UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES ROBERT ERNEST COWAN 3:2 4 GEORGE MIDDLETON (Latest Photo) tf> Reminiscences of GEORGE MIDDLETON as told to and written by his wife Copyright, 1913, by George Middleton Dedicated to my beloved wife RUTH K. MIDDLETON GEO RICE ft SONS. PRINTERS. LOS ANGELES \ftl\ To be accurate, write; CO To remember, write; To know thine own mind, write. T upper _i 1 o - MY BOYHOOD CIRCUS MEMOIRS i My father, with my mother, came to this great and wonderful continent in 1842, landing at Quebec, Canada, my eldest brother, William, being born there. The family removed to Boston in 1845, where my father, James Haslam Middleton, was employed in the Charlestown Navy Yard. There we lived in sight of Bunker Hill for ten years. During this time three children were born, George, James Haslam and Charles. My father then succumbed to the western fever and with his little family, started for Indiana. I was a youngster, but well do I recall the boat and its lights, and the excitement of being on the water from Cincinnati, Ohio, to Madison, Indiana, our objective point. As we were leaving the boat I looked back and exclaimed in delight, "Mother, the boat has an upstairs!" We settled at Madison, Indiana, which in those days was a wide awake, thriving town, located on the Ohio river, surrounded by beautiful and attractive scenery. Madison lies huddled at the foot of beautiful hills overlooking the Ohio, and one can see beautiful trees swaying contentedly, tobacco fields and dis- 8 CIRCUS MEMOIRS tilleries. I have traveled this old world a great deal, but it is difficult to find a more charming spot; Nature had indeed been more than kind to that part of the country. The principal industry at Madison was the pork packing business, and more hogs were killed and packed there at that time than in Chicago. Madison had the first railway in the state, which was built to Indianapolis, the capital city. Up the hill from Madison was the heaviest railway grade in the world at that time. The principal freight that went over the road was brought down the Ohio river from Pittsburg by boats, transferred to rail at Madison and shipped into the interior of the state. The Reverend James Greenleaf, of Madison, cor- responded with my father while he was in Boston and advised his going west. He wrote a glowing account of the possibilities in the quaint little place. On our arrival we stopped with a family by the name of Merens until the necessary arrangements could be made to start housekeeping. This good couple did not have a family, and I often think of how they must have enjoyed four boys as full of life as we were. I fancy they did not regret being childless. One of the principal characters living in Madison was an old gentleman known by the name of Gundy Lawrence. He had been elected to the Legislature. When the time came to attend he rode to Indianapolis, CIRCUS MEMOIRS 9 a distance of eight-five miles, on a dray. This of course gave him great notoriety. In later years he was town crier, announcing public auctions, lost children, strayed or stolen horses and cows. When he was to announce political meetings he would mount his horse about three o'clock in the afternoon and swing- ing a big brass bell he would start out with his cry that such and such a prominent man would "speak at the Town Hall at early candle lighting." It was seldom he rode past a saloon without making a call, with the result that he would continue the cry of "speech making at early candle lighting," while the candles had been lighted and burning for at least two hours. He surely was a character long to be remembered. After looking over the ground my father decided there was an opening for a meat shop, as there was not one in the town, all the meat being sold in the market house. On his small capital he opened a meat shop and grocery store. After the business was under way, and housekeeping affairs were adjusted, we youngsters were started off to school, which I am sorry to say I was not fond of attending, and did not do so when it was possible to avoid it. On my return home from school the first day my mother asked me: "George, how do you like school?" I replied: "I don't like that school." "Don't like it! Why?" "Because the room has no cupboard in it." This goes 10 CIRCUS MEMOIRS to show that early in life I was more fond of something to eat than of knowledge. The hills, the river, the surrounding country, all so new, had a great charm for me, so much more attrac- tive than the school room. I loved the river, to fish, swim, to get into a skiff and take a ride, to paddle around on a board. The negro slaves coming over from Kentucky with their masters on trading trips were a new sight to me. The hair of men and women was done in pigtails bound around with string. If down on the river bank was attractive to me, the surrounding hills, covered with nut-bearing trees of all kinds, grape vines, berries, orchards, May apples and other wonders were more so. How I loved to roam over those hills! What freedom I knew in my youth ! I often dream that part of my life over again when seated in a comfortable chair with a good cigar, before a log fire blazing away merrily. About this time wild pigeons, which are now extinct, would fly in thousands from the hills of Kentucky across the river to the hills on the Indiana side. My father, who was a good shot, along with hundreds of others, would go up on the hills, taking my brother William and me along to gather up the pigeons. In a few hours shooting we would bag hundreds of them. It seems strange that these pigeons should become extinct, when at that time there were millions of them. CIRCUS MEMOIRS 11 From my father and these shoots I first acquired my incentive for shooting and hunting, of which I have grown fonder as the years pass. Well do I remember my first fifteen cents. I spent five cents for gunpowder, five cents for shot and five cents for caps. Then off to the hills! Sometimes I returned with a quail, a squirrel or a rabbit, and as often empty handed. Coons and opossums were very plentiful in the woods in those days. Some negroes living in the town always owned a few coon hounds. I often wanted to go with them coon hunting, so one night they decided to permit me, the condition being that I was to supply a quart of whiskey (cost ten cents). There was no tax on liquor in those days. I was to carry an ax, and we were to set out about nine o'clock at night through the dark woods. After a time we would hear the hounds on the trail, and the negroes could always tell when the coon was treed. When we would get up to the dogs we would find them at the foot of the tree up which the coon had climbed. The negroes would then set to work chopping the tree down, always knowing which way to throw it. We would stand holding the dogs so as to let them get into the tree tops. They would always get the coon, after a most exciting fight. Thus ended the coon hunts, after tramping the woods all night until daylight next morning. 