him insisting on his father's change in sociological bearing having
taken place while writing "Paul Kauvar." Timeliness was given to its
initial presentment through the fact that at the moment some Chicago
anarchists had been on trial, and were condemned to death. Writing of
the incident, William Dean Howells recalls that:

At the house of Judge Pryor, in 1887, several of us came
together in sympathy with your father, who was trying--or had
vainly tried--to get the United States Supreme Court to
grant the Chicago anarchists a new trial. With your father I
believed that the men had been convicted on an unjust ruling,
and condemned for their opinions, not for a proven crime. I
remember your father's wrathful fervour, and the instances he
alledged of police brutality. [Letter to Mr. Percy Mackaye.]

In a published interview, Mackaye expressed his concern for the case;
but he likewise was reticent about making theatre capital out of it.
He is reported to have said:

The play was first called "Paul Kauvar; or, Anarchy." Then I
thought "Anarchy" would be the best title, and under that
I produced it in Buffalo. After its production, the Chicago
anarchists were hanged, and, to avoid a possible charge of
trading on that event, I went back to my first title. Later,
however, the subtitle, "Anarchy," was gradually reduced to
smaller lettering and finally dropped.

The success of the play on its first night was a double triumph, for
twelve hundred leading citizens had signed an invitation to have it
given in Mackaye's native city, and the evening was a kind of public