Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 May 1895 — Moynihan Was “Scairt.” [ARTICLE]

Moynihan Was “Scairt.”

“One of the funniest things I ever saw in a theater,” said Frank Lane, the actor, “happened In a town not far from Chicago. Our . company was snowbound and had lost two or three dates, so we filled in one night at this town. The theater was really a big town hall with no gallery, but having a lot of raised seats at the rear. When it came tlmq to begin the show there were only five or six persons in the main body of the hall, but the cheap seats at the rear were crowded:' Our manager thought it would be better to have the audience within hearing distance of the stage, so he told the ushers to notify the people in the back seats that as soon as the curtain went up they could go forward and occupy any of the front seats not already taken; Well, the curtain went up and Frank Moynihan, who lives in Chicago, was discovered on the stage. He was playing an Irish servant. . His lines were, ‘Here it is, a half hour past the time and master not yet returned,’ or something likethat He had spoken about four words w\en the whole mob

in the rear of the house arose as on* man and rushed wildly toward him, climbing over chain, knocking each other down in their haste and howling like Indians. Moynihan dropped his feather duster, gave one yell of trror and ran from the stage. He thought they were going to kill him, sure. "it was several minutes before he recovered sufficiently to go back and take up his part.”