Izard, at the City Hotel, a small frame building, at the northwest corner of Harney and Eleventh streets, the site now being occupied by a large brick block erected by the late

     [The Grand Opera House is comparatively a new enterprise. Its management recognized the fact that Omaha needed more than one first-class place of amusement and was quick to seize the opportunity of supplying the want. That no mistake of judgment was made has been evinced from the first. It is one of six houses composing a circuit managed by Mr. L. M. Crawford. Mr. Crawford is seconded by J. D. Jones, who is assistant manager of the entire circuit and resident manager of the Grand. The other places represented are Atchison, Leavenworth, Topeka, Wichita and Newton, Kansas. This syndicate arrangement works peculiar advant-

GRAND OPERA HOUSE.

ages both to companies and to the management. The Grand is a remarkable building. As at present constituted, it is an architectural triumph. It was remodeled out of the Exposition building with most gratifying results. It is the largest ground floor hall in the West, the seating capacity, 2,486, being easily increased by the use of chairs. The acoustic properties are faultless. The heating is all by steam, and while this obviates much of the usual danger from fire, the numerous exits make anything like a panic impossible. There are no stairs to the main floor. The doors are wide and swing outward. The room could be emptied in a few moments, though densely packed. The stage is much larger than usual, being 56x120 feet. It is thus particularly adapted to use by large troupes, or to such exhibitions as given there by Gilmore's band, and spectacular events. All modern improvements have been introduced. There are twenty sets of scenery, all adapted to current drama and all new. There are numerous dressing rooms and all conveniences for the actors. There are eight tier loges around the balcony and eight ground floor boxes, but every seat in the house is a good one. The fact that the capacity of the ground floor is the greatest of that of any theatre in America is worth mention. In addition to the theatrical features the Exposition hall must be considered. Its seating capacity is 1900. It is suitable for conventions and kindred gatherings. It is also equipped with a stage ample for smaller companies or for amateur performances and for concerts. The Grand is particularly easy to reach. At the corner of Fifteenth street and Capitol avenue, with the main entrance on Fifteenth, it is passed by street cars from all parts of the city and also by the cars of the new Motor line. The entrance to the Exposition hall is on Fourteenth street. Like the Grand, this hall is free from all danger by fire and is in popular favor. It is safe, convenient and comfortable. The management of the Grand has made, from the start, an endeavor to present the best of attractions and has been markedly successful. Nothing is admitted to the house which would not be welcomed in the most exclusive opera house in the land. Mr. Crawford has been remarkably successful in all his theatrical ventures and has had large experience. This new theater is owned by the old Exposition stockholders, and is under the supervision and control of a directory composed of some of the leading citizens of this city.]

Ezra Millard. This was the first and only executive ball ever given in Omaha, and it was a great social event in those days. The room in which the dance took place was unfinished. Rough cotton-wood benches were used as seats, and everything else corresponded.

MENDELSOHN & LAWRIE, ARCHITECTS.

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.

The music was furnished by a solitary fiddler. Altogether, it was a very primitive affair. The following description of the executive ball is from the pen of Dr. Miller:

     "Governor Izard was the guest of nine ladies who were all that could be mustered even for a state occasion in Omaha. They were Mrs. T. B. Cuming, Mrs. Fenner Ferguson, Mrs. Sterling Morton, Mrs. C. B. Smith, Mrs. Fleming Davidson, Mrs. A. J. Hanscom, Mrs. A. D. Jones, Mrs. S. E. Rogers, and Mrs. G. L. Miller. Two of the ladies could not dance, so their places were supplied by the same number of gentlemen. Messrs. Paddock, Poppleton, Cuming, Smith, Morton, Ferguson, Goodwill, Clancy and Folsom, besides a large assemblage of legislators, attended. The dance opened. It was a gay and festive occasion. Notwithstanding the energetic use of green cottonwood, the floor continued icy. During the dancing several accidents happened. One lady, now well known in Nebraska, fell flat. Others did likewise. The supper came off about midnight and consisted of coffee with brown sugar and no milk, sandwiches of peculiar size, dried apple pie. The sandwiches, we may observe, were very thick, and were made of a singular mixture of bread of radical complexion and bacon. The Governor, having long lived in a hot climate, stood around shivering in the cold, but buoyed up by the honors thus showered upon him, bore himself with the most amiable fortitude."

