Show World (May 1909)

HE THE TWENTIETH CENTURY AMUSEMENT WEEKLY Ipublished at 87 South Clark StreetChicago, by The\Shodj THorld.P abiishmgj “{Entered as Second-Class Matter WA RREN A. PA TR/CK , GENERAL D/RECTOR.. \ at th f L Post 'Office at Chica^,- «•» r of Man I June 25,190P Volumn IV—No. 22 CHICAGO May 22, 1909 Frank P. Cheney Charged with Steal¬ ing a Ring and Forging a Check. B Pittsburg, Pa., May 19. Frank P. Cheney, of Lawrence,' Mass., formerly a member of the Black Beauty company, was held for court on a charge of larceny and one of forgery by Magistrate Henry ijirig, Cheney and his bride of two (weeks en route east on their honey¬ moon, stopped here to see if they could secure work in local theaters, rfiey became stranded. It is alleged that Cheney secured a Iring valued at $150 from W. W. War¬ rick. He had the ring sent to the Van iDome hotel on the pretext of showing ' his wife, and disappeared. The e were notified and he was ar¬ il. He had pawned the ring for it is said. the hearing C. A. Oleson, propri¬ etor of the Van Dome hotel, stated Cheney had forged his name to a check for $6, and preferred an in¬ formation charging forgery. Mrs. Che¬ ney, who was formerly Cecelia Len¬ nox, of Washington, D. C., was sent to Cheney’s home in the east. Contract Is Let. [ Webster City, Iowa, May 18. Des Moines has awarded the con- Jfct for the erection of her new Coli¬ seum. The C. L. Gray Construction ■®npany of St. Louis got the job. The work is to be finished and the building ready for occupancy by l ~~"jger 15.—TUCKER. WALLACE ANSWERS HAGENBECK BILL TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SEVEN PRINTED PAGES REQUIRED TO EXPLAIN DEFEND¬ ANT'S SIDE OF BIG CIRCUS SUIT. Inside Stories of Tented Deals Laid Bare and Counsel Intimates Collusion of Rival Enterprises. The legal battle between Carl Ha- genbeck and Benjamin E. Wallace was again brought to the attention of the show public last Monday when Hogan & Hogan, attorneys for the latter, filed an answer to the bill of complaint—an answer which estab¬ lishes a record in the Cook county courts, being the longest of its kind ever recorded in a chancery proceed¬ ing. This answer consists of 227 printed pages, and answers, in every detail, the allegations of the bill which was published in part in THE SHOW WORLD some few weeks ago. The personnel of the litigants, the eminence of the counsel, as well as the great interests and legal techni¬ calities involved, has made this case not only one of importance to the general public but has given it an in¬ ternational aspect. The answer purports to give a com¬ plete refutation of every allegation made or charged in the bill that in any manner reflects upon the de- fendant and says that Mr. Wallace acted in good faith and purchased for a valuable consideration the trade name and trade mark, Carl Hagen- beck, together with the good will and assets of the Carl Hagenbeck Circus & Show Company, which company, owing to its inability to carry on the business successfully from a finan¬ cial standpoint, was compelled to either allow its assets to be attached by its creditors or forced into invol¬ untary bankruptcy on account of its insolvency. Tate and Havlin Lose. John H. Havlin, of New York, and Frank R. Tate, of St. Louis, Mo., each of whom are well known throughout the country and who were the largest stockholders in the company, sus¬ tained heavy losses. The former sus¬ tained a loss of $210,000 and the lat¬ ter $70,000 before negotiating with Mr. Wallace for the sale of the trade name (Continued on Page 6). STAGE HAND ACQUITTED OF MURDER CHARGE. Grand Jury Fails to Indict Theater Employe Accused by Police. Cleveland, May 18. The grand jury Tuesday returned no bill against George Schwarzen- berg, stage hand at the Colonial the¬ ater. Schwarzenberg was charged by police wich having caused the death of John McGrath, another stage Schwarzenberg asserted that Mc¬ Grath had started a fight with him. The police declareu that McGrath died as the result of the beating he got.—YOUNG. Anti-Billboard Crusade. Oakland, Cal., May 18. What promises to be an extended crusade against billboards was started by Park Commissioner Gould when he offered a resolution to the Board of Park Commissioners asking that a re¬ quest be made for an ordinance pro¬ hibiting the erection or maintenance of advertising signs within 300 feet of any public park. Forest Park Enlarged. Forest Park, Chicago, is experienc¬ ing the same set back that the other local parks are having—cold weather, but Ben Atwell is expecting some very fine sunshine soon so that they can have a prosperous season with their brand new attractions. The park has been enlarged and it now ranks in high estimation with park follow- LOUISVILLE’S GAYETY ONE HUNDRED MORE MUDDLED ONCE AGAIN HOUSES FOR S. AND C. Ten Year Mortgage Placed.