Com- | gineer and his assistants, like the stok- ers, are stripped to the waist, rivulets of sweat roll down their bodies, and woe betide them if anything breaks, as often happens, or a fireman misses his footing, which unfortunately hap- pens, too, sometimes. Abaft the engine | the stage in San Francisco. There would be many larger and more impor- | tant cities bidding for his talents. But he has energy, perseverance and ambi tion, and although it is unlikely that he | —Or any one else, for that matter—will | reach the ideal standard, San Fran- | | cisco owes him support and will give it | to him, for the simple reason that in | 50_doing she benefits herself. | What a San Francisco manager needs {s an independent point of view, and a conviction that the West is as well able as the East to furnish dramatic ability. “A real stock company is the only school of act- ing worthy of the name.” In course of | time the presence of Frawley's com- 5AM_EDWARDS. | pany will naturally be an incentive to and an attraction for young local act- ors, who now take Horace Greeley’s ad- vice reversed—as most things are in stageland, and go East. For San Francisco's sake as well as for his own Mr. Frawley should aim | have a place in the theatrical affections | and to raise standards instead of ca- | reason why they shouldn’t be realized. bed =3 ot fed =3 =3 b= would overcome the old difficulty of | expensive transportation for a large! company. | At any rate it is to be hoped that Mr. | Frawley will take advantage of his | popularity—for he and his. company | of San Francisco which few managers have known how to conquer—to teach people here what good stage work is That he has There is no tering to cheaper taste. ideals, no one can doubt. And above all, he is really a Moses— our only one—who may lead us out of | a theatrical wilderness. The Golumbia, It 18 a new Frawley company that makes its debut as an organization to- morrow night at the Columbia, though members of it have been seen here with various companies. Madeleine Bouton, who retained her own name when she left Reno, Nev., to g0 upon the stage, was here with A. M. Palmer's company that fncluded Julla Arthur, Wiltan Lackaye, and others. She is most favorably known in the East through her creation of the title role in “The Tarrytown Widow," which will be presented here later by the Frawley company. She has played all sorts of roles, from Letty Fletcher in “Saints and Sinners” toMyra Brimstonein “The Globe Trotter.” Edward M. Bell was here last with the same Palmer com- pany Miss Bouton glayed with. During the last season he has appeared in New York in a variety of parts, ranging from Marshal Lefebyre in ‘“Madame Sans Gene” to Alfred Hastings in “All the Comforts of Home.” Theodore Roberts layed the Indian chlef when ‘“The Girl I tel’l Behind Me” was here. He was the villain_in “The Heart of Maryland,” when s. Carter produced Belasco's very suc- 1l play here. Cora Tinnie San Fran- o met in Hoyt's “Trip to Chinatown.” Maude Winter, the ingenue, is an Oak- and girl, who made her debut with the Coghlan-Dixey-Barrymore combination at the Columbia a few years ago. Eleanor Carey was with Richard Mansfleld’s com- pany on their last visit to this coast. Fan- chon Campbell was out here with Neil “County Fair,” and she played production of high. He should not be content merely with financial success; which, of course, was the first thing to be considered when he formed his first company and came down to San Francisco prepared | for a Waterloo, but prepared also to battle against theatrical annihilation. | He is in a position to cut the Gordian knot of our stage difficulties, due to isolation on. the lonesome edge of the continent. With a little enterprise he could bring out to us the star and her leading man, or the star and his lead- ing lady, and use his own company to | support = them; and in this way he ILY PERILS AGAINST LIFE ON A TORPEDO-BOAT A person who has never made a trip on one of the torpedo-boats ever-present risks against life ave men that make up the crew. t idea of the dangers. | room are two small compartments with | four bunks in each. These form the | wardroom, cabin, messrcom and state- room of the officers. | An imaginative person might per- | haps be able to see in his mind's eye { what discomforts attend life on board a torpedo craft when she is quiet, but | it is difficult to conceive