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BEHIND THE
FOOTLIGHTS.
i
George L. Fox and the Voices
Family.
POPULAR NATIONAL PUNMAKEES.
A Remarkable Occurrence at Bootli*s The
ater —The Grotesque Singing ami Danc
ing Vokewes —The Genius of Fred Yokes.
Wonderful Achievements.
. [Special Correspondence.]
New York, March 23. —1s there any
body in the United States who has not
laughed at the grotesque antics and ir
resistibly funny facial contortions of
George L. Fox, whose fame will always
live as Humpty Dumpty in connection
with that of his brother, the almost
equally celebrated Pantaloon of his pro
duction?
In the strictest sense of the word Fox
was not really a great pantomimist.
Like the lady of whom we have all read
or heard, his face was his fortune. He
had greater control over the muscles of
his face than any man or woman I have
ever met. He could screw his counte
nance up into the most ridiculous gri
maces, and whenever a performance
seemed to be lagging, by reason of either
a small or rather cold audience, he would
at once begin to “mug,” and it was
pretty safe to assume that there would
bo no apathy after that..
The Pantomime Fever.
It may not bo known that George did
some really clever work as an actor, and
afterward as a clown, before he took to
pantomime, but it is the case neverthe
less. He was one of the cast in the orig
inal production of “ Uncle Tom’s Cabin”
at Purdy’s National theater on the
Bowery, in this city, playing Simon
Legare. He made no very great impres
siou, however, and he was about the
last man in the world that I should have
picked out to win national repute. He
drifted around the country, playing all
sorts of roles, and then came back to
New York, where he in turn managed
the Old and New Bow r ery theaters. He
also acted at this time, which was in
the sixties, and he soon became a great
favorite with the gallery gods and the
boys who used to “run wid de machine. ”
His popularity W'axed apace, and ho was
getting speedily to bo “a man of sub
stance,” as we used to say.
Fox got the pantomime fever at about
this time, and his friends’ efforts to dis
suade him from embarking upon a ven
ture which they felt sure would result
disastrously wero really ludicrous in the
THE VOICES FAMILY IN IST*.
light of after events. George soon gave
them a further shook by announcing
that not only was he going into panto
mime, hut that ho was going over to
Broadway. Then they knew that he was
doomed to become a pauper in short or
der. They cited the case of the Ravels
and argued that his efforts would appear
so tame by comparison that ridicule and
disaster were inevitable.
George was obdurate, however, and
he opened at the Olympic as Humpty
Dumpty. He scored an instantaneous
success, and within a week his produc
tion and performance were the talk of
the town. Seats were at a premium, and
at the matinees strings of men and wom
en, accompanied by children, could al
ways be seen crowded about within a
block or two of the theater. The piece
beat by four performances the run of its
rival, “Theßlack Crook,” though it, of
course, did not equal the latter in the
matter of monetary returns. Following
this phenomenal success, Fox made sev
eral tours of this country and always
was one of the most potent attractions
on the road.
A Pathetic End.
Fox’s retirement was pathetic in the
extreme. He was a man of exceptionally
quick perception, and his infirmity
therefore excited more than the usual
sympathy. As things turned out and
looking backward 1 can see now that
the seeds of insanity must have begun
to sprout just prior to his last engage
ment at Booth’s theater. Actions which
were then inexplicable became perfectly
clear in the light of subsequent events.
On the stage at Booth’s one night while
playing Humpty Dumpty George mys
tified us all hy his strange conduct and
finally chased Maffitt, Fraser and others
of the performers all over the place. A
little later he jumped into a private box
and began to bang away with a property
loaf of bread at a lady who was sitting
there. Hi r terror almost precipitated a
panic.
All of a sudden George returned to
the stage, the blank look' left him, and
he seemed to realize that he had been
doing something wrong. He set to work
to. right nutters by making a few ab
surd grimaces, and so marvelous was
the power of the man in that respect
that within a few seconds he had the
audience convulsed with laughter by
means of something which.was really
not in the play at all.