One of the most sensational incidents of the early days was the killing of George Hollister by Dr. Charles A. Henry. The two men became involved in a dispute at Bellevue about a boundary line between two tracts of land, and the result was that Henry shot Hollister. This occurred April 20, 1855. Henry was arrested and brought to Omaha, where he was imprisoned with shackles and handcuffs in Sheriff Peterson's house. By the

[Dr. James H. Seymour, who came to Omaha in the year 1857, was born in New Hartford, Connecticut, July 9th, 1825. While young, his parents emigrated to Ashtabula county, Ohio, where he obtained his elementary education, and was subsequently a student at the Grand River Institute. In 1846 we find him a young teacher in Columbiana county, before commencing the study of medicine.      The commencement of his professional studies dates back to 1848, when he became a student of Drs. Robertson & Kuhn, then
associated in the practice of medicine in Hanover, Columbiana county, Ohio. Having pursued his studies for more than two years, he then attended the medical college in Cleveland, Ohio, for three sessions, graduating with distinguished honors, and received the appointment of resident physician of the Marine Hospital in Cleveland, under Professor Ackley. For a young physician of culture and of professional pride, to have, at once, the instruction and association of such a distinguished surgeon as Prof. Ackley, was a rare boon. In the spring of 1854, rich in the garnered experience of his city residence, he was fortunate in forming a matrimonial alliance with Miss Lucretia Robertson, daughter of his former preceptor, and then engaged with new incentives in a three years' term of practice in the town of New Lisbon. With the elements of enterprise and hope of greater success permeating his nature his face was turned to the far West, nor did his pilgrimage end till he pitched his tent	THE LATE DR. JAMES H. SEYMOUR.	among the hetergeneous elements in the village of Omaha. Intense in his anti-slavery convictions, he found relaxation from professional toil in assisting to organize the Republican party. And though at first in a minority, his capacity, pluck and fidelity in 1859 secured him a seat in the Territorial Legislature from Douglas county. Subsequently, till the summer of 1861, he pursued the practice of his profession with great fidelity and was then prevailed upon to accompany the Nebraska Cavalry as surgeon to St. Louis. During his absence he was elected a second time to the Legislature. Accordingly he attended the session in the winter of 1862. After the Legislature had adjourned, Governor Saunders tendered him the appointment of Surgeon of the First Nebraska Regiment, then in the field. This being accepted he followed the fortunes of his regiment with an unfaltering step, till overtaken by death, in camp, at Helena, Arkansas, Sept. 7, 1862. Never in the history of the regiment was
there so much heart and soul infused into memorial resolutions, as in his case. One, of a long series, epitomises the sad eulogium in the following words: --- "Resolved, that while we mourn deeply the loss of him who, as an officer, was so kind, so faithful, and so fearless in the discharge of every duty, we at the same time drop our tears to the memory of those social qualities that rendered him so esteemed by every one of us, and a favorite with all who knew him." Having contracted malaria early in the spring, the sound of the Battle of Pittsburgh Landing, on the Tennessee River, reached him upon his bed of sickness, and he had never ceased lamenting his inability that day to render surgical aid. From a returning attack in the fall he soon realized that his days were about numbered, and now his controlling desire was to be restored to life for his wife and the education of his children. To secure the presence of his wife, if possible, the Chaplain, now ex-U. S. Senator T. W. Tiptin, was despatched by steamer to telegraph and accompany her. But when they arrived nine days later, he had answered the "last roll call." A day previous, the one on which he died, having called for the likenesses of wife and child and kissed them, he asked for pencil and paper and in a tremulous hand wrote: "Sept. 7, 1862. Dear Wife and Children: I do love you, but shall not see you again. I want to put full trust in God. O! it is hard. Good bye. James." Educated, virtuous and self-reliant, his children have taken their places in society, and his devoted wife incorporated his name with Seymour Addition to the city of Omaha.]

order of Judge Ferguson the prisoner was chained to the floor. The United States grand jury, the first one in the Territory and specially called for this case, failed to indict Henry, but Judge Ferguson re-committed the prisoner and ordered a new jury. About this time Dr. Miller was called upon to accompany a flotilla of steamboats up the Missouri river with a large number of soldiers for Fort Pierre, among whom the cholera had broken out. During Dr. Miller's absence, Dr. Henry was the only physician in Omaha, and he was