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#Post#: 6992--------------------------------------------------
Mary Anderson's Lovers
DIR By: HowBrown1953
Date: June 20, 2026, 1:14 pm
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Pete and I put together a list of 'doubles' found in the case:
Double Frenchys, Double Shakespeares*, Double George Franks,
Double Alis - officers McClusky and McCloskey.
Double East River Hotels- Double Carrie Browns in Salem
cemeteries, double letters from Clubber Williams to Gov. Odell,
and now two crazy men in Brooklyn Asylum in love with Mary
Anderson, American actress...
*Crazy Mary Phillips was referred to as 'Shakespeare' in an
article covering her death. It may have been
an error.
Huddersfield Daily Examiner
November 29, 1888
******************
MARY ANDERSON'S MAD LOVERS.
The New York correspondent of the Daily Telegraph writes:—Mary
Anderson's reappearance in New York has been the signal for a
most enthusiastic reception. She has latterly been the subject
of a sensational persecution at the hands of an insane lover.
This man's name is James M. Dougherty. He laboured under a
delusion that Miss Anderson was madly in love with him, and that
she was kept from him only through the conspiracy of her
friends. Dougherty is a fine-looking man, with a pleasant
address, and is insane only upon this one subject. He is so
plausible in his manners that he obtained from the Collector in
his Port a special permit to go out on the cutter which took off
Miss Anderson from the Etruria. He told the Collector that he
was engaged to Miss Anderson. He has visited England twice in
pursuit of this famous lady. Within the last few days, he hung
about the stage door so persistently that Mr. Abbey, the
manager, became alarmed, and he had the man arrested. The police
found upon his person a revolver of the largest calibre. In the
Court the prisoner said he was a student of the stars, and as he
studied them the voice of Mary Anderson constantly called to him
to come. He was committed by the Judge to the New York Asylum
for the insane. There is in this same asylum at present another
insane person, who was sent there four years ago, and for the
same reason. He also imagines that Mary Anderson is violently in
love with him
This from the Pall Mall Gazette, elsewhere on the site:
Pall Mall Gazette
November 29, 1888
****************
MISS MARY ANDERSON'S LOVER.
A PERSISTENT SUITOR WHO HAS FOLLOWED HER FOR FIVE YEARS.
MISS ANDERSON has had many suitors, but none so persistent as
James M'Dougherty, whose attentions have compelled the famous
actress to place the matter in the hands of the New York police.
"I know that Miss Anderson loves me," said James M. Dougherty to
Inspector Byrnes. "I first saw her," he continued, "when she
appeared as Pauline in the 'Lady of Lyons,' at Elmira, over five
years ago, and it was a case of love at first sight. It was in
the third act that I discovered her passion for me. She had just
finished that beautiful piece of acting, where she angrily
upbraided Claude Melnotte for deceiving her, and she put her
whole soul into her acting. She looked out over the audience
from the humble cottage, by Lake Como, to which Claude had
brought her. So deeply was she impressed by her lines that she
actually lived the part she was playing, and it was then that
she discovered me sitting just beneath her in the first row of
the orchestra chairs."
SYMPTOMS OF LOVE.
"That she loved me from that moment there can be no doubt. She
could not control her face when her gaze met mine. Her cheeks
reddened, her eyes danced, and her voice became husky. I wanted
to get up and rush to her, but I knew it would spoil the scene
and injure the woman who so deeply loved me. I kept my seat. It
was a mistake, for conspirators have kept us apart ever since,
and although I have travelled thousands of miles to be near her
I have never exchanged a word with her. Had I followed love's
impulse that night we would have been happily married years
ago."
A CRANKY LOVER.
James M. Dougherty is a crank whose home is in Salem, N.Y., and
who for the past five years has been following Miss Mary
Anderson round the world, vainly hoping to be accepted by her as
her lover. Dougherty was arrested while attempting to gain
admission to Miss Anderson's dressing-room at Palmer's Theatre.