12 CIRCUS MEMOIRS Fox hunting was another favorite pastime, but after an experience of walking ten miles in the rain, over hills and valleys, I gave it up, and will tell you of my last one. Tom Scholl, whom I thought was a great friend of mine, came for me one day to attend a fox hunt. It was to take place the following day and was to start from his uncle's home, near the forks of Indian and Kentuck Creeks. I asked my father's permission to ride a horse, but he refused, saying: "My son, I do not feed horses to chase foxes." This was an awful blow, but after thinking it over I decided to attend the chase anyhow. I tore down the back fence, saddled the horse and slipped away to the forks of the creek, determined and ready to take part in the chase the next day. There were two roads to the forks of the creek. Scholl and I took one of them. When we arrived we spied father's horse tied to the rack in front of the store. He had taken the other road and arrived there first. About this time a farmer went to the store and father asked him if he had seen the boys. The farmer replied: "Yes, they are over to Scholl's uncle's." Father followed over, took the horse and returned home, leading my horse, leaving me to chase foxes afoot not a very pleasant prospect. Besides, there was the thought of what was to follow on my return home. Scholl consoled me by saying that we would ride "turn about" next day in the chase. CIRCUS MEMOIRS 13 In the morning the fox was started. Away went the dogs and the riders, and I, afoot. I did not see my friend, a horse or a fox during the chase. I pulled up at Ike Short's afoot, more dead than alive. He gave me a large slice of bread and butter and I went on my way to the forks of the creek, where we arrived about dark. Then came the question of my getting home, and what I would get on my return. I proposed to ride behind my friend Scholl, but he said his father would not stand for that, but that we would "ride and hitch," which means that he would ride two miles, then hitch the horse and walk on. I would come afoot to where he had hitched the horse, mount and ride past him a mile or two, hitch the horse and walk on. Well, Scholl started out and I followed, expecting to find the horse hitched awaiting me, but to my disgust, my good friend had forgotten to hitch the horse for me, and I walked about ten miles home. This was my last fox hunt. After a hearty meal at home we boys would often go to the meat shop, help ourselves to sausage, beef- steak and potatoes, then go to the hills, build a fire, cook the meat by holding it over the fire with a forked stick and bake the potatoes in the ashes. A feast fit for the gods, as I thought. About that time in my life I felt that I wanted the experience of running on the river. Steamboats were then in the height of their prosperity and Polk Cook, a 14 CIRCUS MEMOIRS friend, and I decided that we would hire out on one of the boats, to work in the cabin as cabin boy or in the pantry as knife shiner. If we failed in those ambitions we would go as deck sweepers. Anything but we must work on a boat. I furnished the money to buy two blue and white checked shirts, two leather belts, and two butcher knives in leather cases which we strapped to us. We applied to the first boat that landed. Polk got the job as deck sweeper they drove me ashore. Thus were my ambitions as a river man crushed. Polk had the shirt, the knife and the belt; the bell rang, the boat steamed out, and I stood on the shore and watched the boat float away. Poor Polk afterward went to war and lost his life. I learned years afterward that my father was acquainted with the stewards on the boats and had told them never to take me. The extent of my boating was limited to when a steamboat coming up the river would coal, taking in tow a barge, from which the coal would be transferred to the boat while on its way up the river, so as not to lose time. The empty barges were then floated back, and in that way I got a ride. About this time I began to think of making money and would go out and pick wild blackberries and bring them into town, where they sold for ten cents a gallon. At the end of the berry season I became a CIRCUS MEMOIRS 15 sheep butcher, going out among the farmers for miles around to buy sheep after shearing time. Costing about a dollar apiece, we would kill them, market them by the quarter at twenty-five cents a quarter, leaving us the sheep pelt as a profit. I was fairly successful at this until I went into the adjoining county and bought eighty head of a Henry Charlton. Driving them home, I met my father riding horseback on his way to look at some cattle. He asked me what price I had paid for the sheep. I told him one dollar a head. He said: "It will be the last, my son, that you will buy, for you will lose your money." This was true, for they were just skin and bone. I will here say that on these trips I bought eggs for five cents a dozen. Since that time I have seen them sell for sixty-five cents. My father was a strong Republican, so I was one likewise. My only reason at that time was that the campaign of Fremont and Buchanan was opening up, which furnished plenty of excitement for me to take part in; so off I went to the woods to cut a flag pole from which to fly a streamer with the names of Fremont and Dayton. The meetings and barbecues of both parties were held quite often and I always managed to attend, not to hear the speakers but to see the fights, which never failed to take place. I remember when a man living at Brooksburg up the river six miles from 16 CIRCUS MEMOIRS Madison, came down the day before election and was asked, "How are things at