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Meanwhile, at the Acdemy of Music, Buffalo Bill and his Combination drew an immense crowd. The house was not only full, but long before the curtain rose people were turned away from the doors because there was not even standing room. For half an hour Bank street was full of a double line of people, one going towards the Academy, the other returning because there was no room for them obtainable in the house.
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BORDER DRAMA AT THE ACADEMY.
The Hon. W. F. Cody (Buffalo Bill), supported by a dramatic company a band of savages and a trick donkey, began a three nights' engagement at the Academy last evening. To the small boy and many of larger growth his performance is as fascinating as a dime novel - indeed, more so, for it brings the wild western life before them with greater vividness than their favorite literary food and, consequently, he always plays to overwhelmingly large houses. That of last night was no exception to the rule, even the stairs being utilized by the spectators.
The Prairie Waif, his new play, is from the pen of J. A. Stevens, who wrote "The Unknown." It goes without saying that it is not a strong and enduring piece of dramatic workmanship, but it is much better than the average border drama both in action and dialogue. Mr. Cody, who figures in it in his own proper person, is a better scout than actor, but he passes through the play to the edification of the audience and delights them in the second act by his remarkable rifle shooting. He brings with him a fair dramatic company. His leading lady is Miss Jennie Gilbert, who does passably; but the best work is that of Miss Nellie Lingard, who is quite a bright soubrette. In the fourth act the Indians, under the control of Eddie Burgess, the boy chief, indulge in characteristic dances.
Buffalo Bill remains until Thursday night, with a matinee on Wednesday.
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BUFFALO BILL AT THE ACADEMY.
The story of Monday night at the Academy was repeated last night. A house so crowded that hundreds failed to gain admittance, and an audience wholly captured by the remarkably effective performance of Mr. Cody and his company, attested the hold he has acquired upon the affections of Cleveland theater-goers. To-day he gives a matinee, as well as an evening performance, and it may go without saying that both will draw crowded audiences. It is folly to moralize upon Mr. Cody's plays and his playing. He has captured the popular heart, knows how to keep it, and if that is not an actor's "business" we know not what that business is.
On Thursday night at the Academy Mr. Gus Williams opens with Wanted, a Carpenter. This is a pure play, with an interesting story and a bright dialogue -- a play far ahead of many of those which occupy the modern stage, full of good points with much of commendable dramatic element. The Professor's umbrella, which Mr. WIlliams unfolds, is said by our contemporaries everywhere to be full of wonders and of mirth, never failing to "bring down the house" every time it is unfolded.
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AMUSEMENTS.
PARK OPERA HOUSE
W. M. SELL.........................Manager
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 17.
The Noted Scout,
(Hon. Wm. F. Cody.)
BUFFALO BILL.
AND HIS MAMMOTH
COMBINATION
The Beautiful Sioux Indian Princess.
HE-NU-KAW, (The First Born)
HARRY E. BURGESS, Boy Chief of the Pawnees, the youngest chief of whom any record is given.
FLYING CLOUD, the oldest man chief of the Sioux nation.
A genuine band of noted WINNEBAGO INDIAN CHIEFS, supported by a
POWERFUL, DRAMATIC COMPANY
Producing Buffalo Bill's new drama written expressly for him by John. A. Stevens, author of "Unkown," entitled:
THE PRAIRIE WAIF,
A story of the far west.
Fancy rifle shooting by Buffalo Bill who is acknowledged preeminent and alone.
A grand street parade--Buffalo Bill's sliver cornet band and orchestra. Reserved seats, 75 cents, for sale at Sell's bookstore.
WM. F. CODY, Proprietor and Manager.
JOSH E. OGDEN, Busines Manager.
HARRY SELLERS, Gen. Agt. SWT&F
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"THE PRAIRIE WAIF."
Buffalo Bill at the Opera House Last Night.
Buffalo Bill "fetched 'em" again last night. Bison Willie had heard Erie was a city of blood-curdling sensations so he determined to give us something calculated to make it an object for the blood to coagulate. "The Prairie Waif, or Fire-Eyed Zeb, Lubricating Terror of Rattlesnake Gulch," as our facetious contemporary, the Bradford Era, calls it, was hurled at the usual immense audience which greets Buffalo Bill in this city. The "gods" were in a large majority, and under the thunder of the applause, the roof of the building was kept wavering like a piece of linen in a hurricane. Buffalo Bill's own orchestra furnished music as ecstatic and enrapturing as the filing of a hand-saw. When the bearded long-haired, booted band, wearing sombreos with revolvers, knives and muskets, circled over the stage that gods sat hushed as if under a magic spell. When the firing began the storm burst from the gallery. In one scene where the plot is in its thickest, the house is on fire and a girl is to be rescued, the stage is filled with red-handed rangers, hostile Indians, etc., all contributing something to the project for roasting a man alive. The blood of the gods was 36 degrees below Cicero at this point and the veins stood out like with chords on their brows. The climax is reached when a 4-quart can of nitro-glycerine and 5 pounds of Greek fire with a chorus of female shrieks are thrown in to give zest to the scene of carnage, from which emerges Buffalo Bill dripping with Pawnee gore and having a Winnebago maiden hanging like a wet cloud across his "good right arm."
Mr. Sell will have to send for a large invoice of yellow and red backed literature for the special persual of the boys. Who for the next week or so will be busy collecting knives and revolvers for the spring campaign to the far west to exterminate the balance of the poor Indians in that section.
Kellogg, Joseffy, Carey and other fair-to-middling artist may not always secure crowded house is in Erie, but Buffalo Bill knows our tastes better, hence his inevitable sucess. Hon. William Cody, old pard, farewell - a long farewell.