USA > Indiana > Vanderburgh County > Evansville > History of the city of Evansville and Vanderburg County, Indiana, Volume I > Part 12
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James Farrow, who lived here for so many years, was bass drummer in the Crescent City band and afterwards Lewis Sihler, whose ability to pound the drum was never doubted. The late Nicholas Elles was a mem-
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ber of this band and also Mr. Heeger, who took the base tuba at the time George M. Gates left the city. John Reimer who still lives here, was a consistent member of this band and a hard worker. Theodore Pfafflin, who removed to Indianapolis was another and James T. Cox, who died in 1896 from sunstroke, was a cornet player. He was not, however, a charter member of the band.
Otto Pfafflin played the second E-flat and Ed. Gordon, who was acci- dentally killed on a street car, played the first B cornet. There are many who will remember the old firm of Warren and Connyngton, which was just back of the Richmond hotel, that on the summer evenings Prof. George Warren and Ed. Gordon would go to the roof of their building and play most beautifully. People would gather in crowds at the foot of Water street just to hear them, for they were both marvelous musicians. The late Theo. W. Venneman was also in this band and Philip Klein played the first alto for years. John Scantlin, who died many years ago, played the bass horn and Walter Ruhe, who was also a traveling man for S. E. Gilbert & Co., played the tuba horn. As Prof. Warren's little son grew up, he nat- urally took to the snare drum and played for years with this band and another fine musician who was not among the charter members was Prof. William Buck, formerly in the jewelry business in a part of what is now the City National Bank. He was also a band leader. During the absences of Prof. Warren and William R. Baker he played the E-flat cornet. In 1868 he organized a new band, called the Helicon because they used the Helicon instruments which had just come on to the market. He was a most genial gentleman and a great musician who was much loved by all who knew him. He afterwards moved to Rockport where he died. This was the original band of the city of Evansville, and though its member- ship has gradually changed, it is still the old band and probably will always be known as such. There have been various other bands started since then. A number of young men in 1895 organized what was known as Haynies cornet band and in 1896 the F. W. Cook military band was organized, with Mr. Gus Bohrer, a splendid musician, as leader. Strouse' High Art band was organized early in 1896 and for years delighted audiences with its free concerts from the balcony of Strouse Brothers store on Main street. To the bands of Evansville which so kindly gave their aid, much of the success of Sunset park is due. The building of the band stand which formerly stood near the old Sycamore tree, was a matter of small moment but the beautiful music rendered by these bands who so kindly volunteered their services was what drew the immense crowds from all parts of the city and caused the city of Evansville people to finally realize what a river park meant.
In the early days when Evansville really had no public hall of any kind and no place of gathering except the court room, naturally there were never any socials and the amusements were few and far between. They consisted of little social parties held at the various houses that were large
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enough to accommodate a gathering of any size, but for many long years, nothing in the way of music or amateur theatricals was attempted. It was only after the advent of a great many of the German population who had been used to these things in their native land, that an attempt was made to build a theatre. Subscriptions were gotten up and aided by a great many of the American citizens, the Germans built what was known as the Mozart hall, which stood directly on First street where the Ichenhauser's queens- ware house now stands. It was a two-story brick with rooms upstairs in which the family of the keeper of the hall resided and also several rooms which were used by the few German actors and actresses who came here from time to time. The building did not extend to the alley and the stage was a very small one, but sufficient for all purposes of that day. The seats were chairs which could be moved to make room for dancing and the first public dances given in Evansville were at this place. The Germans at that time had a sort of dramatic society and gave entertainments from time to time and later on, finding the quarters too small, built the old Turner hall which was on the grounds occupied by the Marsh & Scantlin bakery. Mr. M. A. Lawrence, who was the first marble-yard man who located here, built Marble hall which stands just across from the old National Bank and this was used also for performances, though the stage was even smaller than that of Mozart hall. It was badly arranged and was on the third floor and was never a very popular building. At the time that the little church on the hill, the first church building in Evansville, was torn down, what is known as the congregation of Walnut Street Presbyterian church used this hall for their services while the new church was being built. It was also used for the first performances ever given by home talent here, a minstrel organization gotten up by Sile Weed, a painter who was quite a good negro performer and who got his company together here and gave several exhi- bitions before going on the road. At about this same time the Commercial hall just across from the Eichel block was built and this was the most popular place in the town, though one had to ascend to the third story to reach it. There was no stage here, it being nothing but a platform, and whoever occupied it was compelled to make wings, etc., out of canvas to hide the sides of the stage from the audience. There was also a little gal- lery at the read end. This hall afterwards became one of the popular dancing halls of Evansville, although the room known as Warren's hall, which was the third floor over the L. & N. offices down town, was also very popular. The first outside company who visited Evansville was known as Buckley's serenaders, an English company who were touring this coun- try and had wandered to the little town. They gave a very good perform- ance but when their clog dancers came on they were compelled to stop dancing as the stage was so flimsy that the boards kept giving under their feet. One can imagine how crude were the stages of that day. I also remember a company who came here and produced what was known as the Marble statue. This was the first exhibition of a female in a com-
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plete suit of fleshings that had ever appeared and many of the people of the place were outspoken in their denunciations of so vile a performance, but the descendants of the same people look today on double rows in the pony ballet and think nothing of it. This shows how tastes change as we become educated.