Brooksburg?" He replied, "There will be a great time there tomorrow, for when I left they were gathering rocks to fight with." There were parades. One I remember very well. A forty-ox team was driven to one wagon in which ladies rode representing each state in the Union. There was a great deal of excitement and unrest along the border at this time. Things, however, became quiet until after the election of Lincoln. (Today as I write I find this is Lincoln's birthday, February 12th, 1912.) When the feeling of unrest became evident again, groups of young men formed into home guards, as the temper was strong for "war", which came sooner than was expected. I was anxious to be among them, but was refused because of my youth. But I found pleasure and excitement in going to the steamboat landing to see them off. On one occasion I went aboard and as far as Louisville without a cent of money. CIRCUS MEMOIRS 17 II. IN THE ARMY About this time Company E of the Third Indiana Cavalry was formed, in which my brother William enlisted. This made me more anxious than ever to be a soldier, but again I was refused. After they were out six months recruiting officers were sent. I ran away, walked to Lexington, Indiana, and enlisted in the Thirty-eighth Indiana Regiment. The Company was sent to New Albany, camping on the fair grounds, when my father learned of my whereabouts. He came for me, and home he took me. After returning I went to Kentucky and tried to enlist in the Thirty- ninth Indiana, encamped at Nolin Creek. After I was there a few days they learned my age and returned me home. My father said to me: "If you remain at home for six months I will permit you to enlist in the same company with your brother." In a short time the recruiting officers came along. My father gave me a horse. I enlisted and joined the regiment at Budd's Ferry, Maryland, March, 1862. Shortly after my arrival we moved over into Virginia and I was in the war sure enough. We rode back and forth over a large portion of Virginia. The first skirmish was near Fredericksburg. From there I went to Cedar Mountain. The next real service was through 18 CIRCUS MEMOIRS Maryland up to South Mountain, Antietam back into Virginia, Battle of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, then back into Virginia, where on the first day of August, 1863, I with George E. Stanley was taken prisoner and landed in Libby Prison. After being confined there three weeks, we were changed to Belle Isle, where with ten thousand others, I was kept eight long months until the following March. I was detailed to cut the meat in the cook house, as a squad of our men were detailed to cook for the prisoners. It was not long before we had no beef to cut, and our diet was black eyed peas. Not wishing to be put back in the stockade I turned to cooking. We would cook all night for the day following. There was not much of a variety, sometimes only sweet potatoes. About this time they called for bakers. A number went out and baked corn bread, which was nothing more than corn meal and water mixed together. We did a great deal of business for a while with the prison guards. They would have a sack of biscuit or other food for sale. Our boys got to making money (to imitate the greenbacks), buying from the guards any food they had for sale. In the night it was difficult to detect the spurious from the real. To make this money we would grease a piece of writing paper, which made it transparent, lay it on top of a genuine bill and trace the dark lines with ink and the lighter ones with a lead pencil, then wrinkle it up to CIRCUS MEMOIRS 19 make it appear as though it had been in circulation. They would not be able to detect it until the next day. However, this only lasted a short time. They would not sell us anything more. I will say here that Lieutenant Bosseau, who had charge of this island, was a very kind, humane man and was in no way responsible for the suffering, want of food or medicines. On the other hand, Lieutenant Roe was a vile person. The Southern soldiers them- selves were very short of food. We could not expect to have any more than they had. The exchange of prisoners was stopped. The Confederate Government did not recognize General Ben. Butler as a gentleman, and would not treat with him. Then again, it was said that our Government would not give up healthy Southern prisoners in exchange for sick, emaciated Northern ones. About this time word came that there would be an exchange of about two hundred sick on each side. All this time time I had not been idle. I had made about two hundred dollars selling things to eat to the bounty jumpers' substitutes, so I offered to pay one hundred and fifty dollars to the Southern sergeant if he would let me take away five of my friends along with the sick prisoners that were going North. He took my money and counted us in with the sick, otherwise I would have landed at Andersonville. In a few days we arrived at Annapolis; the first one to salute me was Jasper Jones of my 20 CIRCUS MEMOIRS company. He advised us, when we were told to throw away our blankets and draw new ones, not to do so, but on the contrary to grab as many as we could. This we did, getting one dollar a piece for them. Shortly after our arrival we were taken up to the sanitary commission building, where the good ladies in charge gave us supplies of all kinds for our comfort. Looking over six of us, they remarked: "Did you men come from Richmond?" "Yes, madame." "You look very well for sick boys", she replied. "We are not as well as we look, lady, we are bloated." (Oh the joy of these evenings before the cracking olive wood fire, with Mr. Middleton smoking his favorite cigar, taking the comfort of a king in a Louis XV. chair. I feel, dear and excellent reader, that I want to share this with you. Mrs. R. K. M.) After a short stay here we were sent to the dis- mounted camp at Washington, D. C., where I was detailed as orderly to Colonel William Gamble, with whom I remained until the expiration of my three years enlistment. Then I went on to my company at Winchester, Virginia, where I was mustered out and left for my home in Madison. After reaching home, I was restless and like a fish out of water, notwithstanding my parents had refurnished the home in fine style to welcome my home coming. Not having sisters to be