how much these restricted surroundings are ag- gravated when the torpedo-boat goes tearing through the water. Every- | thing then is set to vibrating and trembling, as though a great earth- quake had the boat and her crew at its mercy. It requires long experience to become habituated to the rocking and shaking. Writing is out of the ques- tion. Reading is almost Impossible, and it {8 not easy even to eat and drink. Add to this the odor of oil, the smell of steam, the heat and the wet, and only the stoutest hearts can en- dure it. Rest and sleep are quite im- possible and the crews have to be changed every three or four days for recuperation. The risks, too, are emormous. To launch her torpedo with any hope of its fulfilling its mission the vessel has to come within 500 yards of its intended victim. She is consequently well with- in the range of the machine guns of the gunboat for at least 900 yards. Rushing up at the rate of twenty-four knots an hour she would cover the 900 vards of danger space In about sixty- six seconds. Then she has to fire, turn and return once more over the dan- gerous 900 yards. Altogether she is in imminent danger for about two min- utes and a half. It does not seem long, but when it {s remembered that the rate of fire of the machine guns is 1000 shots per minute, one sees better what a thrillilng two minutes and a half it is. The little torpedo-boat is exposed to about 2500 shots, and if only 1 per cent struck their mark she would be hit twenty-five times. No ‘range-finders or spider-web sights are used to draw a torpedo bead on a hostile warship from the deck of a torpedo-boat. The sighting is done with the eye of judgment and exper- ience, gained from practice. It is an exaggerated case of wing shooting, for when the torpedo is launched the boat is traveling rapidly, and the ensign, hanging over the off side of the boat, oner of Zend in the East. Sam Edwards is comedian in chief, and Fred Williams, who is the father of his famous son, and who Frohman's years, will direct performances. 2 >s Carey, Bouton, Campbell and Winter and Messrs. Bell, Frawley, Ed- wards, Roberts, Burke and Conger will appear to-morrow night in “Number Nine, or the Lady of Ostend.” The Alcazar. Lewis Morrison will prolong his en- gagement, which has proven most suc- cessful, at the Alcazar. To-morrow night sights his big prey much as a duck hunter brings his shotgun to bear on a winging mallard. When a torpedo-boat goes into action everybody is ordered below except the man at the torpedo-tube and the ex- ecutive officer, who ‘“sights” the self- moving missile. The engine is spin- ning the propeller-wheel around 450 times a minute. Not a light is seen on the boat, and it drives straight through the night toward the black shape which sweeps the water with luminous fingers of the electric search- light, feeling for just such deadly pests as a torpedo-boat. The little craft has no puffing steam to betray it, for every bit of steam goes to the conden- ser, to return as water to the tremb- ling bollers. An impression is abroad that a tor- pedo is shot under water. The fact is the torpedo is ejected from a tube which is mounted on a standard bolted to the deck. The tube may be swung around, and has a vertical motion, so that the inclination may be varied. The torpedo is ejected by a charge of four ounces of black powder, just enough to throw the automobile projectile into the water. When once in the sea the torpedo’s own propeller drives it to the mark at the rate of 20 knots—nearly 34 miles—an hour. ‘While the principal object in “firing” a torpedo is to blow up a hostile ship, it is equally important to prevent the torpedo exploding mnear the torpedo boat, so the firing mechanism per- forms a double service. It keeps the torpedo a harmless shell until it is at least 75 yards from the launching point, and it explodes the guncotton when the war nose rubs up against the bottom of the enemy’s ship. The device which does this is regulated by a small four- bladed screw fan on the extreme bow point of the war nose. When the pre- scribed distance is covered the mechan- ism driven by the screw fan sets the “firing pin” in a position to strike the detonating cap of the primer case when the torpedo comes in contact with the target. The true value of the torpedo boat in naval operations has to be yet recog- nized. So far In our present war it has