[
"The Derby Winner"
](n02137) was played by the [
St. Louis company
](n02138) at the [Lansing](n00066) last night. The audience was large, enthusiastic and political. There have been several plays by illiterate playwrights brought out this year and of them all "The Derby Winner" is certainly the worst. [
"On the Bowery,"
](n02139) the play written and now being acted in New York by [
Steve Brodie
](n02140), the noted [Bowery](n01653) bartender and all around tough, is a classic compared to this. The author of this perpetration is one [
Mr. Al Spinks
](n02141), editor of a [St. Louis sporting paper](n02142). Of course the play comes from St. Louis; there is no other spot on the globe that could produce quite such a play. The dialogue was fearful and wonderful, consisting of all the old gags shaken up in a hat and poured out at random. The characters utterly lacked consistency. The racing scene made one long to lay aside the [tabernacle of clay](n02143). Beside this play the [
"Police Patrol"
](n00840) and the [
"Heroes of the Hook and Ladder"
](n02144) loom up as Shakespearean masterpieces. The play is not worthy of criticism and produces no impression except ["that tired feeling."](n02145) As for the actors, for their own sake we will not mention who they were.