Stranded in Chicago.
"From the Cummings stock company I went with Sothern in 'The King's Musketeer.' I didn't care for the company, and began writing more plays. I got a man named Isham interested in my 'Rough Rider Romance,' and left the company to go to Chicago, where it was to be put on. I had just five dollars in my pocket when I arrived, to be greeted by the telegram: 'Isham committed to insane asylum.'
"There I was, stranded in the Windy City, with a fiver. I went to my friend, Edwin Arden.
"'What shall I do, Ed?' I said.
"'I'll lend you twenty-five to get back to New York on,' he replied.
"I took the money, calling blessings down on his head. 'Arizona' was playing in Chicago at the time, and passing the theater that evening I handed in my card at the box-office, and they passed me in. Vincent Serrano was Tony, and as I watched him I told myself that that was the part for me. I found out that Kirk La Shelle, the manager of the show, was in New York, and I was for starting East by the first train to see him; but for some reason I didn't, and I found out later that the train was wrecked.
"But there was more luck than that in my delayed departure, for when I finally walked into La Shelle's office in the Knickerbocker Theater Building, and said abruptly, 'I want to play Tony in "Arizona,"' he looked up with a funny smile on his face, and waved a telegram toward me.
"'That's queer,' he said. 'This message has only this instant arrived from my Chicago manager: 'Serrano wants more money. What shall I do?'