There was a fascinating conglomeration of the drama of true, wholesome Texas life at the Grand Opera House last night.
Zack Mulhall, general live stock agent of the Frisco, is here with his cowboy band, and they occupied eight boxes
at the Grand last night at the presentation of Hal Ried's "Human Hearts."
"Can my boys make all the noise they want to?" asked Col. Mulhall before he accepted the invitation. He was assured that
they could. The band was attired in leather leggings, buckskin shirts, campaign hats and red bandana handkerchiefs. They carried
Colt's sixshooters and belts full of cartridges. Miss Lucille Mulhall, the pretty daughter of Col. Mulhall,
who can rope and tie a steer in thirty-eight seconds flat and sing an operatic air equal to a prima donna, accompanied
the band as sponsor.
After the third curtain the band struck up "Dixie," with such feeling that everybody cheered until they were hoarse,
but the climax of enthusiasm and consernation came when Miss Mulhall snatched a six-shooter out of one of the men's pockets
and emptied it in the direction of the ceiling. The "boys" were not averse to following her example, and while the band continued
to play music they punctuated the stirring notes with a fusillade of shots. There was wild consternation in the big audience,
but a panic was averted.
There was another tremendous sensation when Jim Hopkins, a big raw-boned cowboy, not liking the way the heroine was being treated,
undertook to lasso the villain. While unsuccessful the attempt caught the fancy of the crowd, and Hopkins was forced to take the
stage, lariat in hand, and bow his acknowledgments.
On the whole it was a bit of the "wild and woolly West," not witnessed here in many years.
San Antonio (Tex.) Correspondence St. Louis Republic.