consulted in matters of decorations and selection of furniture, the folks had CIRCUS MEMOIRS 21 made everything comfortable and to suit a boy's taste. The most imposing thing to my mind was the parlor set, consisting of a settee, a rocker, six chairs, all upholstered with black mohair, and a center table. Kind reader, fancy the change, if you can, after three years of sitting on the ground or logs or hard- tack boxes. At times I found it very difficult to keep my seat on the mohair, frequently sliding off on to the floor. When we had callers, to be sure of my seat, I had to hold on. On the walls were three chromos. Rembrandt or Leonardo de Vinci never painted anything that was as wonderful to me, as I recall them now. After hand-shaking around for a few months, I began to look for something to do, in which search I did not have much success. I had occasion to go to Cincinnati for a day or two, and it so happened while I was there that the news came of General Lee's surrender. From that day to this I have never heard such a noise and din as took place on that occasion. 22 CIRCUS MEMOIRS III. EARLY VENTURES Returning to Madison, I decided to go to school a while to a French school master Monsieur Pierforke who had lost one arm in his native country in a battle. Having spent three years in the army, when I returned to school reduced in class rank, I felt discouraged, and becoming discontented I soon stopped. After a time I got a position on the wharf boat, Vevay, Indiana, where I remained one year. While here I decided I needed a wife. As the available ones seemed to be going very fast I had a fear that there would not be enough to go around, so I took one unto myself, a Miss Kate Rea. After about eighteen years of wedded life we agreed to disagree. Returning to Madison I opened a cigar store. After a few months, during which time I was my own best customer, along came an agent for the Grover & Baker Sewing Machine company, of Cincinnati. He gave me the agency of the machine and furnished me a wagon. I sold my cigar store to take up this business and set off through the country to peddle sewing machines. My territory was Southern In- diana and Northern Kentucky. I was fairly success- ful, but grew weary of it. An opportunity came along to go to Edinburg, Indiana, to manage a hotel. My father had a poor opinion of the circus business. I had this photo taken when out in my first circus venture and when he received it he expressed himself as written, "The Lost, Boy." But he was wrong; I was never lost but on the contrary was found. CIRCUS MEMOIRS 23 While there in that capacity I met a gentleman living in town, a Mr. John Fulton, who was a circus man. As we got acquainted sitting around the office stove evenings, I made inquiries about the circus business, its opportunities for money-making, etc. His answers struck me favorably; in fact, very favorably. After listening to him a few times, I was so favorably impressed that I informed him I wanted to be a circus man and inquired as to what amount of capital would be necessary for me to take an interest with him. He asked me if I had five hundred dollars. I told him no, but I would try to borrow it, which I did, becoming a half partner in the side show with Hemmings, Cooper & Whitby's Circus and Menagerie, which had already started out for the season from Louisville, Kentucky, April, 1870. Mr. Fulton took my five hundred dollars and bought the outfit of H. Norman, who was to have gone with the show, but who changed his mind, associating himself with the James Robinson Circus. We joined the circus at Paris, Kentucky. I drove on to the show lot and proceeded to put up the tent for the side show and unloaded the wagons. I had never been to a circus or side show in my life, so you can readily understand that these things were new to me. Attending to horses, cooking for the people, putting up and taking down the tent, was much like army life, so I was at home in a way. The first man 24 CIRCUS MEMOIRS to come to me on the show lot was Mr. James A. Bailey, who proffered his advice and good will, insisting on my calling on him for any information or assistance that I might need. This acquaintance ripened into an association and friendship that lasted through his life. The outfit that we got from Mr. Norman looked anything but prosperous. When I say that the four horses had one eye, I speak the truth. One eye in four horses, think of it! The wagons and harness were in a dilapidated condition, the tent full of patches and ropes full of knots. The only thing in this outfit for my five hundred dollars was the opportunity to make money. The tents were up, I had food for the horses, and back of the side show I was cooking breakfast for the side show people, when I was approached by a gentle- man who informed me that he was Mr. Cooper. I introduced myself, stating that I had bought Mr. Norman out. He in return said that Mr. Norman bad no right to sell to us. We discussed the matter and left each other with the understanding that we would settle it another time. On leaving he said: "I do not want you to keep your horses on the show lot; they don't look well and you might get the habit of giving them our feed.*' I could appreciate the remark fully, as to the show our horses would make, but I would hardly have CIRCUS MEMOIRS 25 slipped them his hay. So here in Paris, Kentucky, (Paris is in Bourbon County, Kentucky, where the Bourbon whiskey gets its name. The excuse I once heard made why the town remained small was that the ground was too valuable to build on), was my first introduction to the show business, as well as my first dollar in this business. We were routed through Kentucky in every county, showing each day, usually at the county seats. I found this business congenial and the opportuni- ties for making money looked good to me in my new field. My army life had a great deal to do with my being able to adapt myself so readily to the inconveniences and emergencies to overcome in this life. I took to it like a young duck to a pond. I was so well contented for the forty- two years that I followed this business that I did not look for another. This is surprising, considering that up to the time I bought into this side show I had never visited one. Some of my friends had misgivings as to my venture remarking that I would not