not played an important part, and it is possible that the future will relegate its greater usefulness to coast and har- bor defenses. Still, it 1s even now in naval warfare a formidable foe. The blazing searchlights that a threatened ship turns on the surrounding water are not sufficlent to avert attack; the nettin® with which vessels are sur- rounded is easily cut in twain by the nippers or scissors attached to the tor- pedo, and a vessel assailed by torpedo boats is pretty certain to succumb, al- though it {s certain to sink several of its assailants in the struggle. An example of the efficacy of the tor- pedo boat may be found in the blowing MIRIAM MIC| he will produce “A Celebrated Case.” the ' comedians. The Sa Vans, comedy acro- thrilling drama in which he created the | bats, return for one week. They promise character of the Count de Mornay. The an entirely new act. This week will be story hinges upon the accusation of the | the last opportunity to see Ezra Kendall father, Jean Renaud, by his infant|in this city, for he returns direct to New daughter of the crime of murdering her | York to join Primrose & West's new mother while on a stolen leave of ab- | Show. Katie Rooney, assisted by John feg-F-F-3-3-3-8-F-F-F-F-F-F-F-F-i-F-F-F-3-F-F-F-F-F-F-F-F-F-F-F-F-1-F-F-F-3-F-2-3-F=F-F-F-F=F=F-F==F=F=-F=F=F=F =32 FRAWLEY 60 GHE RESQUE. HELSON, Dramatic Editor. j=g=g=3=3eF=8x3 308 308 306 306 106 308 308 30F 306 36 0 306 308 30¢ 308 06 0 06 30 30 0E X0F 308 108 306 306 06 308 306 Y06 306 308 30% 308 308 06 JCE 308 0% 208 308 30 X0 306 06 X0 S 6 X O R AR O K Toby Knockitt, a retired pugilist. Mr. Roberts will make up to resemble James J. Corbett. Martha Morton is writing a play for Sol | Smith Russell. Mansfield will produce the French play senco from the army to see his wife and | Harding, will appear in a new act, intro- cl L. It concludes with the meeting of the father and daughter twelve years later, he as the galley slave and she as the adopted daughtér of the Duchess d’Au- beterre, when Renaud’s innocence s es- tablishéd and the real criminal discov- | ered. “The National Defender,” a strong pa- | triotic play depicting scenes and inci- | dents In the present war with Spain, will | follow “A Celebrated Case.” i The Tivoli. *“An American Hero,” with its patriotic songs, stirring music, elaborate costumes and good cast, has made a success at the Tivoli Opera House. Edwin Stevens and Edith Hall are the life of the opera. Frank McGlynn is the pompous Major MacFarlane, Louis Royce's voice is a very good one, and Helen Merrill makes | the prayer to Saint Anne a pretty and an attractive picture. It is one of the best | productions the Tivoll has ever given. | “Ali Baba,” a new burlesque on an old theme, follows. Morosco's - Grand Opera House. “Under the Polar Star,” Clay M. Greene’s spectacular drama of an expe- dition to the north pole, is to be the at- traction at Morosco’'s next week, with George P. Webster the star in the char- acter part of Dr. Rabon, an amusing and volatile French scientist. Silas Rod- man, a Boston millionaire, has fitted out an expedition to discover the north pole. In the far northern latitudes the steamer is seen approaching the icebergs, which | finally crash upon and surround her, where she remains firmly imbedded for | two years, Throughout the two preced- ing acts the romance and Intrigue of the play have been unfolded. Helen Blaine, fearing danger for her betrothed, ships with the expedition, disguised as a col- | ored cabin boy. The third act witnesses the desertion of | the officers by the crew, incited to mutiny | by the villain. A realistic conflagration scene shows the party perishing amid the flames of the hurnln? vessel, which Bran- don has fired. The fourth act is a weird | scenic spectacle. The entire stage is transformed into a sea of floating ice, the party being seen upon the moving floes. Dr. Rabon discovers that they are in 90 degrees of latitude, passing directly over the north pole, and at that point the weak and famished adventurers fling Old Glory's folds to the Arctic breeze. | Crunching, grinding sounds are heard, the floe is rent asunder, and as the party are rapidly dritdng apart, their despair is transformed to joy by the arrival of a rescuing party in a steam launch. The villain, in the face of death, having signed a confession exonerating the hero, the story happily ends, Helen