By Tom Collins
Visitors to the Sharlot Hall Building will find in the military exhibit a faded photo of Carrie Wilkins, the second daughter of Colonel John D. Wilkins of Fort Whipple. Carrie and her sister Ella were, according to military legend, much courted and much desired by the young officers in the 1870s, when women were scarce in this Arizona Territory's rough and male-dominated mining town. Colonel Wilkins departed from Prescott forever "with his excellent family" in late July 1878, when he was ordered to join his regiment in Benicia, California (Journal-Miner, July 19).
Captain Charles Porter eventually won Carrie's heart, and the two married on the 24th of April 1879, in Washington, D.C. "The Captain is a jolly good fellow and richly merits the grand prize he has secured. The wedding tour will include Europe and a visit to Capt. Porter's relatives." (Miner, May 2, 1879)
Did Carrie perform in the amateur theatrical productions at Fort Whipple during the command of General August V. Kautz? A Miss Carrie Wilkins and Mrs. E. D. Thomas, wife of Lieutenant Earl D. Thomas, sang Growne's beautiful duet, 'Evening Song to the Virgin' at a soiree musicale directed by Fannie Kautz at Fort Whipple in early February, 1875, and a Miss Carrie Wilkins played one of the two eligible daughters of Moses Mulligrub in the comedy 'The Boston Dip' performed as the inaugural profusion of the Fort Whipple Dramatic Association in October 1875. This was undoubtedly Colonel Wilkins' daughter. But was this the same Carrie Wilkins who appeared repeatedly in the productions of the Prescott Dramatic Club, beginning in August 1878? The historical evidence suggests not.
That there were two Carrie Wilkinses becomes clear in the Miner's report of the Masquerade Ball held at Fort Whipple in January 1878: 1) "Miss Carrie Wilkens (sic), of Whipple, wore silk skirt with lace Basque, hair powdered, and diamonds," and 2) "Miss Carrie Wilkins, of Prescott in white dress and pink roses, was tastefully arranged." (Miner, Jan. 18) The Prescott Carrie was the l6-year-old ward of the Miner's editor, Charles W. Beach, and his wife, Cora. She had been born in Ohio, but perhaps her single or widowed mother had left her in the care of the Beaches. (In May 1881 Carrie traveled East to visit her birth mother in Dodge City, Kansas.)
Fort Whipple's Carrie left Prescott just after Thomas Fitch founded the Prescott Dramatic Association and just as he was building the new Prescott Theatre on Alarcon and Liberty streets. The roster of actors included members of the Bar and their wives as well as Colonel James Porter Martin and his wife, Alice, of Fort Whipple. Several other prominent citizens, including Misses Etta Parker, Carrie Pine and Carrie Wilkins were soon to strut and fret their hour upon the amateur stage.
A "Miss Wilkens" (as spelled in the theatre programmes) played the "maid of all work," Tilda, in the inaugural production of 'Helping Hands,' as well as the flirtatious Suzanne O'Hara in the club's production of the comedy 'Led Astray' (Aug. 16 & 18, 1878), although the review in the Miner spells her name "Wilkins." No family by the name of "Wilkens" is recorded in the Yavapai County Great Register of 1878, but it's clear from later theatrical notices that the "Miss Wilkens" of the first two productions and Charles Beach's ward are one and the same.
In the Prescott Dramatic Club's revival of Tom Robertson's famous social comedy, 'Caste' (December 1878), Carrie Wilkins of Prescott nearly stole the show as the heroine's dizzy sister, Polly Eccles. The December 13 Miner reported that in the dress rehearsal Carrie "kept even the actors in a roar." The review in the December 14 Enterprise pronounced Carrie, along with Alice Martin as the heroine and Mrs. Bean as her aristocratic mother-in-law, "as nearly perfect as was possible." The reviewer added that Carrie was "a conscientious and thorough artist, and her 'Polly' last night, was life-like and effective."
On January 14, 1879, Carrie Wilkins appeared in the role of Arabella Pell, "a gushing girl" in Henry J. Byron's comedy, 'One Hundred Thousand Pounds.' If Charles Beach himself wrote the review, it is interesting that he could both praise and criticize his ward in one sentence: "She has more natural stage talent than any of our lady amateur performers, but lacks training." He is suggesting, in other words, that she hasn't mastered the grace and polish of good stage deportment and the clarity and modulation of good stage elocution. Indeed, how could any of the amateurs have received professional training, since there were no schools of acting in Prescott. About a week later, Carrie was "immense" as the saucy maidservant, Tilda, in the one-act farce 'A Regular Fix.'
In what was apparently an uncomfortable performance for her, Carrie Wilkins sang for the funeral of the Mother Superior of Mercy Hospital, who died in June 1879. Lily Fremont noted in her diary that "the little church was packed & in a soft scared voice Carry (sic) Wilkins blundered through the singing part of the Mass whilst Father Becker, who knew better, gabbled through the fine Latin Mass." (June 16) Singing was not Carrie's forte.
It must have been a disappointment for Carrie when the Prescott Dramatic Club announced (Miner, Aug. 2, 1879) that she would be playing the leading female role of Maritana, the gypsy girl, in the three-act romantic drama, 'Don Cesar de Bazan' but then the production was canceled (or so it seems) in deference to the popular actor Harry DuSouchet, who chose instead two one-act plays for his benefit. There are no ads or reviews in the newspaper for 'Don Cesar de Bazan,' and Lily Fremont, who surely would have supported her young friend by attending her performance, makes no mention of the play in her diary. She instead mentions the minstrel and variety shows that were done in August and September.
