The Mapleson Memoirs, vol II

hich presented itself on the evening of our arrival as soon as it got buzzed about

e brought chairs, and seated themselves with a pipe or a cigar, prepared for a prolonged siege. Others had solid as well as liquid solace in their pockets to pass away the hours. Telegraph boys were numerous. So were many other shre

elf from the moment of her arrival, and began to rage

d positions in the line reached as high as ￡4, a sum which was actually paid by one person for permission to take another

sage within hundreds of yards was impassable, vehicles, omnibuses, etc., all being at a standstill. On inquiring the reason of this

ws, whilst the tops of the best pianos and harmoniums were occupied by dozens of people standing upon them in their nailed boots, all clamouring for Patti tickets. Messrs. Sherman and Clay

was going to sing but one night. Besides, the sale of tickets had been very

s of magnificent galleries surrounding it were crowded with visitors and illuminated a giorno. As soon as the first strains of the music were heard Mdme. Patti came from her room with a circle of friends, and was a

n door was a huge crystal fountain, having ten smaller jets throwing streams of eau de Cologne into glass basins hung with crystal pendants. All over the vestibule were the rarest tree orc

azzling with a bewildering mass of laces, jewels, and fair faces. Every available place was taken. Outside in the street there must have been thousands of people all clamouring for ticket

after every act with the most gorgeous set pieces of flowers, several being so cumbersome that they had to be left on the stage at the sides in sight of the audience during the remainder of the opera.

when Mdme. Gerster drew another 10,000 dollar house-the floral pict

gement, some four weeks afterwards, that line was never broken at any period of the day or night. A brisk trade was done in the hiring of camp stools, for which the modest sum of 4s. was charged. A similar amount was levied for a cup of coffee or a slice of bread and butter. As the line got hungry dinners were served, also suppers. High prices were paid to obtain a place in the line, as the head of it approached the box-office; resulting onl

ing 400 per cent. above the box-office price. They found buyers at rates which would have shamed Shylock. Later in the day fulminations w

and hundreds of tickets had be

s which they had secretly brought with them, procured a warrant for my arrest the following morning. Several hot disputes occurred about this time in the main vestibule in consequence of numbe

literally on the heads of one another, and on sending up to ascertain the cause, as the numbers were still increasing, the inspector ascertained that boards had been placed from the top of an adjoin

ith which everyone is already familiar. Galassi, the baritone, made a great success; and in the gambling scene an elegant ballet was introduced, led by little Mdlle. Bettina de Sortis. Chief Crowley reported that it would require 200 extra police to keep order the next day. On going through the tickets in the treasury, we discovered upwards of 200 bogus ones taken at the door. These counterfeits were so good, even to the shade of colour, that it was almost impossible to detect the difference from the real ones; t

ings of discontent all over the city against my management, whilst the newspapers we

on 49 of the Fire Ordinance of the city and county, in allowing the passage ways to be blocked up by the use of camp stools and overcrow

to see the order for arrest he found that I was described as "John Doe Mapleson," the explanation being that my Christian name was unknown. I was charged with a misdemeanour in violating the ordinance of the fire department

gested that for the protection of the public, ticket pedlars on the pavement

x, more licences were issued tha

er appeared in La Sonnambula, w

le of any surplus tickets on the following Monday at 10. Early on the morning of the sale, the line, formed between four and five o'clock in the m

d characteristic description of the scene

ormances had much to do with it. It was a sort of clean-up for last evening and to-day's matinée, but above all for the Patti night on Tuesday. A line began to form as early as five o'clock in the morning, and it grew and multiplied until at ten o'clock it had turned the corner on Third Street, while the main entrance was packed solid with a writhing and twisting mass of humanity, which pressed close to the glass doors which form the first barrier, and which were guarded by a lone policeman. He did his best to reduce the pressure upon himself and upon the doors, but as the time passed and the box-office did not open the crowd became more noisy and unmanageable, and finally an irresistible rush was made for the doors. They did not resist an instant, and gave way as though they had been made of paper. In the

e box-office became imminent. Just at this juncture Captain Short arrived with a large squad of police, and under the influence of a copious display of suggestive-looking locusts [the truncheons of the American police are made of locust wood] the crowd sullenly fell back and formed a somewhat orderly line. A line of season-ticket holders was also formed to purchase tickets for the next Patti night, and these were admitted through the inner door and served from the manager's office. In addition the crowd

been opened. I then saw that they intended to secure the whole of the tickets offered for sale. I therefore, in passing a second time, quietly nudged one of them, winked suggestively, and pointed to the upper circle ticket office; leading the willing dupes who followed me through a door in the main wall to an inner office. No sooner had the last one gone through than I

in the main vestibule became so great that the police of

this time I discovered that the head usher had been in the habit of secreting a lot of stools and hiring them out to those who were

k that lady to get up an

usher. "Please hand

dy res

s. for it; at all event

aptai

lady bac

nswer

er retu

officers to take the usher off to the Southern S

for one week, on the ground that he was busily engaged in the Sharon case. To this the prosecuting attorney objected, saying

e bedside of one of my bass singers, who had suddenly died of pulmonary apop

ng a postponement of the case, and intimat

ntil next May or June," replied the Clerk of the Co

The Judge said sternly that it would not be grant

e been most disastrous. Officer O'Connell testified that on the particular night in question there were 57 people standing in one little passage-way having about a dozen small folding stools amongst them. I was then placed on the witness stand, when I stated that I was the manager of the Opera Company, but not of the theatre. I had simply control of the stage, whilst the manager was respo

as imposed. But it was ultimately reduced to 75 dollars, which the Jud

nce to the theatre was again at a great premium, and a force of policemen under Captain Short was early on duty kee

s "Manrico," or of Patti as "Leonora." The representation was one unbroken

the bogus tickets, which could only be recognized after being soaked in water, when it appea

hey insisted, not only upon their money being returned, of which I had never received a penny, but also on thei

ing some 8,000 or 9,000 people, and in order to prevent a recurrence of the scenes I had just encountered and

to blocks. The auctioneer, who occupied the conductor's desk, explained that the whole of the seats would be placed on sale to the public and that none would be withheld, the bidders merely to name the premiums they wished to give for the privilege

whatever advance they then paid on the ticket went i

sheets, and several speculators who had obtained large numbers of tickets were now left out in the cold-and in the rain-with their purchases. Inside, at the back of the

bardelli. Patti had contributed 150 dollars, when Gerster, to show that she was a greater

e orchestra and the whole Opera Company taking part in it, including the principal artists. Not only was San Francisco in full fêt

he guests commenced to arrive early, and the entertainment was carried on till midnight. It is to

the Margherita Club, for which 500 invitations were issued. An immense floral bower had been constructed for the occasion, the sides of the room being beds of choice flowers and roses in

t Brichanteau, the band playing the "Patti Valse," composed expressly for the occasion by Arditi. A formal reception was afterwards held by the members of the Club; and later on a gor

e known that General Crittenden, Governor of Missouri, had given Patti a

sudden he leaned down, put his arms around me, drew me up to him, and kissed me. He said, 'Madame Patti, I may never see you again, but I cannot help it;' and before I knew it he was ki

ween Mdme. Gerster and a reporter who had

PATTI

r, you have heard about that kissing affa

en kissed Patti before she had time to resist; but

errogatively)

nothing wrong in a man kissing a w