confessing her love for him. The Orpheum. Miss Fanny Wentworth, direct from | London, is one of the new features at the | Orpheum for this week. She is a planist of renown and will appear at the Orphe- | um in an act which she calls “An Up-to- Date at Home,” which is Interspersed | with piano recitals, songs and character | tmpersonations. She is very clever and t comes with the most flattering English press notices. Carlin and Clark are the new comedy features. They are German | | | | | | | | Chilean battle-ship Blanco Encalada, | | which was guarded by every known protection, but was blown to fragments | during the night by the fourth torpedo, three having missed fire. Torpedo boat destroyers, however, are very much more effective than the tor- | pedo boats—which, by the way, the| British Government has for six years ceased to build. For one thing, beinx\ larger than the torpedo boat, the de- | stroyer can attain a higher speed. | Then, again, it carries torpedoes and does all the work of the torpedo boat; and, in addition, being armed with heavy guns, it can overtake and de- | stroy the enemy’s torpedo craft. | Skobeleff understood his men and considered that their courage throve best in an atmosphere of dare-devil galety, which he was always at great pains to create. Men actuated by strong religious principles, when they can be got to fight, generally do it effectually, with little or no fear apparent, but this is in a measure owing to the fact that there is not room in the human mind | for more than one powerful emotion to operate at a time; fear cannot enter because the demon of fighting has the | floor. After all danger is not so much dis- concerting because it may result in pain or death, as because it is big with im- | port and something unusual. Many a | man will display more trepidation on | the day of his wedding than on the first | | occaston he is called upon to face dan- | ger where there is no time for premedi- | | tation. It may be true, as some one | recently observed, that our brave fore- fathers went to battle with stouter | hearts than we take to the dentist, but | they went to battle two or three times | a month and we to the dentist once a | quarter. Hotspur of the North—"he | that kills me some six or seven dozen | of Scots at a breakfast, washes his‘[ hands and says to his wife: ‘Fie upon this quiet life! I want work'"—be- longs to a type and an age In which cowardice was considered not only dis- graceful but eccentric. Johnson frankly admitted that he feared death. and what comes after, though he was a virtuous man and physically courageous. Villon specially | and pathetically dreaded the gallows, | and reasonably, considering his habits; | whereas Gordon Pasha feared | | | the | Mahdi less than he did a dinner party, for which he appears to have had an almost malignant antipathy. —_————————— A gang of thieves organized to prey | upon thieves has been discovered in | Paris. Their plan was to watch for | little barytone, Minnie Berlin. ducing new songs and dances and new | ano de Bergerac” this autumn in l‘mpersom;‘nnns. The Musical Johnstons | New York. have a change of repertoire. Others on | e the bill are the La Mont family, wills| T. Daniel Frawl has secured the and Loretto, with new songs and dances and Alburtis and Bartram, champion club swingers. Matinees Wednesday, Sat- urday and Sunday. The Olympia. The Biograph, with {its thrilling war | scenes, is likely to become a permanent feature at the Olympia Music Hall. Each week new subjects of interest are put on as the owners of the Biograph have their machines for taking the life scenes at every point where United States troops are to be found. The varfety olio con- tains several strong speclalty acts and the bill is replete with songs, dances and novelties. The Olympia Ladies’ Orches- tra is also a feature. Matinee to-day. The Chutes. Henrl Maurice Cannon, the overgrown man from Switzerland, who weighs 613 pounds, has been the sensation at the Chutes since last Sunday. He s as good- natured and full of fun as he is big, and has made friends of his thousands of visitors. He will continue to receive every afternoon and evening for a short season. The bill for the Free Theater next week includes Charles and May Stanley In thelr sketch, ‘‘Mrs. O'Grady’s Washday,” Uno, the Arabian juggler;” Webster, Bo- vino, Oro and_Bell, and the strange The ani- matoscope