Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 August 1876 — Death on the Stage. [ARTICLE]

Death on the Stage.

Now that the simulation of death on the stage is a matter of every-day conversation, it may not be out of place to glance at a few of the many cases where death, or at least its sudden approach, has occurred on the stage, often from excess of feeling, or the excitement in the realization of character. Peg Woffington, acting Rosalind (May 8,1757), became paralyzed on uttering the words in the epilogne: “I’d kiss as many of yon as had beards that pleased me.”

More famous was the case of John Palmer, the actor. He had a wife and eight children, to whom he was much attached ; but within a short period of time Mrs. Palmer and a favorite soa both died, and the shock greatly affected the unfortunate widower’s nervous system. On Aug. 2,1778, he was playing* the principal role in Benjamin Thompson’s translation of Kotzbue’s play, “The Stranger,” at Liverpool, and in the fourth act he had answered, “I love her still,” to the query of Baron Steinfort (Whitfield) respecting his wife; and then, to the question as to his children, he gave the reply, “I left them at a small town hard by;” but the words, falteringly uttered, had scarcely his lips when he fell dead at Whitfield’s feet. We read in Doran’s “Their Majesty’s Servants” that to support the theory of some pious persons the story was invented that Palmer was stricken after uttering the quotation, “There is another and a better world!’' Palmer, the original Joseph Surface, was a great actor in his day. A tablet, inscribed with his last reputed words, has been erected to his memory in the churchyard of Walton, near Liverpool. Another remarkable case of the same kind is that of Moliere. He was acting the sick man in “ The Malade Imaginaire,” and on the fourth night of the run he appeared weak and ill. When he came to the place where he was supposed to fall dead on the stage, he acted the part so naturally that even the audience became alarmed. He was at once carried to his house in the Rue Richelieu, and before his friends could be summoned he expired in the arms of two strange priests who were lodging on the floor above and who were hastily called in. A striking case in point was that of Moody, the actor. He was performing Claudio in “ Measure for Measure.” When Isabella commanded him to prepare for execution, and he began to answer: “ Ah! but to die and go we know not where!” he fainted, and shortly afterward died before he could be carried from the stage. Samuel Foote was seized with paralysis, in 1777, while acting in his comedy, “The Devil Upon Two Sticks.” He rallied, spent the summer at Brighton, and was ordered by his physicians to France. But at Dover he was seized with a shivering fit while at breakfast, and breathed his last in the course of the afternoon, Oct. 21, 1777. Edmund Kean, too, maybe said to have died in armor. He appeared for the last time as Otlullo, and, in the passage beginning: “O, now, forever, farewell, the tranquil mind! Farewell, content!” his articulation gradually died away, and he whispered to his son: “Speak to them, Charles, I am dying.” A more recent instance may be mentioned in the case of Harley, whose last .words marked his identity with the old Shakespearian drolls. Though not actually dying on the stage, he was conveyed from the theater in a state of insensibility, after playing Launcdot Gobbo, when he quoted Bottom's words: “ 1 have an exposition of sleep come over me,.” and from that moment remained speechless to the end Poor Clara Webster was fatally burned on the stage Of Drury Lane Theater during thebajlet; while old play-goers may remember that Mrs. Glover was speechless on the occasion of her farewell ben-

Morte, when he suddenly fell down dead. Miss Maria Linley expired at Baib in September, 1874, white singing “I know that my Redeemer llveth.” Cummins fell dead upon the stage Jane 20, 1817, while performing the part of Dumont (Shore) in Rowe’s tragedy 44 Jane Shore,” Just as he had uttered the benedictory words at the close of the piece : Be witness for me, ye celestial hosts, Stich mercy and *ocb pardon as my »onl Accord* to thee, and beg* of bee von to ahow thee, hay such befell me at my latest boar. Mr. James Bland, well known for his clever assumption of the monarch* in Mr. Blanche's extravaganzas, expired at the stage door of the Strand Theater immediately after entering for the purpose of discharging his professional duties; whilst Mr. Barrete, a recent talented actor of old men’s parts, died in a cab that was conveying him home, he having played in ..a farce, and being afterward dressed for Polonies. Poor Janies Rogers may almost be said to have died on the stage in-1863. He continued to exert his mirth-creating powers to the very last, and when his powers were absolutely exhausted. On the evening before his death he had straggled through the part of Ejfie Deane, in a travestie at the St. James Theater, and on his return he was so completely exhausted that he was unable to make any further effort, and rested in an arm-chair throughout the night without taking his clothes off. The next morning, fancying he had recovered a little, he took his violin and played over a song he was going to introduce into the burlesque; but as the day advanced he became so weak, and breathed with such difficulty, that he felt compelled to send a message to the theater stating that he should be unable to play. Clasping his wife’s hands, and turning to a friend, he said, with a feeble effort to cheer them with a smile, and in his peculiarly characteristic manner, “The little rafHelsover,” and soon after expired. The last words suggested to Mr. E. L. Blanchard the following lines: “The** were the last words flowing Forth from the actor’* breath. The Jester who to d life’* story In the ear of the listener—Death. * , “The Raffle of Life soon over. And though others a chance renew, The blooks still go to the many, The prizes falx to the few. “Raffle the dloel Who’s highest? Come take yonr turn for a throw; Perchance yon may tmn np the highest, Perchance yon may get bat the low. “We throw, bnt ill-fortune may baffle The hand and the hope and the ere; With a chance for ns all in the Raffle, The only thing sere la the die.” Similar cases ore not at all uncommon. Hughes died oh hearing of the success of his play, “The Siege of Damascusand more than one Roman tragedian is reported to have died on the Btage.— Exchange.