No. 647
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
March 28, 2024

Chorus Girls in a Panic.

An unruly horse causes great excitement in the Metropolitan Opera House, this city.
March 14, 2011
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Via Newspapers.comThis account of diabolical doings down on the farm appeared in the “Great Bend Tribune,” September 28, 1908:Groton, Conn. This town is excited indeed over the amazing happenings at the fine old farm of William Hempstead, a mile east of New London.Visitors have been going out in automobiles and carriages to study the mystery. Small articles, such as beans, spools of thread,
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Margaret Howard learned too late that the man she married was a violent, two-timing gambler. After they separated, he kidnapped their children to be raised by another woman posing as his wife. Margaret snapped and took her revenge on the false Mrs. Howard.  Read the full story here: Margaret Howard.
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Voodoo Queen Marie | Crush Collision!

Chorus Girls in a Panic.

Chorus Girls Panic

New York, New York, 1894 - An unruly horse causes great excitement in the Metropolitan Opera House, this city. 

Panic reigned for a few minutes the other afternoon upon the stage of the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, during the representation of "Carmen." It was due to an unruly horse, one of the number which make such an effect in the stage picture of the last act.

When the mounted Alguasil made his appearance, just before the entry of the toreador, his steed began to show that it was in very high spirits, to the uneasiness of the chorus, who felt they were closer than was absolutely safe.

Skillfully curbing the animal, the Alguazil, a Dane named Nyegaard, rode to the center of the stage. There the horse grew so Unruly that Mr. Nyegaard was compelled to rein it sharply, which made it rear on its hind legs right in the midst of the choristers. The chorus scattered right and left and two chorus women took a flying leap into a portion of the audience.

One of the women scrambled back onstage immediately, but the other, of heavy build, had to be assisted back by a couple of her mates and an usher, while the audience laughed heartily. During the hubbub Signor Bevignani continued conducting with as much gravity and composure as though it was all an everyday happening.


Reprinted from The National Police Gazette - February 17, 1894