I remember on another occasion find
ing George made up to go on the stage
with one side of his face white and the
other coal black. We were genuinely
frightened then, as he seemed to think
there was nothing wrong or peculiar
about his make up, and his manager,
George Tyler, went out into the audi
ence and brought Dr. Hammond back
upon the stage. He introduced him as
Mr. Smith. Fox informed the doctor
that he was the great Grimaldi, and
that he was not a fool, but that he was
the only real clown alive. The doctor,
after testing him thoroughly, pronounc
ed the trouble softening of the brain,
and so, after playing five weeks instead
of nine at Booth’s theater, George Fox
was taken to a private sanitarium near
Boston, where he died soon afterward.
Fox’s last appearance on the stage
took place Nov. 27, 1875, and when his
death occurred, not long after, I remem
ber that the newspapers teemed with
statements to the effect that the insani
ty of so many pantomimists was due to
the white preparation which they use
for whitening their faces! As the or
dinary circus clown does the same
thing, I cannot see why the reasoning
should not apply also to him. I know,
however, that the stuff which Fox used
to make up his face was not in the
slightest degree dangerous. He had a
recipe of his own, as, in fact, does every
clown in the business, and he would
have been the first to ridicule the idea
that it was in any way harmful to him.
I knew what its ingredients were, and
it was about as innocent a mixture as
could well be imagined.
The Voltes Family.
The most remarkable family that the
American stage has ever known was the
Vokes aggregation. There were five of
them, or, to be more accurate, four, for
Fawdon was not a Vokes, simply tak
ing the name when he became a mem
ber of the troop. There has been a good
deal of discussion as to who was the
most talented member of the famous
quintet. Most persons seem to incline
to the belief that it was Rosina, but
without Vishing to make any invidious
comparisons I do not hesitate to say
that it was the peculiar Fred who made
their phenomenal success a possibility.
Perhaps from a strictly histrionic stand
point Rosina was the greatest of the
lot. At any rate, Americans are apt to
so regard her because of the fact that
she made several tours of this country
as a star and without the assistance of
uny of the others of her family.
Fred, Victoria, Jessie, Rosina and
Fawdon each had his or her own little
circle of admirers who thought that
their favorite was the life of the aggre
gation; but, in my opinion, neither was
any better than ai.y other. They were
like a well built piece of machinery,
whore the smallest part was as essential
to the proper working of the whole as
the largest.
The Voltes family had already estab
lished themselves as prime favorites in
London when they came to this coun
try in 1869. They made a great success
from the start. The novelty of the en
tertainment which they gave was what
caught the Now York public. Think of
the same people being pre-eminent in
singing, dancing, acting and many
forms of grotesquerie! Their plays were
all good, too, and it has often been a
source of wonder to me how they ever
managed to get together so many pieces
without striking one or two bad ones.
Tle Versatile Fred Yokes.
Fred was a queer sort of genius. He
was the stage manager for the family,
and a mighty strict one he was too.
The only person to whom he was in the
least lenient was—Fred. He ordered
the talented members of the family
about at rehearsals as though they were
under salary to him. He was spare in
frame and of exceedingly nervous tem
per;.. >;:t. Ilis curly lo< !.s and peculiar
ex; . .-ion gave him a rather pictur
esu'.i. appearance, lie seemed to be
br.i'i (ii wires, so fidgety was lie. Ho
was ti e most awful ’T.ieker” I have
ever met, though he was at heart a
mighty good fellow. But nothing ever
seemed to please him, no matter who
might have done it. He objected to ev
erything and everybody on principle.
He used to excuse this apparent petu
lance with the statement that if he sim
ply made a suggestion now and again
the work of the people would speedily
degenerate into mediocrity.
It is not necessary to elaborate the
achievements of this wonderful family.
They are familiar to almost every one.
All of them are defld, I think, except
perhaps Victoria and possibly Fawdon,
who, as I have already stated, was not
a Vokes at all, although well worthy of
being one. L. John Vincent.