THREE TIMES CROSSED THE ATLANTIC.
Dougherty has followed America's favourite across the Atlantic
three times; has sent her hundreds of passionate love letters
and tons of flowers; has followed her from London to the
Continent and back to America again, earning a living as he went
by peddling books. He never lost heart, but always believed that
if he could say but one word to Mary she would never again be
parted from him. But the "cruel conspiracy of suitors," as he
termed them, was too strong for him, and he could not let her
know how devoted he was from the moment she looked at him from
the stage of the Elmira Theatre over five years ago.
ONCE WORTH A MILLION DOLLARS.
"I was the proprietor of a book store in Elmira when I first met
Miss Anderson," said Dougherty. "I once owned the Merry Wilson
mine in Colorado, and was worth 1,000,000 dols. I am not yet
convinced that it was Miss Anderson's double who fell in love
with me. No, I am sure it was Miss Anderson; but now that I have
lost my constitution she does not seem to love me as she did."
WHEN I KNEW SHE LOVED ME.
"Do you mean your mine by your constitution?"
"No, I mean my constitution. I will tell you how I lost it
later. After seeing Miss Anderson five years ago and realizing
that she loved me, I knew it was my duty to be near her. I sold
my store and followed her. She had gone to England and I
followed her. I sent her my photograph and wrote that I would
come to her. I crossed the ocean, but when I got there I found
that dukes and earls were pleading for her hand, but she would
accept none of them because she loved me. I went to the theatre
every night, but they would not let me meet her. When I at last
came back to America without having seen the lady I went to work
as an electrician in Philadelphia and saved my earnings. Then I
followed Miss Anderson again through the south and west, but
wherever we went the conspirators were about to keep us apart.
Last November I had money enough to go to Europe again, and, as
Miss Anderson was there, I determined to go."
TRICKED AT THE LYCEUM.
"When I got to the Lyceum Theatre in London I found that the
conspirators were stronger than ever. One day a lady came down
the aisle of the theatre. She was disguised. She tripped and
fell just as she got in front of me. I believed this was a trick
of the enemy to get me to catch the lady and have Miss Anderson
discover her in my arms, so I stepped aside and let the lady
fall to the floor. That evening when the curtain went up on the
second act I saw that I had made a dreadful mistake. The lady
who fell before me was Miss Anderson, and she had fallen to get
into my arms. I lost an opportunity to get an interview with
her. Then I went to a dramatic agency, but could not arrange an
interview there. As I came out of the place the woman I loved
passed in, but she did not see me."
DRUGGED AT A RAILWAY STATION.
"Why did you not address her?"
"I would not do that unless I was properly presented or she
should first address me. I remained in London for ten days, and
then came home. A few months later as Miss Anderson was reported
to be sick, I had to go back to London. When I got there, she
had gone to Paris, and I followed. But they would not let me see
her, so I followed her back to London and then to Liverpool. It
was at the latter place that I lost my constitution. You see, a
suspicious-looking person followed me all the way, and in a
railroad station at Liverpool, he drugged me. I was sick for
several days, and when I recovered, my constitution was gone.
But I was admitted to Miss Anderson's house, and her brother
received me. He treated me well, and led me to believe that when
Miss Anderson returned to America, she would be mine, as I was
the product of American soil, and therefore dearer to her than a
nobleman."
WAS IT HER DOUBLE?
Dougherty had a photograph of Miss Anderson as Ion, in "The
Foundling." He said that Miss Anderson, when she dressed as a
boy, wore a slouch hat in honour of him. "You see," he said,
"she is dressed for the character just as I dress." As the
prisoner was taken from the room, he said, "No, I am not
convinced that it was Miss Anderson's double that loved me. She
loved me in prosperity, but now that my constitution is gone,
she has ceased to love me." And the young man who had spent six
years of his life following the actress about went back to his
cell firm in the belief that he had not made a mistake, but that
some powerful influence or strong conspiracy had injured his
case, and had ruined the hopes of his heart.
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