has some new views of Camp Merritt. A large collection of snakes has Jjust been added to the zoo. The Chutes {s the only place of amuse- | ment in San Francisco where soldiers are admitted free, and as a consequence the Halght-street grounds are crowded with Innltary men every afternoon and even- ng. The Baldwin. The “Passion Play” has been revived at the Baldwin and is being presented every afternoon and evening. The Galifornia. The California will reopen Sunday, June 19, with “The Prodigal Fauuer,” a farce comedy which has been here twice before and was successful both times. aying “Saul” In his first success Stage Gossip. ““Aristocracy” will be the second play produced by the Frawley company at the Columbia. The elder Salvini is pl Rome, in which he made forty years ago. “Trilby” ¢ontinues to be_ hissed wher- ever it is played In Italy. No one under- stands it, neither public nor actors. Clay Clement will give his final protray- al of Baron von Hohenstauffen n “The ‘ew Dominion” at the Columbia Theater to-night. Richard Mansfield has secured from Messrs. Scribner exclusive rights in this country for the dramatization of Steven- son’s “St. Ives.” In the Frawley production of ‘Number Nine” Theodore Roberts will be seen as WAR IS BOOMING rights to some very clever curtain-rais- ers, among them being “A Woman's Won'ts” and “Po’ White Trash.” In Lisbon during Duse's engagement a special newspaper was published in her honor, called La Dus: It contained only articles on herself, written by all the most celebrated authors in Portugal, and a marble tablet was placed in the theater to record the date of her appearance there. Sydney Rosenfeld writes from Vienna to the Dramatic Mirror: *' a this day concluded an agreement with Mark Twain, who is residing in Vienna, where- by he 'and I are to work conjointly on a new comedy. He has to-day given me the rough draft of the play as It has emerged from his foundry. It will prob- ably be with this play that Mr. Sire and I will begin operations together in a busi- ness way.” Jean de Reszke vowed when he left New York that he never would sing purely sentimental parts again, that he was done with “Faust” and “Romeo” for all time, In his recent tour of Russia he produced Wagner operas exclusively, none of which was favored by the Czar’s presence. But when De Reszke's manager waited upon the “Little Father” with an invitation the Czar accepted, choosing for the first opera “,‘Fl?utet” and for the second “Romeo and ulfet.” James Hamilton Howe and Joseph M. Willard, who was concert master of tne Philharmonic orchestra, have begun to organize for next season. The orchestra will include fifty or sixty Instruments. A few preliminary rehearsals will be held during the summer, the regular work be- ginning about August. Classical oyer- tures, easier symphonies, entr'actes, bal- let music, symphonic poems and pro- gramme music will be taken up for re- hearsal and for public rendition. Ovide Musin, violinist and director of the Superior Violin Class at the Royal Conservatory of Music at Licge, Belgtum, will return to this country about the 1st of August to open a violin school, which will be conducted on the same principle as the Liege Conservatory. This school will_be under the persohal direction of Mr. Musin; he will be assisted by several violinists of international reputation, all graduates of the Liege Conservatory. The attempt to abolish the ‘‘claque” at the Vienna Opera-house, says the London Chronicle, has been followed by some lvely times. An Instant result was that each performer provided a band of pri- vate supporters. Not content with ap- plauding their employers, these hirelings thought it necessary to hiss all rival singers, and the auditorlum became al- most as lively a place as the Reichsrath. Accordingly, the administration posted up a notice forbidding any applause what- ever. From a preface to a volume of drawings bK Mme. Yvette Guilbert it appears that she was born January 20, 1868, but this oint is not insisted upon, the writer add- (ng: “This requires investigation. It can- not give Yvette's age. Yvette has no age. She has eternal youth.” Yvettes mother was an embroiderer of great meérit. The daughter was apprenticed to & working dressmaker, but her natural bent for the stage asserted itself and overcame many obstacles. The apprentice dressmaker is now a wealthy woman, with a fine house in Paris