Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 November 1898 — SPEAKS HIS LAST LINES. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

SPEAKS HIS LAST LINES.

Jefferson’s Retirement from the Stage Retarded as Permanent. Joseph Jefferson’s announcement of his temporary retirement from the stage, which was made public in New York, is taken by most of the theatrical people to mean that he has been seen behind the footlights for the last time. Mr. Jefferson retires with a fortune that is conservatively placed at $2,00Q,000, and he has the satisfaction of knowing that not only has he scored famous artistic

successes, but that his business career has been the most successful in the history of the stage. “Rip Van Winkle,” which he played first in 1869, alone made a fortune for him. Altogether he played "Rip Van Winkle” five thousand times, at gross receipts averaging SI,OOO a performance. During the seventeenth season that it was played in Chicago it drew $15,000 in a week. “The Rivals” was another great moneymaker, and “The Cricket on the Hearth,” “The Heir at Law” and “Lend Me Five Shillings,” all yielded a considerable part of his fortune.

JOE JEFFERSON.