Carrie Wilkins endured one theatrical disaster and enjoyed three more acting triumphs. The disaster occurred on September 30, 1879, when she played the title role in Buckstone's one-act farce, 'Nan, the Good for Nothing' at the Prescott Theatre. Actually this would have been a triumph were it not for Harry DuSouchet, who failed to memorize his lines and threw the other actors off. Lily Fremont wrote (Sept. 30) that the acting was so bad it was funny.
The first triumph was on February 20, 1880, when Carrie sang the soprano lead in 'H. M. S. Pinafore' with the Pauline Markham Troupe. Miss Markham and her small band of professional actor/singers arrived in Prescott in late December 1879 and took the town by storm with Gilbert & Sullivan's new operetta, playing it no less than twelve times. When Miss Markham's tenor, Frank Rohraback, left her company for California, she herself stepped into the tenor role and recruited Carrie Wilkins to play the role of Josephine, the lass who loved a sailor. No doubt Carrie had been singing in the chorus of local volunteers, so she was already familiar with the music and learned the role quickly. The reviewer noted that although Carrie was an amateur with limited experience before the footlights, she surprised her friends with the masterly manner in which she carried off the difficult leading role. "She received deserved encore upon encore throughout the evening's entertainment." Evidently by this time Carrie had overcome her stage fright and was able to sing with genuine professional authority. It must have been a thrill for her to sing as an equal with Pauline Markham, the nationally renowned burlesque actress and singer.
The second triumph was in October 1880, (nearly a year after Fort Whipple's Carrie had become Mrs. Lt. Charles Porter), when she played the minor but mature role of Arria in John Banim's verse tragedy, 'Damon and Pythias,' at the Prescott Theatre. Charles Beach (or another reviewer) was clearly impressed: "Carrie Wilkins was more like Mrs. Judah, of San Francisco, than anything we have see for a long time. She sustained Arria well, and shows her usual versatility." (Mrs. Judah, doubtless renowned in her time, has disappeared from history.) In the midst of the second performance, after Carrie's scenes in Act II, the audience called her before the curtain repeatedly. Clark Churchill, Tom Fitch's law partner, stepped onto the stage and presented her with a set of gold earrings "emblematic of the purity and unselfishness of your life and thoughts" which had been donated by her friends in appreciation of her many services in Prescott. Overcome with both embarrassment and gratitude, she reflected for a moment and then replied humbly and elegantly: "Ladies and Gentlemen: in expression of this kindness, so unexpected and unmerited, I hardly find words with which to thank you. If my services as an amateur have been appreciated by the Prescott public, then my only aim has been accomplished. Allow me to tender my sincere thanks." (Miner Nov. 5, 1880)
The third and last success came when Carrie played the delightful kitchen wench, Melinda, in Henry J. Byron's international hit comedy 'Our Boys' at the Prescott Theatre (Feb. 10, 1881): a minor but memorable role. Cora Beach played a larger character role, and both ladies were pronounced "good."
Carrie was also interested in politics, and the Territorial Council and Legislature met with some frequency in Prescott. The Daily Arizona Citizen noted (Nov. 19, 1880), that Carrie and her good friend Minnie Atkinson were candidates for clerkships in the territorial council. It is unclear whether Carrie ever obtained such a position.
What happened to the Prescott Carrie after this? Little information is available about Miss Carrie after 'Our Boys.' In September 1882 the Miner reported that she and Master Leon Banghart came from Chino Valley to Prescott and would return the next day. This may suggest that the recently widowed George Banghart had hired Carrie as a governess for his young children.
The Prescott Theatre changed its repertoire from legitimate to musical theatre with the arrival of Pauline Markham, in December 1879, with her oft-repeated production of 'H. M. S. Pinafore.' Audiences gradually lost interest in non-musical plays, or perhaps the two stars of her troupe who took up residence in Prescott - Joseph Dauphin and Harry Carpenter - chose to stage only plays that would feature their singing talents. And those gentlemen found an amateur soprano more talented than Carrie in the form of Miss Jessie Stevens.
When Miss Markham departed in June of 1880, the local amateurs floundered, and when the Prescott Theatre burned to the ground in November 1883, the amateurs lost heart and disengaged. At the end of 1883, Charles Beach sold the Miner but remained in Prescott for a year or so. Cora Beach acted in an evening of farces with several other actors in October of 1884, but Carrie was notably absent from the cast. Beach left Prescott to live in Kirkland Valley in 1885, probably taking his wife Cora, his son, and Carrie Wilkins with him. There is no mention in the Prescott papers of Carrie after this. It is surprising that this charming young lady did not receive a marriage proposal from one of the well-to-do bachelors or widowers of Prescott who found women so scarce in that predominantly male population.
(Tom Collins is a Sharlot Hall Museum volunteer, researcher and writer of several other Days Past articles.)
Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(Map #819, cropped) Reuse only by permission.
A Bird's Eye View of Prescott," by C. J. Dyer, c. 1885. Carrie Wilkins performed numerous shows at the Prescott Theatre, the building seen here marked #17 in the lower right hand corner. The large brick structure on the left of the image is the Prescott Free Academy, on the current location of the Washington Elementary School on East Gurley Street.