THE TIMES: BRUNSWICK, GA, MARCH 23, 1833.
USEI) TO STICK TYPE.
THE NEW FIRST ASSISTANT POST
MASTER GENERAL.
No Frill* on Perry Heath—Mon Who Hare
Filled the Position of Secretary to the
President —The Salary and the Require
ments.
[Special Correspondence.]
Washington, March 23.— 1 wrote you
something about Perry Heath at the end
of the campaign, when he passed through
Washington on his way to Mexico for a
well earned rest. At that time it was
understood in semiofficial places that he
could be private secretary to the new
president if he wanted the place. But
Mr. Heath did not want to be private
secretary even to a president. Iu fact,
he was very doubtful about taking any
office, preferring to return to newspaper
life. When he saw the president elect a
few weeks later, he had in his mind a
foreign appointment, but the president
and Mr. Hanna wanted him to stay in
this country. Major McKinley offered
him the place of first assistant postmas
ter general then, hut the announcement
was not made until Mr. Gary had been
consulted.
Mr. Heath is a native of Indiana, and
he is proud of being a Hoosier. When
he was 13 years old, Mr. Heath left
school to enter a printing office. One of
his contemporaries in those days was
James Whitcomb Riley. From Indian
apolis Mr. Heath came to Washington
and handled copy in the office of The
Evening Critic.
Mr. Heath graduated from The Critic
office into the United Press bureau.
From that position he rose to he Wash
ington correspondent of various influ
ential papers.
There never was a more faithful, con
scientious. earnest worker. He was at
his office at 9 every morning, and ho
staid until 11 or 12 at night. He was
good natured to the point of distraction,
and he did more kindnesses to the mem
bers from Indiana than they ever had a
chance to do for him. His office was al
ways Indiana headquarters, and not on
ly the members from his state, but ev
ery Indiana officeholder, made a habit
of “dropping in on Perry Heath” two
or three times a week.
About six years ago he married Miss
Conway of Louisville. Three years later
he and his brothers organized a syndi
cate which bought a controlling inter
est in The Commercial Gazette, Cincin
nati, and Mr. Heath became the man
ager of the paper. He found hard sled
ding in his new venture. Competition
was keen, advertising bad. He saw a
chance to sell out at a profit a year ago,
and he sold.
When Mr. Heath left Cincinnati, he
told me that he intended to work for
Major McKinley’s election. “McKinley
is going to be nominated, ”he said. “If
he is elected, we will have prosperity,
and my business investments will bene
fit. ” He called on Mr. Hanna, made
arrangements to undertake certain mis
sionary work and was in St. Louis two
weeks before the Republican conven
tion met. After the convention he took
charge of the literary bureau of the Re
publican committee at Chicago and su
perintended the expenditure of $750,000
in the distribution of .campaign docu
ments. When the election was over, he
went to Mexico and California on the
first pleasure trip he had taken in five
years.
Mr. Heath i3 tall, slender, with high
cheek bones, a thin mustache which has
a tendency to stand out straight and a
thin coat of hair on his scalp. He has a
kindly smile and a soft voice. He has a
very wide acquaintance among public
men. They all call him “Perry,” and
they are all his friends. There will be
no sanctity about the office of first as
sistant postmaster general in this ad
ministration. If you want to see the
first assistant, walk into his office and
take a chair. There are no frills on Per
ry Heath.
The newspaper correspondents were
disappointed.when Heath was not made
private secretary. Few of them knew
Secretary Porter, and all of them knew
Heath. They felt assured that with
Heath in the White House the doors
would not be barred against them as
they have been for four years. I don’t
mean that they were physically shut
out, but news gathering at the White
House was made so difficult and disa
greeable under the self sufficient Thur
ber that not one tenth of the newspaper
correspondents went to the White House
regularly for news.
