Barrier Miner (Broken Hill, NSW : 1888 - 1954), Monday 10 July 1911, page 3


AMUSEMENTS.

MYSTERY OF A HANSOM CAB.

There as always a weird fascination about anything that is shrouded in mystery, and tho story of "The Mys-tery oj a Hansom Cab" owes its popu-larity to the fact. Years ugo a_ large section of the novel-reading public lost its head over this deftly-handled story of everyday life; und now the pictured' incidents of tho thrilling narrative, os reproduced by a company . of Austra-lian dramatic artists are,having just as good an innings. The Crystal Thea-tre was crowded on Saturday night,, when "The Mystery of n Hansom Cab" entered upon its week's run, and the audience remained engrossed with the. sensational interest of tho story throughout the whole of the flicker. The human interest of'the story is con-siderably strengthened by the fact that tho "mystery" is founded on an event which really happened in Melbourne many years , ago, and it is not to be wondered at that the large audience on Saturday night was so impressed with the vividly-portrayed and sensational happenings of the drama. Murk Frettleby secretly marries Rosanna Moore, who becomes bored with the monotony of station life, and with her daughter she takes refuge in flight. Mari? re-ceives a letter from England telling.of Rosanna's supposed death, and'he mar-ries, again. .Twenty years later Mark; Frettleby is 'seen as a millionaire-a pillar of society, a man of influence, re-spected, and (sought after. His second wife is dead, leaving . a daughter, Mudge to comfort and cherish . him. Madge has two suitors, Oliver Whyte, a scheming, ? dissolute scoundrel, ana Brian Fitzgerald, a squatter. Brian gains tho girl's affections, but Whyte is determined to win lier. He knows the secret of Frettloby's past. Rosanna Moore is alive in Melbourne, and Whyte . has secured possession of her papers, including her marriage certi-ficate. He uses his knowledge to ? in-timidate Frettleby, and force him to de. liver up his daughter to Whyte. Brian's engagement to Madge is announced, and Whyte is to be silenced at any cost. ' One night, Mark Frettleby coes to seo Whyte, and try and bribe him. It is just here :thnt the mysterious murder of Whyte, while being driven haine in à hansom, occurs, but : the identity of the stranger who enters the cab with him is not revealed until th* last. Several stirring scenes are wit-nessed before the final denouement, in-cluding Mother Guttersnipe's story ol Rosanna Moore, and the arrest oi Brian Fitzgerald on suspicion of haviny murdered Whyte. The following films were also shown :-:"Jean Goes Fish-ing;" "Queen Dido Forsaken by Aen-eas," "An Eventful Evening," "Foi Washington," "The Fakir's Fun." In-cidental music was rendered by Mr. A

Hales.