find the people in it to my liking. On the contrary, I found them honorable men in all transactions, their word being as good as a bond, and first class, reliable business men. Leaving Kentucky we crossed the Ohio river, and our route took us through Indiana, Illinois and into Missouri, showing in St. Louis the first week of July. 26 CIRCUS MEMOIRS I remember this very well, as the great race of the steamboats Robert E. Lee and Natchez was finished at St. Louis at this time, the Robert E. Lee winning. The crowd was so great at the levee to see the finish that our tents were deserted that day. We moved on up into Iowa and Minnesota, then down through Arkansas and Louisiana. Unfortunately, while at Rayville, Louisiana, Mr. Whitby, while taking tickets at the door, was shot, getting into a dispute with a desperado, who insisted on passing without a ticket. It was a most wilful murder. This was a very sad affair and cast a gloom over the party, or circus family. The show moved on, crossing the Mississippi river to Vicksburg, Mississippi. We made a few more stands, closing at Okalona, Mississippi, for the season, shipping the outfit to Louisville, Kentucky, where it wintered. Madame Lake, of Cincinnati, was starting a show and I made arrangements to take the concert and side show with her. We put in the winter showing in the South, getting as far as Florida, closing a fairly successful season. With arrangements for the next season, we routed through the West, around Denver, Colorado, taking in the gold and silver mining towns; then into Utah, where we were the first circus to show, the price being one dollar, with side show and concert fifty cents. While here Brigham Young attended the circus. We CIRCUS MEMOIRS 97 had a very pleasant chat together and I found him a highly intelligent old gentleman who had come into this desert and accomplished wonders. We left our railroad cars at Salt Lake City, putting the outfit on hired wagons, and toured the small towns around to a very satisfactory business. Work- ing back toward home we closed the season at Cincinnati. Mr. Bailey, Mr. Cooper and Mr. Hemmings were anxious to have me with them again, so I arranged to go with them. I was very glad to return, as it seemed more like home to me. Mr. Bailey took an interest with me in the concert side show and candy stands. We started from Hillsboro, Ohio, by wagon. It rained incessantly for weeks. We were discouraged and in financial difficulties. The roads were so muddy and heavy that we lost a great many stands, which meant paying out money without taking in a cent. A funny incident occurred here. I always kept my wagons ahead of me, driving in the rear alone. Arriving at a toll gate in charge of a German who could speak a very little English, he informed me that he had a "ledder bolise". We could not make this out, but after a while he showed us that he had a leather valise that one of the men had left in pawn for the toll. I hustled for some small change to pay the toll, taking the "ledder bolise" out of pawn. 28 CIRCUS MEMOIRS It looked as if the rainy season would never be over, it lasting about six weeks. We traveled through the West and got through Indiana into Illinois, when business began picking up. We had good business through Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska, when we decided to go south again. Everything was going on very nicely when the epizootic broke out among our horses, as it did among the stock all over the country. We crossed the Mississippi at Natchez and closed the season. I went to New Orleans and arranged with Captain Neil to take us on his steamboat, the Indiana, up to Louisville, where we wintered. We started the next season, opening in the Exposi- tion building in Louisville, where the post office now stands. This season, besides running the side show and concert and candy stands, I contracted with the company to feed their men in camp and got along pretty well. Sometimes it was quite a wait between meals, but it was a case of the whole outfit being late and no one to blame. Mr. Cooper said to me one day, "Middleton, it looks a if you would run out of soup for the men." I replied, "There is no danger of that." He said, "What will you do?" I answered, "We will put a little more salt in it, then they won't eat so much as they won't like it so well." We took the Kentucky country first, as the tobacco crop selling at about this time of the year always made 29 money quite plentiful in the tobacco country. One of the features with the show this year was the Cardiff Giant, the discovery of whom about this time caused great excitement. While there was only one genuine Cardiff Giant, three or four different circuses claimed to have one, which will give you an idea of how enterprising the managements were. We also had a whale stuffed and mounted, which gave us much trouble, as it required a long, coupled wagon, and the roads being poor, it was a pretty hard proposition to get over them. I had a long, covered passenger wagon in which I carried curiosities that belonged to the side show. As the horses went trotting along one morning, one of the front wheels struck a root and over the wagon went, the bows of the top splintered and the hair on the fat woman's head tangled in the splintered bows. We also had a basket of eggs which we intended to cook when we reached town, but by the time we got the fat woman untangled and out there was quite a mess of eggs, splinters and hair. We also had a snake case, in which we carried several large boa constrictors, which we used also for a seat. That toppled over, the glass was broken and the snakes were in a mix-up. I remember on the show grounds one day when we first drove in (I think it was in Bairdstown, Ken- tucky), we ran across a grass snake which must have 30 CIRCUS MEMOIRS had thirty or forty young ones, not more than an inch or an inch and a half long. On our appearance the mother snake opened her mouth and every one of the little ones ran down her throat. It was always a curious thing to me that in taking the curiosities, the fat woman, the Albinos, the mid- gets and the Circassians, from the wagons, when they would have to walk two hundred yards over to the tent, exposed to the view of hundreds of people, these same people would go right up to the ticket seller, pay their money and go in