I came near being killed one night in the Howard. The elder Booth was playing the title role of Richard the Third, and was in one of his magnificent moods, when, during the development of a tragedy, he would become so impassioned and exalted that he believed himself to be a real personage in a living drama.

[…]

On the night in question I was in my usual place in the orchestra, helping to play the battle music, with one eye on the stage watching the progress of the combat, which was terribly real. In a wild paroxysm Booth knocked the sword out of Richmond’s hand with terrific force; it flew towards the orchestra, grazed the side of my head, and then stuck quivering with its point well embedded in the wooden music- desk directly behind me. I never again sat in the orchestra when any such sword-fight was in progress.