But I am getting away from my subject. One great social affair was the quilting bee and another the corn husking. At the quilting bee the neighbors all gathered at the house of some lady and assisted her in mak- ing a quilt. This afterwards changed into a sewing society to which all the ladies belonged and which met every week at the house of one of the members to do sewing for the poor. Of course the husking bees were held at the big farmhouses when, as was the case in town, there was always a bountiful supper with sometimes dancing. At these husking bees the married people and the young folks all joined together and if a married lady succeeded in getting a red ear, the fact that she wore a wedding ring could cut no ice, for she was expected to be kissed just the same as the young girls and I never heard of any instance to which any objection was made either by the lady or her husband. In those days these things were expected and again this shows how tastes change. Young girls in those days thought nothing of taking their beaus' arms in daylight, and holding hands. I believe both of these things are considered wrong just at pres- ent. It was about the year 1854 that the Evansville people began to look for some kind of new social entertainment and decided to get up a series of masquerades and these were quite in vogue for several years. There were quite a number of larger concerts held at the various halls, espe- cially at Crescent City hall. There were good voices here in those days but quite a lack of musical instruments, such a thing as an orchestra being absolutely unknown. I can remember when there were hardly a dozen pianos in the city of Evansville but people had melodeons. About the be- ginning of the war a military drama was given at the Turner hall and was so successful that it was repeated several times. Bob McGrew was one of the leading spirits. When the war first broke out the Indianapolis Zouaves were located here and gave a series of entertainments at Marble hall, and at the same place were the first puppets ever shown in Evansville. The show pictured various battles with soldiers and even puppet horses and then changed to sea scenes where miniature battleships of that day and the monitors were shown. I remember that the capture of the Merrimac was one of the chief attractions of the show. During the war there was an attempt made to start an American theatre. The company was made up of some residents and some outside talent, who gave such plays as East Lynne, etc., at the Mozart hall. Afterwards there was a stock company at the Metropolitan theatre at First and Main streets and such old actresses as Lola Montez, Fannie B. Price, Molly Williams who was assisted by Felix Vincent, a great comedian of that day, all appeared. After Mr. Golden and his wife, the much-loved Bella Golden, opened the theatre, a
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regular performance was given each night all through the season. The company was small but all members were capable of doubling up. The French Spy was one of their chief plays and was produced here many times. What is now Grace church gave a performance in the Metropolitan theatre at which the McDougall brothers, two young men who had come here from Canada, took a leading part, and I think that this was my first ap- appearance on any stage. I did what was known as the horizontal bar brother act with the late Mr. Wallis Glover in the first part and played Distaffena, a young woman decorated with much false blond hair, in the second part. These affairs occurred before any one thought of building an opera house. It was finally decided that Evansville was large enough to have an opera house suitable to its size. The ground was purchased at the corner of First and Locust streets and the building, which in those days was first-class, was put up. Its opening was quite an event for the city and all the shows that were put on there were very successful. The Get- mans gave many entertainments there when they found their own hall was not large enough and there were two musical and dramatic societies founded -the Lyric and the Ideals. These two organizations contained some very fine talent. In fact, there were voices in them which could have made their mark on the operatic stage. They did not hesitate to produce the very best of opera and operettas of the day, and played the Grand Duchess and operas of that class. The first real home-talent amateur concert, as it might be called, was that of Queen Esther, which was given at the opera house by the choir of Walnut Street church. Miss Lizzie Shanklin, Mrs. C. K. Drew, Mrs. Blythe Hynes, Mrs. Jenny McGinnis and others who possessed remarkably good voices, took part in this. Shortly after this Grace church produced the Ten Virgins in which some of the most beau- tiful girls in Evansville took part. It was in the early '70s that a number of young men decided to produce the burlesque of Romeo and Juliet, a play with no women in it. There were really only two women, Juliet supposed to be 16 years of age but 40 years old in wisdom, and her nurse, a quaint old creature who got in everybody's way. Mr. Ford Dodd, one of our prominent young men, took the nurse at first and afterwards this was played by Dr. Charles Archer, who made quite a hit with it. Juliet was played by the writer. Whether or not the caste was a good one, they had the satisfaction of sending a check for $1,000 to the yellow fever sufferers of Memphis, which was the result of one night's performance. This old play was kept up for several years. Whenever the boys wanted some fun they would produce this play and they never played it twice the same way. It was in this that the Honorable Charles G. Covert first showed his ability as a comedian and he was one of the best ever seen here. In fact, I never saw him in a part that he did not take well. Miss Mary Linck, whose reputa- tion is well known both in this country and in Europe, made her first ap- pearance at this old opera house and though given but a few lines, she scored such a success that the papers the next day spoke in glowing terms