It is a curious fact that in selecting a
private secretary (he is called “secretary
to the president” now) almost all the
presidents have gone outside the long
list of men who have had a Washington
experience and who were otherwise eli
gible for the place. Colonel Lamout,
before he came here, had experience
only as a legislative cotrespondent at
Albany and as private secretary to the
governor of New York. Halford was an
Englishman who had been managing
editor of John C. New’s paper, the In
dianapolis Journal, and who wanted
to be minister to Denmark when Harri
son was made president. John C. New
asked for the fat position of consul gen
eral at Loudon, however, so Halford
had to abandon his ambition to go
abroad, and as President Elect Harrison
saw a way to make him useful in Wash
ington he was appointed private secre
tary.
Thurber was a Wisconsin lawyer of
limited practice and no public expe
rience, and his one qualification for
service when Don Dickinson suggested
him was his adoration for Grover Cleve
land. The president elect accepted him
on the certificate of his admiration and
respect, and Mr. Thurber has lived up
to the character Mr. Dickinson gave
him. His power, however, has been
used to annoy where Halford and La
lnont pleased.
George Grantham Bain.
THE COMING STYLES.
model Designs li* Skirts and Wuicts—Ntw
Accessories.
[Special Correspondence.]
New York, March 23. Though
skirts are more often trimmed than
plain for this coming season, the waists
are about as fancifully decorated as be
fore, and some of the new ones are ex-
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ceedingly handsome. No matter what
the skirt trimming may be, it is, after
all, the bodice that gives it its chief
beauty and fixes the position of the
gown, as a plain or fine one, suitable
for more dressy needs. The gathered or
French waist for many years lias been
made only on simple gowns for morn
ing wear, but now some of the richest
toilets of the season show gathered
waists. The blouse is, in a modified
form, seen on many fine dresses, and
the surplice waist is also among the
now spring bodices, though neither of
them is new, nor, for that matter, is the
French waist either, but they are all
pretty. For young ladies who can still
wear their dresses open in the back a
very pretry design is offered in a waist
where there is a rounded yoke, which is
covered with “all over” lace or em
broidery, according to the material of
which the gown is made. Around the
edge of this yoke is sewed a narrow lace
insertion of such a pattern that rows cf
very narrow black velvet ribbon can be
run in. The design is suitable for pop
lin, taffeta, gingham cr any of the new
summer goods. The rest cf the waist is
gathered to the yoke and again to the
belt. It does not hang over like a blouse
nor draw tight like the regulation
French waist, but preserves a happy
medium. The sleeves are snug and
straight, being scalloped at the bottom
with a row cf the insertion and a lace
frill as a fini-h, while at the top is a
heartbroken little puff, bewailing the
departed fullness iu every dejected line.
The skirt may be cut iu gores if siik,
wool or poplin, or it may be cut straight
and gathered where it is of any of the
thin cotton or linen stuffs. A velvet
ribbon belt with a fancy bow is always
a pretty and a suitable adjunct to this
waist, no matter what the material.
For one of the dainty new sprigged
challies I saw a novel waist. The fig
ures on the chaliie represented pussy
willow twigs in the natural greenish
gray on a silvery white ground. At the
bottom of the skirt there was a full ac
cordion plaiting of plain olive green
china silk. There were draped culls and
double sleeve caps of the same. The
bodice consisted of a French shaped
basque, plaited closely and held in by a
pearl gray ribbon. At the square neck,
down the front and around tko caps
were plaited ruffles of the same silk.
It is just now that the little hearts of
the little maidens are anxiously flutter
ing, and I fear me that their minds are
diverted from the study of their cate
chism by the sinful wonderincs of what
their dresses are to be for their first
communion and whether they ought to
wear wreaths or caps with their veils.
I came across two outfits today, and,
with some trifling changes for different
tastes or circumstances, one or the other
of these ought to satisfy almost any one.
One was made of white cashmere, the
skirt severely plain. The waist was in
the popular French style, with rows of
lace half an inch wide set at equal dis
tances all down the waist. The sleeves
were close, save at the top, where there
were two puffs. The high stock was of
white satin, with a narrow ruffle of
lace. There was a sash of white satin
ribbon 10 inches wide, fringed deeply
at the bottom. A little satin chatelaine
bag hung on narrow white ribbons at
the left side. The veil was of tulle, uu
liemmed and held in place by a wreath
of white roses put on outside the veil.