—Twenty-five Year Lease Obtained by Hynicka.—Injunction Against Building Refused, but House Cannot be Used for Theater. Pacific Coast Amusement Company to Spread Its Circuit Before Opening of Next Season.—Changes in Staff of Chicago Office —John Considine a Visitor. IHK. Louisville, Ky., May 16. I The mix up over the Gayety theater, i«ow in course of erection here, ar¬ rived at a most peculiar stage this week and again no one concerned seems to know exactly where they are |»t, or if they do, they are keeping mighty mum about it. On Thursday |two documents were filed in the coun¬ ty court, one of these was the record jof a mortgage given by the Louisville Company to Michael Muller on the Gayety theater for $50,- MO, payable in from one to ten years, the other was the record of a lease Itam Owen Tyler, trustee, to Rud. K, Hynicka for the Gayety theater site [tor a period of twenty-five yehrs at jj® annual rental of $4,000 for -the wst ten years and $5,000 for the bal¬ ance of the period. On Saturday, I Wen Judge Miller had finished hear¬ ing the testimony in the case of the Tnmmonwealth against the amuse- jnent company for infractions of the wilding law and to determine whether °r not the building might be finished to the present plans, the [jptee promptly decided in the nega- • * eav ‘ n S the fight exactly l Hr was some months ago when I we Court of Appeals passed upon it. Judge Miller refused to grant an injunction against the completion of the theater building itself, but held that, when completed, it could not be used as a theater because in such ca¬ pacity it would be a menace to life. He offered no objection to its use as any old kind of a proposition except¬ ing an amusement temple. The most interesting feature of Judge Miller’s decision in the Gayety theater case is the course the city will now take in the matter. When the permit was declared void in Jan¬ uary last by the Court of Appeals the Mayor stopped the Hynicka people from working on the theater until the special ordinance passed for Hynic- ka’s benefit which was declared invalid by Judge Miller, was passed by the General Council. After the ordinance had been passed and signed by the Mayor work was resumed on the building. Now that the ordinance has been declared invalid and the permit void, and the court decided that the 1907 ordinance was in vogue which prevents the construction of a theater with a lobby over thirty feet in length, it remains to be seen whether or not Mayor Grinstead will again order the work on the building stopped. “We will have one hundred more houses in the Pacific Coast Amuse¬ ment Circuit by the beginning of next season.” Paul Goudron made the statement, and when a surprised expression spread over the face of the news- gatherer, he made bold to add: “Why, it’s only a matter of time when Sulli¬ van & Considine will be the biggest booking office in Chicago, barring Goudron, who is generally conceded to be a man of his word and an au¬ thoritative mouthpiece of the Sullivan & Considine interests, refused to di¬ vulge the names or locations of any of the prospective hundred houses, but recent activity in the local offices would seem to intimate that big things are under way. Men have been shifted and John Considine himself has been here and is said to have passed on many important matters during his visit. The offices themselves have been largely increased and they now oc¬ cupy the entire fourth floor of the Oneonta building, and that business with the circuit is on the jump is evi¬ denced on all sides. John J. Nash, who has been on the road for the past three weeks signing up houses for the circuit, is now located at a desk in the office. G. C. Goudron has a desk and will book his own circuit, while Roy Mer- win, erstwhile office boy, has been made secretary to Paul Goudron. John Considine was here Thursday, coming from California, en route to New York. He spent twenty-four hours in this city and was busy each minute of the time. Actor Shot Before Play. Laurens, S. C., May 17. J. Ross Wilson, member of the De- morest Comedy Company, was acci¬ dentally shot by Dick Lewis just be¬ fore the performance at the opera house. The bullet entered the lower abdomen, and physicians say the man will probably die. Wilson is married and is a native of Sullivan, Ill. Brief Stock Notes. The Travers-Vall stock company is doing a fair business at the Park the¬ ater at Manchester, N. H. The Yankee Doodle stock company is playing a summer engagement at Alpena, Mich.