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of her work and predicted a great future for her. All through these days the various churches found that the people were more ready to go to en- tertainments than to church socials and gave all sorts of musical and dra- matic entertainments. Grace church gave "An Evening with Mother Goose" in which Mr. George Clifford had a star part. In 1879 the church gave "Mrs. Jarvis Wax Works" at Evans hall to a crowded house. It was in 1882 that "Fun in a Country School" was first produced. It was writ- ten in the Argus office and while there are today several books called "The Deestrict School," etc., they are nothing like the original "Fun in a Coun- try School." It was in this that Mr. Ed Dillon, a bright newspaper man, Mr. A. J. Miller, a natural comedian, Charles F. Worthington and others made their first hits. This little play was rendered no less than fifteen times in Evansville for different charities or for benevolent orders and it was always played to a packed house. There were so many in the audi- ence in those days who remembered the old school days when Evansville was a little town, that the thing appealed to them. The part of the teacher was simply a reprodutcion of the way Daddy Knight used to teach school and even the make-up of the teacher's face was an exact reproduction of that highly-esteemed but much-feared educator. St. Paul's church put on a beautiful piece of work at the Grand. Little Lord Fauntleroy was ar- ranged from the original book. The staging for this production was the most beautiful ever seen here, as many of the most artistic homes in Evans- ville furnished the furniture for the setting and for the garden scene the most beautiful women in Evansville, decked in their most gorgeous array, took part. It is an admitted fact that in real stage finish this production exceeded anything ever given in Evansville. Master Paul and Miss Evelyn McNeeley were the heavenly twins and little Lord Fauntleroy was taken by Miss Josephine Foster, now Mrs. Clarence Leich. It was in this play that the friends of Mrs. Clarence Hinkle realized what strong dramatic talent she possessed.
The Jewish citizens got up the Progress club and while it was originally for the male members of Jewish society, it gave many very handsome en- tertainments. Many of these were given in their own hall, which occupied the third floor of the Eichel block, but they also appeared at the Grand. Their performances were always first-class and at various times they em- ployed professional actors to instruct and also to assist them in staging their plays. A beautiful affair was the Bazaar of Nations given at Evans hall by St. Paul's church. At this all the different nations were repre- sented in various booths, while at the same time the musical performances were given. Floradora, as put on by a number of young people at Evans hall, was also a beautiful production and I believe that out of the original eight who took part, only one old bachelor remains, the rest being happily married. During all this time the German element were doing their share in the way of amateur theatricals, etc. Prof. Waltz put on the operatic Incognito in German at the old opera house and in this Mrs. Ame Morgan
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Viele took the part of leading soprano and sang it in the German language. She also appeared with the Liedercranz at the same opera house. Prior to this time, however, the Germans played the Czar and the Carpenter and were very successful in their rendition of it. I think the second perform- ance, however, that was ever given here was in 1860, when an amateur concert was given in the old Commercial hall. This was just after the war broke out and the programme was chiefly of war songs and Miss Kate Glover made the hit of the evening by singing "Brave Boys Were They." All during the war there were little performances of various kinds gotten up by charitable people as there was always some need for help and chiefly by the wounded soldiers who were in the first old hospital which was the building now occupied by the John Hubbard Seed Company. While the government did all in its power to help these poor fellows, there were many delicacies that reached them, that were the result of these little perform- ances given by kind-hearted citizens. The Evansville of today has vastly improved. There is talent galore of every description and chiefly in the musical line and with its numerous fine places of amusement and the num- berless young people who are adepts both in music and in acting, it is possible for almost any church or benevolent society, or in fact, a little group of friends, to get up an amateur performance and get one on very short notice, but I have spoken of the old-time days before even grease paint was invented and when the art of making up was known only to a favorite few. There was not a solitary piano in Evansville until the year 1836 and even in 1850 there were only about two melodeons. I think at that time there were two citizens who played the flute but it was almost an unknown instrument here. They both were Eastern men. There was also one bass viol but of other musical instruments there were none except the fiddles, which were numerous in all sections of the country. This first piano which was brought to Evansville belonged to Miss Wilson, who af- terwards married Mr. William Reilly, an old citizen. In speaking of this first instrument, Mrs. Reilly was fond of telling of the sensation it created. It was an odd looking affair with six legs and of course, as compared with the piano of the present day, lacked much in tone but the woodwork was simply marvelous, as viewed at the present. It was made in 1829 in Al- bany, New York. Mrs. Reilly stated that the farmers came in from miles around to see this strange instrument and after hearing her play on it, would vigorously lick their lips as if it was something too good to say anything about. This piano, if the family would part with it, would bring an enormous price and, as a furniture dealer remarked, "If that piano were exhibited in Tiffany's window on Broadway, it would not remain there one day before it was sold."