to see the same curiosities that had just passed before them. It was now about the Fourth of July and in Mat- toon, Illinois, there was to be a fireworks display given by the citizens. The time set for setting them off would interfere very much with the time for giving our show, so we arranged by giving them fifty dollars with which to buy more fireworks, and set them off after the circus was over at night. This made it agreeable all around and I was delegated to attend to the display. The most fireworks I had ever fired off before was a simple fire cracker, but I undertook the job. As was often the case, we had some temporary lemonade stands on the grounds with just loose boards spread over the top for shade. I had all the fireworks placed on top of one of these roofs and started the display. I took up a large sky rocket, leaned it up against a pole I had placed and set the CIRCUS MEMOIRS 31 fire to it. It commenced to sputter fire and flames among the fireworks on the roof, and the first thing I knew everything was ablaze the rockets, Roman candles and all the different articles they had in those days, were shooting off into the audience in every direction. Down below some of the men were selling lemonade and to protect themselves they gathered up some wet gunny sacks which they had to cover the ice, and put them over their heads to keep from burning to death. On the whole, the display was a failure, or at least, I was in taking charge of it. 82 CIRCUS MEMOIRS IV. ANIMAL ANECDOTES We used to have lots of amusement in those days. We had a large elephant called " Babe ". In travelling over the road Babe got wise to the fact that the people in these dead ox wagons going to the circus carried their lunches with them, so she would invariably overtake the wagons, and with her trunk reach over the rear end and investigate the baskets and their contents. Frequently she would have the bread and pie and everything of that kind eaten before she would be noticed by those sitting in the front seat. Even if she were noticed they would always scramble forward and offer no opposition to her taking full possession of everything in the wagon, they being frightened nearly out of their wits. The colored boy who had charge of her and drove her over the road was nicknamed "Shoo Fly". When traveling he would often meet some adventurous fellow, or some one hah* tipsy who would want a ride on the elephant going toward town. After a little bartering, if he couldn't get hah* a dollar he would take a quarter for the fare. As a rule the elephant was very nice and quiet about it and would carry his passenger along safely, but just as soon as she would come to an open woods where there was no fence, she would dart under CIRCUS MEMOIRS S3 the trees and very soon come across a limb strong enough to brush him off. She would then return to the road and the rider was generally well satisfied as far as he had gone, and without desire for any more of it. I never got familiar with an elephant, as I always was in fear of them. I remember in Valparaiso, South America, where we were showing, I sent a boy for a bucket of water and cautioned him to go around the elephants. In coming back with a bucketful he made one trip successfully, and it struck me that one of the elephants said, "Now, when he comes through again, you grab the bucket and I'll smash him and we'll get the bucket of water." The boy felt encouraged at getting through the first time without any trouble, but when he came along the next time one elephant reached over and took the bucket, while another elephant struck him in the face with his trunk. Of course, he left them in possession of the bucket of water. Going south we encountered some very bad roads as well as very bad weather. We lightened up our loads by throwing away a great deal of our stuff, and missed lots of our shows. We had a monkey by the name of "Jeff", a great big fine fellow, not trained at all. After the afternoon show we would hitch up and go as far as we could before dark, then stop, build a fire and sit around it a while. Jeff would be cold, 34 CIRCUS MEMOIRS so we would bring him out of his cage and put him on a box or barrel, where he would sit looking as wise as if he could speak. He was as gentle and docile as one could wish. We would have him put both hands on his head, or put both hands on his neck, or sit with his face in his hands. No matter what position we placed him in, he would remain there as long as we would let him sit by the fire with us. But take him away from the fire, and we could do nothing with him. I remember a trained monkey we had called "Pete." We used to put him on quite a high pedestal so the audience could see him, but always confined with a chain. We would put a pipe in his mouth, a pair of spectacles over his eyes and give him a tin fiddle and a bow. On some days he was very docile, on other days he would fight, and he would fight hard. I remember a boy we had by the name of "Jake" Reilly. We were showing at Allentown, Pennsyl- vania, on the Fourth of July. Before we opened Reilly had celebrated a little by taking a few drinks. He was dressed in a white linen suit. We had pitched our tents right next to a coal dump, from which the rain had washed down like ink. Pete must have known that Reilly was half full, for about the second trick that Reilly wanted him to do Pete made a jump for him and they had it out right there; first one on top and then the other. When they got through CIRCUS MEMOIRS 85 Reilly looked as though he had been rolled in an ink barrel. Prof. James Howell, who was quite a trainer of animals, was with me for several seasons. This particular season he had an educated pig. I always insisted on his having a small pig, because every pound of weight we could save going over the road meant a great deal, and we utilized the pig's box for a seat. Naturally, he had to have some bars in it so the pig could get plenty of air. A Mrs. Berriman, the mother of two nice Albino boys that I had in the side show, was always playing tricks on Howell. On one occasion while riding over the road they were eating some lunch as they went along and at every oppor- tunity Mrs. Berriman would slip the pig some lunch. The consequence was that when we reached town and Howell had made his grand speech about the wonderful pig, his intelligence, how