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1866, her all too short existence ended wken she sank at her moorings below the old National Bridge.
Mrs. Carter, one of the ladies referred to in the ride up the river, was the wife of Major Thomas Carter, the auctioneer at the memorable sale of town lots October 8 to 12, 1821, and tavern keeper as well. He built a log tavern just west of the present News building and called it the Rose Bush.
Here the first theatrical performance of the town was given, December 31, 1823, by a Mr. and Mrs. Smith, purporting to be directly from the New York theaters. Neither actor was less than fifty, one witness of their performance states. “They essayed the principal roles in ‘The Jealous Lovers,’ and ‘Lord, What a Snow Storm in May and June.’ Admittance, 25 cents. No music, at first because the fiddle strings broke. Russell and Bolton were requested by our host, a strict Baptist, to play nothing but note tunes or psalms, as he called them.”
Encouraged by their reception the Smiths filled a return engagement the next summer, but they made the awful mistake of advertising in the Gazette and not in The Censor, whereupon the editor of The Censor sarcastically observes: “Mr. and Mrs. Smith, whose performances were treated with so much contempt and ridicule last winter, arrived in town a few days ago and commenced their performance last night. * * * The encouragement of this company, whose exhibition we understand (for we have never witnessed them) afford neither instruction nor rational entertainment, would be a reproach upon our understandings and would evince a want of taste and discrimination in our citizens which we are proud to say does not exist.” After such a blasting newspaper article, it is not surprising to learn that “Smith and his company have absconded without taking from us any of our cash.” Mr. Bolton, husband of the poetess, Sarah T. Bolton, also wit-