White kid slippers with bows of ribbon
completed this pretty communion dress.
The other was of white dimity, the
skirt gathered, deeply hemmed and
tucked. The full waist was shirred to fit
around the neck. The sleeves were tight
and had gathered caps, and there was a
ruffle at the wrists and neck of soft
LJm'WVIi
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mull. The pointed girdle was of white
ribbed silk. The veil was of fine white
net hemmed two inches wide all around.
There was a close little mull cap with
ruchiug of silk muslin, and this tied
under the chin. The veil was tacked to
the cap. White hid button boots Went
with this. Any of the v> hite materials
is suitable for these little dresses. Com
mon sense suggests that the gowns
should he such that they can be worn
all summer ly fbe addition of other rib
bons and trimming. Good taste sug
gests that too expensive dresses for such
au occasion would savor of vulgarity.
Olive Harper.
EIGHT AT OUE DOOES.
JOHN BULL STRONGLY INTRENCHED
ALL ABOUT US.
At the Bermudas Every Hill Is Topped
by a Garrisoned Fort and Every Chan
nel Sown With Torpedoes—British For
tifications at Halifax and Elsewhere.
[Special Correspondence.]
St. George, Bermuda, March 18.—
Recent dispatches from New York in
form us that the British admiralty has
ordered two of its third class battleships
to this station, whereat the Bermudians
are as rejoiced as you Yankees seem to
ho excited. The matter is treated and
laid before the public as if it were some
thing new in the annals of British na
val maneuvers to send out some of its
ironclads to patrol the American coasts.
Why, bless your innocent souls, this
has been going on for the last 20 years,
ever since Great Britain had any iron
clads to send and which she could risk
in a heavy sea.
But did it ever occur to the patriotic
American of the ‘ ‘jingo” type how real
ly dangerous, actually menacing, from
their proximity and foreign ownership,
these otherwise insignificant coral is
lands are to the peace and prosperity of
the United States?
They are, and you Americans cannot
blink the fact. Right at your very doors,
within two days’ steaming of your
largest port, the most powerful nation
of modern times has established a naval
and refitting station capable of shel
tering and repairing all the warships of
the greatest navy iu the world.
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VxCREAT JRITfII NIS FORTS a SOLDIERS MEA? H V QRK Vw f
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Right beneath your very noses, less
than 600 miles distant from the Hatter
as, lie these Bermudas, where every
hill is topped by a garrisoned fort, ev
ery channel sown with torpedoes, every
town swarming with British redcoats.
On Ireland island is that great floating
dock which was towed out here in
1869 hy two men-of-war and which,
until your new Brooklyn dock was fin
ished, was the largest in Atlantic wa
ters.
Strike out a circle, with the Bermu
das as the center, and you take in your
whole Atlantic coast from Nova Scotia
to the gulf of Mexico. Within the ra
dius of that circle we may find not on
ly all the important ports of the east
coast of the United States, but also at
least four fortified posts owned hy Great
Britain, any one of which is immensely
stronger than any port of yours opposed
to it.
Scanning a sea chart of our At
lantic coast, we may find that the dis
tance between the Bermudas and New
York and between these islands and
Halifax is about the same—that is, the
three places form a triangle, with its
hypotenuse lying between the two
English possessions, its perpendicular
between Halifax and New York and its
base between New York and the Ber
mudas. And these latter lie also in the
center of the great ocean system of cur
rents that makes the circuit of the At
lantic, and of which the gulf stream is
the most important.
This fact and their advantageous po
sition, combined with the impregnable
character of their defenses, make them
an ideal spot for a base of operations
against the open ports of confiding Un
cle Sam.
