id="id00030">The brothers-in-law put their heads together in council as to how the campaign fund was to be raised, and the result was that they decided to rent a theatre, get a company together, and play "Richard III" for a week. Lyne was a native of Philadelphia and at this time one of its most popular actors. It was here that Adams had met him a few years before and had given him his sister in marriage.

The theatrical venture was carried through, Lyne playing Richard and Elder Adams, Richmond. The week's business, after paying all expenses, left a handsome profit. Lyne generously donated his share to the new cause in which he had now grown so deeply interested and Elder Adams procured a suitable hall and began his missionary labors. His eloquent exposition of the new and strange religion won many to the faith; one of the first fruits of his labors being the conversion of Thomas A. Lyne.

Such an impression had Adams's description of the Mormon prophet and the City of the Saints (Nauvoo) made upon Lyne that he could not rest satisfied until he went and saw for himself. He packed up his wardrobe and took the road for Nauvoo. With a warm letter of introduction from Elder Adams to the prophet, it was not long before Lyne was thoroughly ingratiated in the good graces of the Mormon people. He met the prophet Joseph, was enchanted with him, and readily gave his adherence to the new and strange doctrines which the prophet advanced, but whether with an eye single to his eternal salvation or with both eyes open to a lucrative engagement "this deponent saith not."

The story runs that after a long sojourn with the Saints in Nauvoo, during which he played a round of his favorite characters, supported by a full Mormon cast, he bade the prophet and his followers a sorrowful farewell and returned to his accustomed haunts in the vicinity of Liberty Hall.

During his stay in Nauvoo, Mr. Lyne played quite a number of classical plays, including "William Tell," "Virginius," "Damon and Pythias," "The Iron Chest," and "Pizarro." In the latter play, he had no less a personage than Brigham Young in the cast; he was selected to play the part of the Peruvian high priest, and is said to have led the singing in the Temple scene where the Peruvians offer up sacrifice and sing the invocation for Rolla's victory. Brigham Young is said to have taken a genuine interest in the character of the high priest and to have played it with becoming dignity and solemnity. Here was an early and unmistakable proof of Brigham Young's love for the drama.

Mr. Lyne, while relating this Nauvoo incident in his experience to the writer, broke into a humorous vein and remarked:

"I've always regretted having cast Brigham Young for that part of the high priest."

"Why?" I inquired, with some surprise.

With a merry twinkle in his eye and a sly chuckle in his voice, he replied: "Why don't you see John, he's been playing the character with great success ever since."

There are still a few survivors of the old Nauvoo dramatic company, who supported "Tom" Lyne, living in Salt Lake. Bishop Clawson, one of the first managers of the Salt Lake theatre, is among them.

Lyne played a winning hand at Nauvoo. He made a great hit with the prophet, who took such a fancy to him that he wanted to ordain him and send him on a mission, thinking that Lyne's elecutionary powers would make him a great preacher. But "Tom" had not become sufficiently enthused over the prophet's revelations to abjure the profession he so dearly loved, and become a traveling elder going about from place to place without purse or scrip, instead of a popular actor who was in demand at a good sized salary.

Lyne had made his visit remunerative and had enshrined himself in the hearts of the Mormon people, as the sequel will show: but he drifted away from them as unexpectedly as he had come. Having become a convert to the new religion, it was confidently expected that he would remain among the Saints and be one of them; but he drifted away from them and the Mormons saw no more of "Tom" Lyne till he turned up in Salt Lake twenty years later, soon after the opening of the Salt Lake Theatre.

Lyne was the first star to tread its stage and played quite a number of engagements during the years from '62 to '70. He made money enough out of his engagements at the Salt Lake Theatre to live on for the remainder of his days. For the last twenty years of his life, he rarely appeared in public except to give a reading occasionally. With his French wife, Madeline, he settled down and took life easy, living cosily in his own cottage, and in 1891 at the advanced age of eighty-four Thomas A. Lyne passed peacefully away, a firm believer in a life to come but at utter variance with the Mormon creed, which he had discarded soon after his departure from Nauvoo.

CHAPTER II.

    Thus far into the bowels of the land
    Have we marched on without impediment.

—Shakespeare.

When the Mormons came from Nauvoo to Salt Lake they brought with them to this wilderness in the Rocky Mountains, the love of the drama, and as a consequence it was not long, only a few years from 1847 to 1850, before they began to long for something in the way of a theatre.

The pleasant recollections of the drama as interpreted at Nauvoo by Mr. Lyne and his supporting cast, were still fresh in their memories, and almost before many of them had comfortable houses to live in they began to yearn for some dramatic amusement. As a result of this strong inclination for the play and a still more universal desire for dancing, it was but a short time before their wishes materialized.

As early as the fall of 1850 they had formed a club called the Musical and Dramatic Association. The name was a comprehensive one, intentionally so, for the organization included the celebrated "Nauvoo Brass Band," a number of whose members also figured in the dramatic company. Indeed it was from this musical organization that the dramatic company really sprang.

The members of this original dramatic company were John Kay, Hyrum B. Clawson, Philip Margetts, Horace K. Whitney, Robert Campbell, R. T. Burton, George B. Grant, Edmond Ellsworth, Henry Margetts, Edward Martin, William Cutler, William Clayton, Miss Drum, Miss Margaret Judd, and Miss Mary Badlam. Miss Badlam, in addition to playing parts, was very popular as a dancer and gave her dancing specialties between the acts, making something like our up-to-date continuous performance.

The first public dramatic performances were given in the "Bowery" (a very reminiscent name for a New York theatre goer of that day). "The Bowery" in this case was a summer place of worship which stood on the Temple Block near where the big Tabernacle now stands. In this place of worship as early as the year 1850, with the aid of a little home-made scenery and a little crude furniture, were the first plays presented to a Salt Lake audience.

The first bill consisted of the old serio-comic drama, "Robert Macaire, or the Two Murderers," dancing by Miss Badlam, and the farce of the "Dead Shot."

Judging by their titles, these plays were rather a gruesome selection to play in a church. As it is a matter of historic interest the cast so far as procurable is appended of "Robert Macaire:"

    Robert Macaire …………………………… John Kay
    Jacque Stropp ……………………….. H. B. Clawson
    Pierre ……………………………. Philip Margetts
    Waiter ……………………………. Robert Campbell
    Clementina ………………………….. Margaret