Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 19, Number 32, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 December 1897 — ACTOR TERRISS SLAIN. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

ACTOR TERRISS SLAIN.

Stabbed to Death in London by * Super Named Archer. WiUiam Terries, the well-known actor, was assassinated Thursday night as he was about to enter the stage door of the Adelphi Theater in London. He had just left his cab and was walking across the pavement when a man rushed upon him with a knife and stabbed him immediately below the heart. Mr. Terriss was carried into the theater and doctors were summoned from the Charing Cross Hospital, but he died with-

in fifteen minutes. The murderer was seized by some of tire bystanders and given into the custody of the police. He gave his name as Archer, and is supposed to have been a super at the Adelphi Theater several years ago. No motive for the murder was ascertained. Mr. Terriss had been playing a leading part in the English version of William Gillette’s American drama, “Secret Service.” He reached the theater at his customary hour, driving there alone from his lodgings. He stepped from the cab to the pavement near the stage entrance and was making his way through the usual crowd that throngs the spot at the time, when a man darted toward him from behind. He concealed a long dagger beneath a cloak that covered his shoulders, and was thus enabled to hide his purpose from the bystanders. It was only when Mr. Terriss fell that the crowd realized that a crime had been committed. “My God! He’s stabbed me!” Terriss shouted as he fell. “Don’t let him escape!” Mr. Terriss was carried into the theater and up the stage stairway as far as the first landing, where he was laid on the floor. He died surrounded by the members of the company and the theater staff. A large audience had already assembled in the theater, to whom the manager announced from the footlights that Mr. Terriss had met with an accident that prevented giving a performance. As the audience dispersed the newsboys were crying special editions of the evening papers, and the fact that Mr. Terriss had been murdered became quickly known. It caused a remarkable scene along the Strand, expressions of horror and indignation being heard on every side.

WM. TERRISS.