return to normal view
Williamsport Sunday Grit
27 September 1891

ALMOST TOO REALISTIC
Actor Horace Cone hanged in fact in a St. Louis Theatre

St. Louis, Sept. 26.
At the London theatre Horace Cone is playing a "thrilling drama" entitled "Jack the Ripper", the culminating scene of which is the execution of Jack. Monday night Jack was hanged in fine style, and a big audience enjoyed his dance in the air. But with the dropping of the curtain the enactment of another scene was begun.

Mr. Cone had been "cut down" and the black cap removed, but the man was insensible and his face was changing color. His wife, who was standing by, fainted away, and for a few minutes the greatest excitement and confusion prevailed. Physicians were summoned and restoratives applied, but it was nearly half an hour before the man regained consciousness. He was then taken to the hotel and put to bed.

"I believe I am all right now," Mr. Cone said the next day, "excepting that my throat is still sore from the choking. It was all my fault. I neglected to fasten one portion of the harness tight enough and the result was that my throat or chin had to bear all the weight." Mr. Cone said this was the most serious accident he had had in the character of Jack the Ripper, since his fall at Dallas, Texas, when his head struck a beam as he fell, breaking his left jawbone and knocking out several of his teeth.


Related pages:
  Early Ripper Plays
       Press Reports: Brooklyn Daily Eagle - 4 October 1891 
       Press Reports: Brooklyn Daily Eagle - 8 January 1889 
       Press Reports: East London Observer - 17 August 1889 
       Press Reports: El Siglo XIX - 6 June 1896 
       Press Reports: Galveston Daily News - 29 January 1890 
       Press Reports: Manitoba Daily Free Press - 8 January 1889 
       Press Reports: The Two Republics - 12 August 1896 
       Press Reports: The Two Republics - 21 January 1894 
       Press Reports: The Two Republics - 6 June 1896 
       Press Reports: Times [London] - 11 April 1930 
       Press Reports: Times [London] - 30 December 1948 
       Press Reports: Williamsport Sunday Grit - 27 September 1891 
       Ripper Media: Jack the Ripper Of Eene Misgreep 
       Ripper Media: The Ripper (Adolf Paul) 

Advertise with us | Link to us | Privacy Policy | Copyright © Stephen P. Ryder & Johnno, 1996-2024 Thomas Schachner