Evansville now has four first-class places of amusement. They are all located in the center of the city, convenient to the street cars and traction lines. Naturally the Grand which is the most handsome building in the lot, will always be considered by our people, as the place for high-class attrac-
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tions. It would be hard to forget the triumphs that occurred in this beau- tiful opera house in the days when it was first built, and until such a day comes when the city is so large that an immense opera house will be needed, the Grand will always have its warm friends. And when it was built, it was considered by some of the best critics in the country, to be as perfect an opera house of its size as had ever been built in America. The accous- tics are very perfect. The lower house is short enough to bring the audience well up to the stage, while the family circle and the balcony are well ar- ranged. Exits are good and the stage very large and well supplied, not only with scenery but with electric appliances of every kind, so that it is absolutely competent to handle any attraction of no matter what magni- tude, that may come to Evansville. The new Majestic on 5th street near the terminal of the dummy line, and the Wells Bijou on 3rd street, were built more with a regard to furnish nice houses for cheap attractions which might be run daily, than with any regard to architectural beauty or per- haps internal beauty of finish, though they both have very nicely finished interiors.
The Orpheum which stands where the old first opera house was put up on First and Locust, has been given over to a cheaper class of enter- tainment of late and film shows have been in great favor for the last year. The trouble with this house lies in the stage. There is not sufficient room on the stage floor for star dressing rooms, neither are there upper star rooms and underneath the stage, the rooms are not what they might be. Still for the companies which have played there, the accommodations have been amply sufficient. It is highly probable that this theatre will continue to be run for the benefit of the masses who cannot afford high-priced at -. tractions. Any one who has seen the enormous crowds which often fill the street in front of an evening, can gain some idea of how popular the little theatre is.
During the summer months it has become quite a thing among our people to take the street railway rides not only to get the evening breeze, but to visit some place of amusement of a medium priced rate, where the evening can be spent. Oak Summit park has taken the lead in furnishing amusement of this class, and though the stage is not a large one it is suf- ficient for vaudeville purposes. There is never any intent on the part of the management to put on very large companies. In fact, their idea seems to have been to give first-class vaudeville entertainments and in this they are estimating the public correctly, for this class of entertainment is taking a great hold on the people in the large cities. If the patronage increases as it bids fair to do, the company has ample means to erect either a much larger building or extend it and change it in other respects and build a large and commodious stage, on which attractions of a high order can be placed.
CHAPTER X.
OLD TIME BALL GAMES-TOWN BALL-HOW THE STAID MERCHANTS PLAYED- THE FIRST SEMI-PRO TEAM-FIRST REAL TEAM-AN OLD BATTERY-OLD FIGHTERS-BAD MEN AND BRAVE MEN-COOL NERVE-ENOUGH MEANT ENOUGH-MILK SICKNESS, THE TERROR OF THE PIONEERS-A VERITABLE POISON FROM WHICH THERE WAS NO ESCAPE.
OLD TIME BALL GAMES. (By F. M. Gilbert.)
We of the present generation, understand thoroughly what a hold the great National game of base ball has upon the American people. While we are not all fans in the strict sense of the word, it is hard to find any one in these days, who is not more or less posted on the game. And even when they have no knowledge of any of the points of the game, their civic pride, in these days of the hot contests between various cities, makes them watch the papers eagerly to see what strides the home team is making. There are many who even watch the records of the great teams of the United States and are able to give from memory, the standing of the same.
There are some, however, who care nothing for it but this would hold good regarding any game, for they are generally those whose duties pre- vent them from taking time to either take part in or even witness any con- test of skill or dexterity, but to one who sits in a newspaper office and hears the incessant ringing of the 'phone after every game, and the universal query, "What was the score?" it appeals with a great deal of force, and the tired reporter often hangs up the hook with muttered words to himself and wonders if there is anybody in he city of Evansville who is not in- terested in base ball. Again the crowds which flock to witness the different games here, when the contest becomes close, are greater than those which could be gotten together to hear the greatest speaker in the world. If the greatest speaker in the United States were to come here any day and be thoroughly advertised as to the delivery of a speech, and on the same by way of example, the Evansvilles and the Terre Hautes should be playing a deciding game, it is a safe venture that there would be three times as many voters at the ball, park as at the speaking. And it is a fact known to very few, that away back in the early history of Evansville, ball was the most popular game. But it was then called town ball. On every Sat- urday at 12 o'clock the great majority of the wholesale and retail houses
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