The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 107, July 2003 - April, 2004 Page: 417
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Renegades and Phzlzstines
the conclusion of the stage show, an all-night dance typically com-
menced, with female "actresses" doubling as partners for customers
while steering them frequently to the bar for liquid refreshments.
Recalling the practice in later years, a local reporter remained philo-
sophical about the practice: "It was generally understood that whoever
went to a honk-a-tonk and lost his roll had no kick coming to him-
everything went, as the boys said."5
The Comique's boisterous ambience sometimes worked to blur the
line between actors and patrons. A local constable shoved through the
crush toward the stage one night as yet another fight broke out. He
quickly subdued the belligerents over the protests of several in the
crowd. Only artful persuasion finally convinced the officer that he had
just arrested two of the hall's thespians engaged in scripted pugilistic dis-
play, part of the nightly show. The Fort Worth Democrat's man on the
scene recorded the incident's final denouement at the expense of the
policeman's dignity: "Instead of [the combatants] being 'sent up,' he
had to 'set 'em up."'"
Most notorious of Fort Worth's early variety hall impresarios was a
scoundrel of some note, three years on the lam from Kansas authorities
for attempted homicide by the time he reached the town in 1876. Joe
Lowe, a gambler whose personal history already included at least two
murders, had demonstrated such an irascible temperament that
acquaintances nicknamed him "Rowdy Joe." He set up shop in the
Centennial Hotel at Second and Main, reopening it in October 1876 as
the Centennial Theater.
Within weeks, accounts of property damage, illegal gambling,
"bloody" fights, and at least one near-fatal shooting sullied the already
doubtful reputation of the new theater. Lowe's partner, John Leer,
who had previously operated the Red Light, one of the town's more
sordid dance halls, was arrested after drunkenly firing several pistol
shots through the front windows of a rival saloon. Two men were
struck and wounded by the stray rounds. A Centennial actress died
inside the hall under mysterious circumstances, details of the incident
hushed up except for one journalist's cryptic observation, "Her death
was rather sudden."8
5 Fort Worth Dazly Standard, Oct. 11, 1876, p. 4; Oct. 12, 1876, p. 4; Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
Dec. 13, 1914, p. 11.
6 Fort Worth Dazly Standard, Oct. 12, 1876, p. 4.
7 Fort Worth Democrat, Oct. 1, 1876, p. 4; Fort Worth Dazly Standard, Oct. 6, 1876, p. 4;Joseph G.
Rosa and Waldo E. Koop, Rowdy Joe Lowe, Gambler with a Gun (Norman: University of Oklahoma
Press, 1989), 5, 8, 97-105.
8 Fort Worth Daly Standard, Jan. 14, 1877, p. 4; Jan. 29, 1877, p. 4; Mar. 7, 1877, p. 4; Mar. 31,
1877, p 4; Fort Worth Democrat,Jan. 16, 1877, p. 4.417
20oo04
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 107, July 2003 - April, 2004, periodical, 2004; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101224/m1/475/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.