Honolulu Republican, Volume IV, Number 492, 9 January 1902 — THEATER GOERS ARE SCARED Bt ROLLING ROCKS [ARTICLE]

THEATER GOERS ARE SCARED Bt ROLLING ROCKS

Japanese Entertainers Are In. temipied During the Performance. DANGEROUS PRANK OF BOYS • ——— . Large Audience Crowds the House and Many Become Alarmed. Corrugated Iron Roof Used to Good Advantage—Japanese Explorer is Nearly Hit by Huge Stone and Quickly Reaches the Ground — Offenders Are Not Discovered As prett»- and agile little Koyo was doing marvelous stunts on a long bamboo pole balanced on the shoulder of the star juggler in the Japanese Midway on King street last night, and over five hundred little brown men and women and a couple of hundred white folks and Hawaiians and others were applauding with all their might, there came a rumble and a roar from overhead which caused the audience to tremble and the actors to pause in their ent rtainment For a moment th re was confusion Only two people ijj the great assemblage remained p rfectly calm and self-contained. Th y were th-> jug gler who balanced a little life on the end of a wavering pole, an ! th<- ma'den who was so cleverly imitating th fly in her dangerous position. Noise Creates Confusion. The manager rushed from behind the scenes, made his way through the seated crowd and disappeared through the back door, followed by a corps of assistants and stage hands. Again was the ominous sound repeated. It sounded like thunder, louder than thund r. More people went out. It was - •. ral mihut-- b>fore anyone return d to report what was going on. In the meanwhile people forgot their fear and. supposing that the noise must have been only that of a swiftly passing trolley car. again turned their ntt ntion to the play. The manager and his assistants busied themselves outside to asi r tain what occasioned the unusual noise. Plainly som thing was going on on the corrugated iron roof. Rocks on the Rcjf. The manager and the others stood for a moment at the back of the tlvater. Here the roof sloped almost to within eight fe t of the ground, \hile at the stage end the roof was at least thirty five feet from the level -f the street. They looked expectantly up toward the roof. Their expectations, if thev really had any, were not for nothing The loud, rumbling noise, as of thousand hammers striking on iron like a boiler yard was again repe:r d and seemed to the watchers to be cemine nearer Suddenly something dropped at the feet of the stage man ager and caused him to jump back a yard or two. It was a large stone. The mystery was explained. Stone were being rolled down tne steep in dining iron roof of the th- ater. One of the stage, bands hastened back into the building to assure the people that th-re was no danger; that the noise was only occasioned by stones rolling down the roof. An investigation was then started to see whA w-as responsible for the mischief. Stone Thrower Sought. A couple of Japanese secured a ladder and leaned it against the roof at the back of the theater. Then one climbed up and p**-r d over the edge of th- iron roof alio* icg his glance to scan the long up ward slant of th- roof looking for whoever or whatever might be there He was in great danger of being struck bv a falling stone and was reminded of this fact by his compahions. But he was a brave little fellow and cared not for the risk as long as he could lay hands on the guilty wretches who were attempting to break up the show by rolling rocks down the corrugated iron roof. He went d wn tae ladder quict-r than he went up. however, for suddenly a stone hit the roof somewhere in the middle and he heard it come tumbling in his direction. The Japan *

ese wa# out of the way before the stone arrived at the lowed edge of the roof and tumbled onto the gr-.'uu 1. narrowly missing a soda water and candy hand-cart which wa? doing bu#.nes- w;?h p-opl- who wanted r* freshments between the acts Battery Behird Fence, It was learned that the stone# wer j being thrown on to the roo' by somene from behind a neighboring ( nee. | Immediately a number of Japan*'startled off in search of the m - .-cr;ants. It is not on record however that any of the stone throwers w r< caught. * When the terrifying noise was first beard in the theater a number of 11*' spectators arose and took their departure. These were whUe pe -pie who. seeking entertainment and there ; being no performance at the Orpheum. bad tak-a in th* Japanese , show . As they w-re passing out. one -f j them remarked that the structure looked too shaky for comfort and that he thought th - noise might be made by the sliding of the corrugated Iron sheets. He said h didn't want any I iron on his head and was going to 1 clear out. An Unsubstantial Budding. The building is the most unsubstan :ial affair in the city. The weight of the roof is apparently barely supported by the framework. To look at the alleged building, it would seem that a wind of any strength would collapse it. There were seven hundred people there last night. Tnere would be slaughter if th° flimsy structure should collapse. The Japanese are keeping a sharp | lookout for stone throwers and it will igo hard with the first man or boy '■aught in the As for the, flini#in--ss of the build- : ing. the Japanese do not seem to mind it. Such a structure would not be permitted to exist in any city on the mainland, however. It is ex tremely dangerous.