THE DOUGLAS MINER
NumUbfr n !' DOUGLAS, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER iB, iS96 l ^'00 Pf >'ear‘
u - ‘j ) ’ y ) 10 cents per copy.
Douglas Amateur Dramatic Club.
The production of the neat little drama i
“Dolores, or, Back Fr< in the Dead,” by |
tlie Douglas amateur diamatic club on j
Friday night last was, from an amateur
standpoint, well done, and the members :
taking part in the play deserve much j
praise for the very creditable manner in i
which they handled the parts assigned to j
them. The part of Dolores, the heroine, !
as portrayed by Mrs. Rufus Johnson was
done full justice, and in some of the
scenes especially an unusually fine con
ception of the part, together wbh the
ability to carry it out was displayed, ad
ding fresh laurels to that lady’s already
fair reputation as an actress. Miss Liz
zie McKanna as Mrs. Mason, a farmer’s
wife, did some of the best acting of t he
evening, and is deserving of a great deal
of praise for a good rendition of a very
difficult part. Her Yankee dialect was
one of the strongest points in her play
ing. Miss Margaret Frasier as the de
serted wife, was very matronly and re
signed, and carried her part through in
a creditable manner, while Mrs. Outer
Patton, as her daughter and the wronged
wife of the villain, was a decided sucees,
and especially in the scene where she de
fies the villain a very pretty piece of act
ing was presented. Dan McKay as the
o'.d farmer looked his part to perfection,
and some of his acting was very good.
The parts of Herbert Mason and Royal
Meadows were portrayed by J. L. Pra
ther and Rufus Johnson, and showed that
those gentlemen possessed a fair sin.re of
histronic ability, though the vet diet of
the ladies of the audience was against Mr.
Johnson in that his love making was not
nearly ardorous enough to satisfy the or
dinary woman. Clias. 15. Clatk acted
the villain in good style, and deserves
great credit for the energetic manner in
w hich the stage work was handled and j
for so gracefully carrying the double
burden of being one of the chief actors
in the play and at the same time attend
ing to the duties of stage manager, which
latter position is not an easy one, espec
ially in an amateur performance. 1 he
comedy of the performance was furnish
ed 1»v Hapzibah, a ladv of odor—Wm.B.
Clark, ami Kbony, a gentleman of the
■a,»e dark line—O. S. Clark. These
gentlemen kept the ai dieiice in continu
ous roars of laughter, and although in
the excitement of the work the dialect
was very often missing, their unusually
good acting mo e than made up for any
remis'-es in that line, a d they received
many rounds of applau e in the course
of their work. The minor parts, Geo.
Clift m—John ligan, Parson Swift—Om
en Patton, Bill Tory and policeman—
Frank Calhoun, and the 1>ride-maid—
Miss Flvina Anderson, were all well
taken, and the graceful appearance of
the bride-maid, especially, made some
of the boys in the audience heave a deep
sigh and wish that the ceiemony were
real and that they were the fortunate one
who was standing by her side.
Taken as a whole the performance was
very well presented and but for one cir
cumstance would have been a decided
success; this attaches to all amateur per
formers, and must be overcome before
til. y can hope to attain success in any
marked degree. The performance on
Friday evening was marred by the par
ticipants not speaking loud enough, and
this deft ct must be remedied if our oth
erwise talented club wish, to succeed.
The dai ce given after the performance
was a delightful affair, and about twenty
five couples enjo\ ed themselves until a
late—or rather early, hour. A11 elegant
supper was served at the Douglas City
Hotel.
Billy McDonald, well known as a good
hearted, whole soiled hoy, has opened
up the Comet saloon, in Juneau, and any
of the Douglas boys who may happen to
be in that tov\n can be as ured of good
treatment at his hands.
The next performance of the Douglas
dram tic club will be given on Dec. II,
at which time will be presented the beau
tiful border drama, “Mv Pard.” This
play had one of the largest runs of any
ever placed on the bo >rds, and the
people of Douglas may expect a treat
when it is produced.
Look Out for Fire.
We are now passing through the nirst
dangerous season of the year for fires.
Everything is as dry as t tider and the
high winds make it possible, should a
fire break out, to sweep our little city otf
the earth. Special care has been exer
cised and special watchmen have been
engaged to patrol the streets at li'ght to
prevent, if possible, any such disaster,
j Why would it not be a good thing to
j call a meeting of our citizens for the pur
j pose of making some provision for such
i an emergency ? We need fire extin
guishers, hooks, ladders, axes and fire
buckets. Another thing most needed is
a fire bell, so that in case of fire at night
the citizens can be aroused withev* hav
I ing to go around and wake them up in
dividually. An incident of this kind
occurred the morning that the residence
of Peter Scoggins was burned. Men ran
around trying to arouse differtnt ones
but before help could be obtained the
house was burned to the ground. On
Monday last the Douglas City hotel
building caught fire from a stove pipe
running through the roof, and had it not
been that Mrs. Robert Birch discovered
it at once it is probable that a disastrous
fire would have been the consequence.
Do not wait until our city has burned
down, but do s nnetliing at once. “An
ounce of prevention is worth a pound of
cure.’’
Miss B. M. Wilson, of Juneau, who
opened a day and night school at that
place several weeks ago, has a class of
eight pupils in Juneau and fourteen pu
pils at Treadwell. This lady is deserv
irg of great credit for the success she
has attained from her own perseverance.
It is possible that Miss Wilson will open
a school in Douglas in a short time, and
no one who desires a finished English
education should fail to attend this
school.
Get your letter heads, bill heads, en
velopes, cards, etc., printed at The
Miner office and save money.