“Production of ” The Judge,” comedy by T. W. King, at the Town Hall, Saratoga, N. Y., with Odell Willlams in the title role, supported by D. G. Longworth as the Yankee Overseer, May Wheeler as Beatrix, Annie Ware as Widow Evison, Florence Vincent as the Judge’s Sister, E. J. Ratcliffe as John Evison, Porter White as Hubert Evison, and Thad. Shine as Joe Carter. The story is one of Louisiana life, and Judge Elton is intended to portray a typical Southern character. Most of the serious part of the plot is simply referred to as dark doings twenty years before the opening of the story. Two men fight a duel. One takes an unfair advantage, firing before the word, and kills his man. A brother of the survivor was to have given the word. The latter kills him to hide his disgrace, and later commits suicide through remorse. Each man leaves a child. One of these is a girl—the daughter of the man who died in the duel. The others are boys, sons of the brothers. These children are grown when the play opens. The daughter is the ward of the Judge, and is being educated in New York. He brings her home to his plantation amid great rejoicing. The cousins are suitors for the girl’s hand. The son of the murderer of the girl’s father is the villain of the piece, and is the unsuccessful suitor. He is foiled through the Judge holding ” papers ” that are played as trumps when needed. These papers divulge the story of the crimes.”

Reference Data:

The New York Mirror Annual and Directory of the Theatrical Profession for 1888, by Harrison Grey Fiske, 1888, page 38