Old Missoula

Downfall of A Talented Man Who Cannot Put Away Booze

The story of a bright life crushed and befogged by drink was demonstrated anew yesterday in a version furnished Police Magistrate Hayes by William Stark, who was before the court charged with vagrancy and the result of whose trial was the passing of a jail sentence of five days.

Stark was taken in by Officer J. W. McGregor while at the Helena hotel Monday night, without money or place to sleep and making of himself a general nuisance about the place by persistently soliciting drinks of patrons of the bar. He is not yet forty years of age, and to those who knew him ten years ago upon occasion of visits to Missoula could well be excused a display of wonderment at the change and pity for the unfortunate.

To the court, Stark stated that he was a native of San Francisco, and in that city had studied and gained some prominence on the stage. Later he took up with traveling theatrical companies, developing in the early days of the vaudeville craze into a clever performer, in this line of work. He had visited Missoula as such and with various companies during a number of years, each time being with inferior talent so strong an effect was the drink habit gaining on him that with it his powers as an entertainer waned. For the past two seasons, he states, he has been unable to secure a contract in his profession and steadily has his career trended downward. His only hope now, as expressed in court, is to evade the notoriety that frequently falls to one whose descent in the possibilities of life has been sensational, and to await what the darkly lowering future had in store for him.

Those that knew Stark in his days of mental vigor say he was as clever an entertainer as one would wish to see and never lacked for an engagement. It is believed that if broken of his habit, he would again come to the front of his profession.

The above article appeared in The Missoulian on January 16, 1902.

A week later, on January 21, 1902, an article in The Missoulian confirmed that Stark really was a talented entertainer:

Stark Entertains

Gives Inmates of the County Jail a Rare Treat – Good Performance

Inmates of the county jail were furnished a rare treat Sunday night in the shape of a one-man show that was furnished by William Stark, an old time professional and favorite in Missoula, who through dissipation had fallen to a state that as an act of mercy he was recently given a brief jail sentence on a charge of vagrancy. With the poor facilities offered, a stage was improvised in the main corridor of the place, where for two hours Stark furnished his eager listeners a merrier time than is customary in bleak prison walls. The applause greeting his efforts was demonstrative.

In stating that he was a native of San Francisco, Stark furnished what may be a clue to his background. James and Sarah Kirby Stark were two very prominent actors who came to reside in the San Francisco/Sacramento area in the 1850’s. James Stark began his acting career in New York City in the 1840’s and became well known for his roles in Shakespearian tragedies. By 1850 he was living in San Francisco and managing the Jenny Lind theater where the actress, Sarah Kirby also performed. Stark married Sarah Kirby not long after her husband died and the two later became well known for presenting classical theater to the “miners” of northern California. They traveled widely for a time and were especially successful in Australia. After divorcing in 1868, James Stark suffered a stroke in Virginia City, Nv., and never recovered to the point that he could resume his career. He died in poverty in N. Y. in 1875. Sarah Kirby Stark, on the other hand, succeeded in the theater business in California and became the owner and manager of several theatrical properties. Married numerous times, she later married another veteran actor/manager, Charles R. Thorne. Sarah passed away in 1898.

https://www.sfgenealogy.org/santaclara/history/scchist9.htm

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