About ten days later the minstrels met again, and Manning informed Bryant that he (Manning), had played the previous evening in the town already referred to. Did you “announce” me said Dan? I was just going to, said Manning, when the _fellow_ got up and went out. * * * * * BILLY BRYANT (Wm. Thos. Hanson). Who among theatre-goers of twenty years ago who recall Bryant & Richmond in the act “Imprisoned,” cannot see Billy Bryant as he carefully felt the topmost portion of his anatomy, ruefully exclaiming--“O! my coco.” That was comedy. Bryant’s career began in 1868 with the Walter Bray Company, where he joined hands with Arthur Hegeney, under the team name of Hanson and Hegeney. It was Bray that suggested a change, and forthwith Hanson became Bryant, in honor of Dan Bryant, and Hegeney was thereafter known as Williams, after the famous Barney Williams, whose early days were spent in minstrelsy. [Illustration: LEW DOCKSTADER P. J. NILES CHAS. DOCKSTADER WILL OAKLAND, The Famous Contra Tenor CHAS. E. EVANS DOCKSTADER BROS. (1879) NILES & EVANS (1878)] Bryant and Williams played the best variety houses in the country until 1876, when he married Lizzie Richmond, and as Bryant & Richmond they gave “Imprisoned” for many years; afterwards they produced “Keep it Dark”; for seven seasons they played it with much success. Alice Hanson, an unusually clever and vivacious soubrette, is his daughter. Billy Bryant was born in Platteville, Wis., October 12, 1853; he died at Chicago, Ill., July 22, 1902. BOB SLAVIN was one of the most brilliant comedians in the minstrel firmament; a natural wit; a great entertainer. About 1874 he did a specialty with George Nelson; and a year or so later he doubled with “Buck” Sheffer; the partnership continued about two years. Subsequently he appeared with unqualified success with Haverly’s, the San Franciscos, and Emerson’s, in San Francisco. In July, 1885, at Paterson, N. J., McNish, Johnson and Slavin’s Minstrels gave their first performance; they continued as an organization for three seasons; Mr. McNish retiring, Johnson and Slavin’s Minstrels took the road; the partnership dissolved in June, 1889. July 17, 1890, Mr. Slavin opened for a limited engagement with Wm. Henry Rice’s World’s Fair Minstrels, and closed September 2, at Elmira, N. Y. September 10, he opened with the Howard Athenaeum Company in Troy, N. Y., doing his specialty in white-face; sad to say, this engagement lasted only about a month. Mr. Slavin subsequently appeared with the May Russell Burlesque Company. On November 19, 1892, he began an engagement with Crawford Brother’s Minstrels in South Bend, Ind.; Mr. Slavin made his last appearance with this company about Christmas, the same year, at Toledo, Ohio. Mr. Slavin married Agnes Louise Laurence, a non-professional, in 1878. Bob Slavin was born in Baltimore, Md., November 28, 1853; he died in Toledo, Ohio, December 29, 1892.