he could tell the time of day, how he could multiply, subtract and divide, doing all these wonderful things by card, and commenced by asking him the time of day, the pig just looked at him and grunted "Ooff!" And when Howell would throw down a card of course the pig would not notice it but would only repeat his "Ooff!" So the performance wound up by being a great failure. The reason the pig was a failure that day was that Mrs. Berriman had stuffed him so full that he wouldn't work, and Howell had to rack his brain to find out what was the 36 CIRCUS MEMOIRS matter by rehearsing him again and again. The truth is that pigs nor any other animals will not work unless they are hungry. I sometimes think this is the case with a great many people, too. I often look back and laugh at my first experience with snakes. We wanted a snake charmer, so Fulton sent up to Indiana and brought a little girl on to the show to charm the snakes. We got hold of a few garter snakes about three feet long, sent off to Tucker Brothers, the painters in New York, and had them get up a painting representing a lady handling these monster reptiles, which on the canvas looked as though they were fifteen or twenty feet long. Fulton would do what we called "talking" in those days; they call them "speilers" or "barkers" now. But he would stand and harangue the crowd, informing them that they were "just in time to see this brave little woman risk her life by entering the iron-bound den containing these monster reptiles." All the iron- bound den there was consisted of nothing more nor less than an ordinary soap box. She would swing the lid around, dip down into the box, pick up two or three of these gentle snakes, let them wiggle around, and that ended the snake performance. After a while we sent to New York and brought out some South American and Brazilian snakes, which were not dangerous, but which were generally a good show. There is an old expression, " I guess so and so is CIRCUS MEMOIRS 37 living on the fat of his stomach", and I think that is the case with snakes. I have had them live a year without a mouthful to eat. Snakes go blind once a month, at which time they will shed their skin, start- ing at the nose, blow it off the head and crawl out of it. I never knew a snake to eat anything that it did not kill itself. A snake can eat animals much larger than its own body. Their jaws seem to unlock until they are as large as the body. They first catch the prey, a chicken, guinea pig or a rabbit, then as it works down through the jaws it is covered with saliva. After the food gets beyond the jaws the snake throws a knot between the food and its jaws, then crawls through the knot until it locates what it has eaten in the stomach . In moving a show the very heavy wagons would leave first, then the animal wagons and the per- formers, the proprietors leaving last, the lighter teams enabling them to get over the ground faster, some- times overtaking the heavy wagons. I remember Mr. Cooper was very indignant when he landed in town one morning and a young lady stopped him as he was going along the road with his family, and informed him that her friend owned the show and that there had been some mistake, as she had been left behind. Mr. Cooper asked her what her friend's name was and she replied, "Mr. Cooper." Mr. Cooper was quite angry but he could never find out who it was had given out his name. 38 CIRCUS MEMOIRS V. OLD TIME CIRCUS MEN It is strange how men will drift into different kinds of business. Mr. Cooper was a horse man, and made a contract with Gardner and Hemming to haul their show through the country, which marked his entry into the circus business. Mr. Forepaugh's was a similar experience. By the way, Mr. Forepaugh was the first man to place the animals and circus in separate tents. Mr. Wallace, of Wallace Circus of the present time, was a livery stable man. Sells Brothers had a "Yankee Notion" wagon and traveled from town to town with Hemming and Cooper's circus, opening up their wagon in the town square and selling their goods. After two years they started a show of their own, which passed out of existence at their death. Ringling Brothers, owning the largest show of the present day, started in a modest way and have been very successful, owning the Ringling show, the Barnum and Bailey show and a large interest in the Buffalo Bill show and Sells and Forepaugh show. Mr. Kohl always told John Ringling that they did not advertise their best feature; that be considered any five brothers that could get along without quar- CIRCUS MEMOIRS 3ff relling was the greatest feature about the show; which is surely true. Of all the old time circus men that I once knew, all have passed away except W. W. Cole, who is living in retirement in New York with plenty of this world's goods to keep him comfortable. I think the greatest rider that the world has ever produced was James Robinson. When he walked in the ring to begin his act, with whip in hand, and jumped on the back of his bare-backed horse one was impressed at that minute that he was "it". He had that style and grace and finish to his act that no one else ever had that I have seen or heard of. It was the same with Blondin, the tight rope walker who crossed Niagara Falls on a tight rope years ago. I have seen nearly all the tight rope walkers, but there was only one great artist he was Blondin. James A. Bailey was a remarkable man, the greatest tent showman that ever lived. His proper name was McGinnis. He was a bell boy in a small hotel in Detroit at the beginning of the war. Colonel Fred Bailey was the General Agent of William Lake's circus at that time. Their route took them through Detroit. In those days the agent traveled with a horse and buggy, and one wagon followed carrying the pictorial papers to be posted as they went along. (Now-a-days it requires three separate cars.) Their route took them through Detroit, when young 40 CIRCUS MEMOIRS McGinnis made application to Colonel Bailey to take him along. Fred Bailey was accompanied by an assistant by the name of Stephens. The only place they had where young McGinnis could ride was on the water bucket between their legs in the buggy, and away they went. Stephens did not like the idea of bothering with young McGinnis, or Bailey as we shall now call him, and wished Colonel Bailey