People's Pilot, Volume 2, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 June 1893 — DEATH OF EDWIN BOOTH. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

DEATH OF EDWIN BOOTH.

The Famous Tragedian Breathes His Last in New York City—Sketch of His Remarkable Career. NEW YORK, June 7.—Edwin Booth, the tragedian, died at the Players' club at 1:15 a. m. The end was peaceful in the extreme. The wonderful vitality which so long had sustained the flame of light gave way and the light had flickered out almost imperceptibly. The end had come almost before those that were watching knew it. It was just 1:17 o’clock this morning when Dr. St. Clair Smith appeared at

the center window of the suite and waved his handkerchief, a signal which all in the street instantly understood. Dr. Smith then hurried downstairs. He said: “There is nothing to say in description of Mr. Booth's death. It was like the passing of a shadow. His vitality had been surprising and I was astonished that death had not come before." Edwin Booth was born in Bel Air, near Baltimore, Md., and was tho son of Junius Brutus Booth the elder, an English actor, who obtained his reputation, however, mainly in the United States He was named Edwin Thomas, out of compliment to his father's friends, Edwin Forrest and Thomas Flynn, both great actors. The boy Edwin had but few opportunities for education, but he took the best possible advantage of these, with the result that he gained for himself an excellent education while still a lad. Although the elder Booth at first objected to his son’s going on the stage, he did finally consent, and the young man's first appearance in any part occurred in 1849 at the Boston museum, when he appeared as Tressel in “Richard III.” He made a success in this small part, and from that time forward no question was raised as to his continuing on the stage. His capacity, indeed, so demonstrated itself that he was presently playing Cassio in “Othello" and Wilford in “The Iron Chest,” his performance of the latter character being highly commended. During two years Edwin continued to play with his father in different cities, making his first appearance in New York, September 27, 1850, at the National theater, Chatham street, in the character of Wilford. The following year he took the most important step in his dramatic career up to that period by playing “Richard III.” at the same theater, in place of his father, who had been taken suddenly ill. This performance gave him at once the reputation of being an actor of unusual promise. At that time the elder brother of Edwin, J. B. Booth, was manager of a theater in San Francisco, Cal., and the two went thither and played with him in the popular pieces of the day. In the latter part of 1852 the elder Booth died while on his way from New Orleans to Cincinnati. Edwin was now left to rely upon his own intellectual resources, and he continued to travel through the state of California playing, amid a great deal of poverty and many hardships, whenever opportunity offered. Even at this early period of his life he had already added to his repertoire the characters ol Shylock, Macbeth, Hamlet, and his great part of Sir Edwin Mortimer in “The Iron Chest." In 1854 he played in a company with Miss Laura Keene in Australia, but returned to the United States the following year and originated in San Francisco the character of Raphael in “The Marble Heart.” He also at this time made his first appearance in Richelieu, which afterward became one of his most noted characters. By this time the name and fame of Edwin Booth had traveled to the Atlantic cities of the United States, and there was experienced everywhere, between San Francisco and New York, the greatest possible desire to witness the powerful impersonations of America's new and obviously great tragedian. Accordingly, in 1857 Mr. Booth went to Baltimore and played at the Front Street theater, playing afterward through the principal southern cities with the greatest success. In April of that year he played in Boston Sir Giles Overreach in “A New Way to Pay Old Debts,” and created a furor. In the following month he appeared at Burton’s Metropolitan theater, New York, where he aroused the greatest enthusiasm, and within another year he had achieved, by sheer power, intelligence and art, the highest position on the American stage—a position which he never after lost, so long as he regularly followed his profession. During his professional career Mr. Booth appeared a number of times in London, where he played with Henry Irving, and also in Germany, where he was highly praised by Emperor William I. For a number of years Mr. Booth made starring excursions throughout the United States, in partnership with the late Lawrence Barrett, until the latter’s death, early in 1891. Since that time Mr. Booth appeared infrequently, having led a retired life.

Illustration of Edwin Booth.

EDWIN BOOTH.