and a chateau in the country, and an American husband. CALIFORNIA'S QUICKSILVER MINES | | Since the war was declared the Great Almaden quicksilver mines of Spain have been gradually closing down. The price of the metal has jumped, and the famous San Jose mines, next to the largest in the world, are reaping the full b ERCURY, or quicksilver, to use the more common mercan- tile term, has been rising in price, not rapidly but steadily, since the outbreak of hostili- ties between this country and Spain, and its rise is due directly to the war, although in a curious way. Spain produces more quicksilver than any other country in the world. Un- til three or four years ago thousands of pounds were annually imported from that country into the United States. The next largest quicksilver yielding mines are in California, and have been worked for years, but while the metal could be brought from Spain free of duty the California product was not able to compete largely with the for- eign. Since the Wilson tariff bill of 1894 gut a duty of 7 cents a pound upon quicksilver (a rate unchanged by the enefit. competition among the different mine owners was ruinous, and the business could not be carried on at a profit to | anybody. | Quicksilver, which is unique among | metals in being fluid at ordinary tem- | peratures, is put up and shipped in flasks, containing seventy-six and a | half pounds each. The price is now | 59 cents a pound, or $43 50 a flask, when in quantities of from twenty-five to a | hundred flasks. In larger lots, of over | a hundred flasks, it is $43 a flask. This | is about $3 higher than at the begin- | ning of the war. The respective quantities produced in California and in Spain may be ascer- tained from a comparison of the fol- lowing figures: Last year California produced 26,079 flasks, and in 1896 29,863 | flasks. | Since practically all of the Spanish | quicksilver ~oes to London, the figures | of the imports there may be taken as | about the same as the output of the | Spanish mines. In the year which end- Dingley tariff) practically all importa- | e on October 31, 1897, there had been tion has ceased, and consumers have | sent to London from Spain 46,577 flasks, bought the California mercury. Hence | and in the corresponding period of 1896, the apparent strangeness of the fact that, although we import no quicksilver from Spain, but produce our own, nevertheless the war has sent up the price of the article here just as it has in. Europe. The fact is that the American prices are ruled entirely by foreign prices, and | are kept at flgures just below the cost®touched ore in their depths. of importation. The great Spanish quicksilver mines at Almaden are con- trolled by the Rothschilds, who are said to have taken them some time ago as security for the Spanish bonds which they hold. Since the beginning of the war they have raised the prices, be- cause of the riots in Spain and the gen- erally unsettled conditions among the laboring classes. Now, the California mines are also controlled by one firm, the California Quicksilver Agency—it does not like to be called a “syndicate!” Immediately {on an advance in foreign prices this California agency, ruling the American shoplifters in the department stores | product, raises its figures, correspond- like the Louvre and the Bon Marche, to | follow them home, and then enter un- der pretense of being police inspectors | to search the apartments for stolen | goods, which they carry off, with no up about four years ago of the famous fear of complaint being made. ingly, and consumers have no choice but to submit. Tt is stated by competent authorities that one central control of the Cali- fornia mines was made necessary by the fact that under the old regime the 40,999 flasks. It will thus be seen that the Spanish | mines produce much more abundantly | than those in California. They are ap- parently inexhaustible, for they are supposed to have . been first worked over two thousanfi five hundred years | ago, and still reveal rich masses of un- ' They are situated near the town of Almaden or Almaden del Azogue (the mines of quicksilver), in the south central part of Svain, fif*--five miles southwest of the city of Cludad Real, and about one hundred and fifty miles northeast of Cadiz. According to Pliny, they were worked in 700 B. C., and" ‘n his time sent an- nuallv 10,000 pounds of cinnabar (the