With the Bermudas, then, as a cen
ter, we should strike on the north the
immense fortifications of Halifax, not
much farther away than New York,
which is 700 miles distant. Boston and
Portland also would be vulnerable
points within that line, and Philadel
phia and Port Royal. Halifax is almost
due north from the Bermudas; New
York is northwest; Port Royal, Charles
ton and Savannah from west to a little
south, but all within easy reach.
Swinging around to south of west, we
have Jacksonville and St. Augustine
only a little farther away than the Brit
ish island of New Providence in the
Bahamas, the port of which, Nassau
(the haunt of blockade runners in late
war times), has old forts and some sol
diers. South by west of the Bermudas
lies Jamaica, the brightest jewel in tho
British West Indian possessions, where
there are soldiers galore, forts capable
of good defense and the famous naval
and refitting station of Port Royal. Ja
maica is 1,450 miles distant from New
York and not much more than half
that from the Bermudas.
One thousand miles from the Bermu
das and about 1,700 miles from New
York is the island of St. Lucia, where
the British have commenced a system
of fortifications which they intend shall
be second to none, save perhaps those of
Gibraltar. The island is already alluded
to by them as their Wist Indian Gib
raltar, and the term is by no means
misapplied.
Now, there is no cause for flurry in
this condition which I have pointed out.
These posts have been in British posses
sion for many years, and some of the
fortifications were begun over a century
ago. But it will not come amiss to point
out the sagacity and provision of Great
Britain as contrasted with the short
sightedness of your American policy,
which allows your coast to bo hemmed
in by a line of fortified posts, mainly
insular, and at which a hostile fleet can
be concentrated at short notice.
O. A. Furber.
HARNESS PRAIRIE WINDS.
Western Farmers Have a Unique and
Cheap Method.
[Special Correspondence.]
Abilene, Kan., March 22.—Necessi
ty has made of the farmers of the plains
of Kansas and Nebraska inventors iu a
direction that has not been expected of
them. With the lack of water staring
them in the face and preventing them
from getting crops, it was essential that
they should in some way secure the
needel moisture. The majority of the
farmers had not the money to buy wind
mills, and for a long time there was a
disposition to look upon the case as
hopeless. The farmers realized that ir
rigation was the only way out of the
difficulty, but how should they secure
the lifting power to bring the water
that lay under the surface to the crops
that they had sown? The problem has
been solved by the erection of the queer
est and most hideous contrivances that
could well be imagined, but which
seem to serve the purpose and are mak
ing the settlers happier than they have
been in a long time. These are the Jum
bo windmills. They are constructed by
the settlers themselves and are at once
the cheapest and most satisfactory ma
chines for handling the ceaseless prairie
winds that have been invented. The
settler takes a lot of lumber, a saw and
hammer and goes to work on his mill.
Two posts are erected about ten feet
apart. A boxlike structure without top
or bottom is then built around them.
On the posts is laid the axle of a fan
with four wide surfaces to present to
the wind. The lower half is protected
from the wind by the box, but the up
per receives the breezes that are forever
blowing. The winds from two direc
tions can only, of course, be utilized,
hut it is entirely safe to consider that
the winds of the plains will come from
the north or south. Very seldom do
they come from any other direction.
The farmer “waits the gale” and sees
the water lifted to his farm and the
garden, and perhaps the crops are made
to grow as they could not have been in
duced to hy any ether means at his
command. The Jumbo has proved one
of the saviors cf the plains and is worthy
of being commemorated. In the latest
report of the state authorities Kansas is
shown to have about 3,000 irrigation
plants. Each of these is supporting a
family, which means that there are 15,-
000 people who are independent of the
rainfall in this state alone. The same
proportion may be found in Nebraska,
and it means anew era for the plains.
The big ditches that were to miles
of plain are net the success .hat they
wore expected to be, but there are, on
the other hand, enough small plants
with their Jumbo mills to make up for
the defection. Thousands of claims in
western Kansas and Nebraska have been
deserted. It is estimated that in one
month 18,000 wagons went east over
the Missouri river bridge, leaving Ne
braska. c. M. Harger.