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[[newspaper clipping]]
BOOTH - On Sunday, November 13, at 4 o'clock p.m., after a long and painful illness, at the residence of her parents, No. 13 West 53d.st., Mary Frances McVicker, wife of Edwin Booth.

Funeral services on Wednesday, 16th inst., at 4 o'clock p.m., at the residence as above. Friends are invited.

Interment at Chicago.

DEATH OF EDWIN BOOTH'S WIFE.

Tribune Nov 14th

HER SICKNESS AND DETAILS OF HER LIFE. 
RELIEF AFTER A LINGERING ILLNESS——DYING AT HER PARENTS' HOME——EDWIN BOOTH IN PHILADELPHIA.

Mrs. Edwin Booth, who has been very ill for nearly a year, died yesterday at 4 p.m. at her parents' house, No. 13 West Fifty-third-st. For the last five weeks she has been confined to her bed. The arrangements for the funeral have not been completed, but there will be a service in this city, after which the remains will be taken to Chicago for interment.

Edwin Booth, her husband, has been in Philadelphia for the last two weeks, and had not returned to New York yesterday.

Mary McVicker, the second wife of Edwin Booth, was born in a Western city in 1849. Her maiden name was Mary Runnion. Her mother subsequently became the wife of Mr. J. H. McVicker, the manager——so many years the leader of theatrical enterprise in Chicago,——and the child took the name of her step father, and grew up as Mary McVicker. At an early age she evinced unusual talent for music, and in that art she was carefully educated. When only nine years old she sang in concerts with Signor Brignoli, and she was then considered a remarkable type of precocious ability. She also appeared on the dramatic stage, in juvenile parts,——such as Little Eva, in "Uncle Tom's Cabin." Edwin Booth first saw her about this time,——1858,——but of course never thought that she was destined to become his wife. Their next meeting occurred in 1867, when Booth was acting at McVicker's Theatre, Chicago, and when she came forward as Ophelia to his Hamlet. They were then betrothed, and in that relation they acted together during this Chicago engagement and several others. They were married on June 7, 1869, at Long Branch, New-Jersey, where for a time they resided. Mrs. Booth, as Miss McVicker, had in the meanwhile made her first professional appearance in New-York, on the occasion of the opening of Booth's Theatre, February 3, 1869, when she appeared as Juliet, to Booth's Romeo. This tragedy was succeeded, on April 12, by "Othello,"-Booth acting the Moor, and Mary McVicker appearing as Desdemona. "Othello" held the state till May 29, on which date Miss McVicker made her farewell appearance. She then retired from the stage, and she has never acted since, although she has been her husband's constant companion in his professional travel and labor. They have had one child, a boy, born July 3, 1870, who live but a few hours. Their married life, it will be observed, has extended over a period of twelve years. Mrs. Booth has passed away in the thirty-second year of her age. Edwin Booth's first wife-Mary Devlin——to whom he was married on July 7, 1860, in New-York——died on February 21, 1863, in her twenty-third year, leaving a daughter, Edwina, who still lives, to be, as she has ever been, her father's comfort and hope, his chief care in life, and the mainstay of his existence.

The late Mrs. Booth was remarkable for energy of character and for practical administrative ability in the affairs of business and social life, rather than for especial talent in acting. She had neither the figure, the countenance, the voice, nor the personal charm that are essential for success upon the stage, and her acting, though intelligent, was in general devoid of both tenderness and power. She acted all along the range from Lady Macbeth to Ophelia. Her courage was audacious; her ambition knew no bounds; and the fiery energy of her sprit kept her in restless activity, and, ultimately, consumer her life. As an actress she did not reach the height to which she had aimed, and her mind never resigned itself to this disappointment. Her best effort on the stage was Desdemona-a performance that had sweetness, feeling, and a touch of ideal heroism. Her singing of the Willow Song was an exquisite bit of plaintive melody and forlorn pathos. Her thoughts on dramatic subjects were marked by a good power of discrimination and by practical sense. Reared in a theatre, and long associated with theatrical persons and affairs, she had a real and positive knowledge of the stage, and thus she could, and did, render valuable assistance to her husband in this professional toil. It is known that she had the intention of writing a descriptive account of every one of Edwin Booth's impersonations, and that she made copious and minute notes, night after night, during a period of years, of all the "readings" and "business" employed by him, and often of his remarks on the various characters he had assumed. This work she designed should fill several volumes, and should be copiously illustrated; and had her purpose been fulfilled, there is no doubt that the literature of the theatre would have gained a treasure. The most delightful quality of her mind was its faculty of humor. She had a keen sense of the comic and the ridiculous, and her felicitous language and animated manner, in describing eccentric character or humorous incident and conduct, were excessively droll. Had she chosen to play Irish girls in farces, she would always have succeeded. In appearance she was singular,——of a very slight figure, small stature, and dusky aspect. She had an infantile countenance, small features, dark hair, and gray eyes, and her movements were quick and nervous. She has been in ill-health for many years. The mental disturbance which became sadly obvious in her last days made itself manifest to her husband long ago, and he has watched and tended her with patient devotion throughout the vicissitudes of painful and sorrowful years.

Mrs. Booth was seriously indisposed when she went to England, with her husband, in June, 1880, and while abroad she had the attendance of eminent physicians, and everything was done for her that skill could compass or affectionate care provide. After her return, last summer, her mental malady took such a shape that her husband was presently compelled to keep out of her presence as much as possible,——although, of course, his practical care of her never ceased. This unfortunate and distressing state of domestic affairs has led to the publication of many slanders against Edwin Booth, as obnoxious to truth as they are cowardly and brutal. In his affliction,——thus deeply embittered by the malice of inveterate and wilful enmity,——he will have the sympathy of all right-minded persons, no less than the consciousness of duty thoroughly, honorably, and tenderly fulfilled, in the most delicate relation of life, and under circumstances well calculated to shake the strongest spirit. 
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Tuesday Nov. 15, 1881. I saw by the Tribune today that Booth had come on to N.Y. I did not know what I might to do about attending Mrs. Booth's funeral which took place today but finally decided it would be better not to go. I do not think I could have got there in time if I had started. I wish I could see Booth for I do not know what to say if I write.

Went down town this morning and did a number of errands. Had the fire place in the parlor finished. The men are at work in force on the barn and it has been a good day rather cold and windy. Attended the Carreno-Vivaldi concert this evening in Sampson Hall with Gussie and Girards wife. Carreno played delightfully and was a very interesting looking woman. I did think much of the other members of the Company. There was a long wait at the beginning for the grand Weber piano which was dragged up long after the concert should have begun. 

Transcription Notes:
Teresa Carreno: virtuoso pianist