ore of mercury) to Rome. The mines have now been excavated to a depth of nearly a thousand feet below the surface. and the richness of the ore in- creases with each lower level. The ten successive floors or levels upon which the mines are worked are nearly a hundred feet apart. Masonry and pillars of the ore itself are used as supports for the roofs of the levels, L R Forty per cent of the heat of an or- dinary fire goes up the chimney. AMUSEMENTS. ALCAZARLTHEATER TO-NT —LA;T TIME OF THE MASTER OF CEREMONIES! TO-MORROW NIGHT, MRr.LEWIS NLORRISON In His Original Creation, COUNT DE MORNAY. A CELEBRATED CASE Presented With Speclal Scenery, Costly Cos- t tumes and the Best Ever Given * his Pamous Play. [5¢. 25¢. 35¢, Sc SEATS BY 'PHONE. MAIN 25 JRIGINAL PRIOES— AMUSEMENTS. MOROSCO'S GRAND OPERA-HOUSE Walter Morosco, Sole Lessee and Manager. Evening Prices—10c, 25¢ and 50c. MATINEES SATURDAY AND SUNDAT. Last Two Performances of “THE COTTON KING.” COMMENCING MONDAY, JUNE 13, Fourth Week of ."." GEORGE P. WEBSTER."." In the Gorgeous Arctic Drama, “Under the Polar Star.” By CLAY M. GREENE, ESQ. The Latest Great New York Success. Afloat on a Sea of Ice. Burning of “‘The Polar Star.” 0ld_Glory at the North Pol Crushed by Towering Icebergs. BALDWIN THEATER. REVIVAL—Exactly as given at Oberam- mergau, the novelty of the age, ““THE PAS- SION PLAY.” Every afternoon at 3 and night at 8:30, Sunday included. Seats 26e. d OLYMPIA | g,z o = Great New Bill. THE BIOGRAPH, New W‘:r Sr;nel; the GREAT DE BOE, LA ROY SISTERS, ENYVELL, MAUDE ROCKWELL, LA MONT, WILLIAMS, GAMBOL. Great Show. Admission Free. AMUSEMENTS. ...COLUMBIA... THEATER. Introductory to San Francisco Theater-Goers— The NEW Members Selected for Individual Merits and Creating an Ensemble. .. ..« ... ' AMUSEMENTS. TO-NIGHT-LAST TIME, CLAY CLEMENT in The New Dominion” Beginning MONDAY NIGHT, JUNE 18, FRAWLE COMPANY An Organisation Promising Many Delightful Porformances, UNEQUALED IN THIS COUNTRY, FIRST WEEK—MATINEE SATURDAY, AUGUSTIN DALY’S LATEST COMEDY SUCCESS, “NUMBER NINE!" Or “THE LADY OF OSTEND.” From the German of Blumenthal & Kadelburg, authors of ‘‘The Two Escutcheons,” “‘An International Match.” *'The Great Unknown,” Etc. JUNE 20.. BRONSON HOWARD’S “ARISTOCRACY.” AMUSEMENTS. MATINEE TO-DAY (SUNDAY), JUNE 12. Parquet, Any Seat, 25c; Balcony, 10c; Chil- dren, 10c, Any Part. ‘Week Commencing Monday, June 13—FANNY WENTWORTH, London Soclety Entertainer; CARLIN & CLARK, German Comedians; LA VANS, Acrobatic Comedy; EZRA KENDALL, KATIE ROONEY, WILLS & LORETTO, AL- BURTUS & BARTRUM, MUSICAL JOHN- SONS. Retained by Popular Demand—AL LEACH and the THREE ROSEBUDS. GRAND EXCURSION TO LOS GATOS JUNE 17, 1898, Bunker Hill Associstion, Sons of Vermont, ~Sons of Amerioan Revolution and Oalifornia Pioneers. Oration by HON. SAMUEL M, SHORTRIDGE. BAND OF Trains leave Third 'ol.nd Townsend streets at 8: :30 . m. TICKETS ROUND TRIP. Children %)e Tou.be had at the Emporfum and at th depot on the morning of the cele- ‘bration. awarded AN.USEMENTS. TIVOLI OPERA-HOUSE. Mrs.Ernestine Kreling, Proprietor and Manager. THIS EVENING, —1776--1898— THE PATRIOTIC OPERATIC SPECTACLE, N AMERICAN HERO! A Perfect Production in Every Detail. LOOK OUT FOR “ALI BABA!" A New Burlesque on an Old Subject. Popular Prices ...% and B0o No Telephons. SUTRO_ BATHS. SUNDAY, June 12th, at 2:30 p. m. SWIMMING RACES Between the BOYS IN BLUE! For Valuable Prizes. Kansas, North Dakota, South Dakota, Mon- tana ln‘(:m'l.‘& Bli‘:l.l Corps e g ADMISSION, 10c.. pA..CmLDR.EN. So. BASEBALL—RECREATION PARK, Eighth and Harrison Streets. PACIFIC COAST BASEBALL LEAGUE. ‘hampionship Pacific Coast. TODAY AT 215 P, M. BANTA CRUZ VS. OAKI ‘Admission 2%5c. Ladies Free LAND. AMUSEMENTS. HENRI MAURICE CANNON, THE GREATEST GUN ON EARTH, IS AT THE CHUTES EVERY AFTERNOON AND EVENING. WONDERFUL ANIMALS IN THE Z0Ot MIRTH AND FUN ALL OVER THE GROUNDS! Great Show in the Free Theater. See the “DEPARTURE OF THE PEKING." 10c, Including Zoo and Theater. Children, bo; Sundays and Holidays, 10c. SOLLAERS FREE. EL CAMPO, THE POPULAR BAY RESORT. Now onen every Sunday during the season. Boating, shis Music Dancing, Bowling, ng and other amusements. Refreshments at city prices. Fare, round trip, 6 ldren, 15¢c; including admission to ground: Will leave Tiburon @erry at 10:30 a. m., “:‘:i 2 and 4 p. m. Returning, leave El Campo 1:5a m., 1, 3and § Weekly Call $1.50 per Tear