The Unpaid Players of the Casino Opera Company
When an acting troupe failed to pay its stars in 1886, the performers fought back by seizing the entire production—including the costumes and luggage—to cover their lost wages.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The tour of the Casino Opera Company on the Sound did not prove an unbounded financial success, it would appear. After the performance here Thursday evening, Mr. Webber, the manager, paid all the people their salaries except C. M. Fyke and Miss Loube Manfred, who were each owed one week's salary, amounting to $40. These people, who were to leave for San Francisco the next day, took out a writ of attachment against the scenery, wardrobes, and baggage in Mr. Webber's possession, and ready for shipment to Portland, for the sum of their joint claims. The trunks were attached on the City Dock, and will probably be held there until the case can be settled in the courts. Webber claims that the property at issue belongs to the Casino Opera Company, and that he has two chattel mortgages on it, which mortgages are of record in Portland.
“These people, who were to leave for San Francisco the next day, took out a writ of attachment against the scenery, wardrobes, and baggage.”
This 1886 dispute over withheld wages and the seizing of assets mirrors the ongoing struggles of gig workers and independent contractors in Seattle today, who often find themselves resorting to legal and public pressure to secure payment from transient or elusive employers.
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