to send him back to Detroit, but he would not listen to it, and said: "I am going to make an agent of this boy." After the season was over they wintered in Zanesville, Ohio, and Colonel Bailey lived down at Cincinnati. Having business up at Zanesville where the show was in winter quarters, he went up there and found Jimmie, as he called him, learning to be a circus rider. He immediately took him to Cincinnati, as he did not wish him to be a circus performer. In the whirli- gig of time young Bailey became a regular agent. He told me his ambition was to receive more salary than any other agent ever did, which ambition was realized. Then he had an ambition to become a proprietor and bought an interest in the Cooper and Bailey show. In 1876 he started the show for the West, and along in the middle of the summer decided to take the show to Australia, something never heard of before. He made arrangements to ship the circus and menagerie to Australia and on the 3rd of Novem- ber, 1876, we sailed for Australia on the steamer CIRCUS MEMOIRS 41 "City of Sydney," from San Francisco. We landed at Sydney, went to Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, and from there back to Sydney. Bailey left for America and the show started for India by the way of Java, with me in charge. While I was in Batavia Bailey cabled me to return to Australia with the show, which I did. We showed there again, in Tas- mania and in New Zealand. Chartering a sailing vessel there, we sailed for Peru, South America, landing at Callao. From there we went up to Lima, then back down to Valparaiso, Santiago, Montevideo, Buenos Ayres, and around through the Straits up the east coast of South America to New York, having been gone two years. We all landed back home broke. I wish to mention here our experience in shipping stock. On leaving San Francisco we had very strong iron-bound boxes built for our horses, strong enough to lower into the hold of the vessel, and each horse was kept in his box until we arrived in Australia. Afterward, instead of carrying these large separate boxes, we built stalls on board the vessel; later we only lashed poles between them, and finally, coming from Buenos Ayres to New York, we only covered the ballast in the hold with dirt and turned the stock loose down there, just the same as if they were in pasture, and they all came out without a scratch. One day when we were sailing along quietly, 42 CIRCUS MEMOIRS every one taking his ease, a darkey came running up from the hold saying: "Master, is it all right; those varmints running loose down there?" They couldn't understand what he meant, but come to find out, one of the tigers had gotten out. The darkey had turned pretty nearly white, he was so frightened. After landing in America, James Reiley, the printer in New York, since dead, offered to sell Bailey what was then called the "Howe's London Show", but an agreement was made whereby they consolidated that show with the few wagons, horses and traps that we had left from our South American season, and they started out upon a very successful season. I did not go with them that season. Friends of Bailey saw an opportunity for a greater consolidation, and they consolidated Barnum's shows with these shows, which venture proved a great success. Fortunately, an event occurred that only happens once in a life- time the birth of a baby elephant, which was a great feature. Previous to this, Bailey had told me that if he ever got hold of Barnum's name there would never be a tent made large enough to hold the people, and when he did his words were made true. He was the most untiring man I ever knew, and as honest as the day was long. I often thought he would retire, and his health at one time did compel him to do so for one season, but he became restless and soon decided to go back into the business again. He often CIRCUS MEMOIRS 43 told me he would never try to retire again, but would die in the harness, which he did at too early an age. I cannot make a better comparison than to say that anything Bailey put out in the way of wardrobes was of silks and satins, while other men used turkey red and calico. He engaged the best men that the country offered at the heads of every department. He bought Jumbo, and while Jumbo was a great elephant and a great card, he was made so by accident, which shows how some men are fortunate. It was only the excitement worked up in England when they were taking him from the country which made him such a famous animal. After they brought him to this country Bailey, of course, took advantage of the incident and made the most of it. It is a pity that such a man died so young. He had just finished a beautiful home, on forty acres, at Mount Vernon, New York, and had everything the heart could desire. Dan. Rice was a circus character that I knew. Everybody in those days knew of Dan. Rice and his one horse show. He played ring master and clown, performed, trained horses, and was as well able to protect himself in a personal encounter as any man I ever knew. I remember Mr. Cooper sending him a telegram one year, offering him five hundred dollars a week to go with his show and play clown. His answer was that the amount would not keep him in 44 CIRCUS MEMOIRS whiskey. His great country was up and down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, with what they called "Steamboat shows". John O'Brien was a queer character and owned a very large show at one time. Some seasons he had two or three different shows on the road. I remember one Sunday when we were in Philadelphia, we went up to Frankford where Mr. O'Brien lived, and his first salutation to Mr. Cooper was, " How is that 'round the corner grocery circus of yours?" He had a very attractive daughter and to his great disappoint- ment she married Walter Stuart, who was in the side show, having neither arms nor legs. One season he had three different shows out with names unknown in the show business. I asked him where he found the names. He replied they were copied off of tomb- stones, so he would not be bothered by the people he named them after. Adam Forepaugh was a fine man who had been in the butchering business. He got the circus fever and started the finest show of that day, became very successful and accumulated a fortune. I will never forget a funny incident that happened in the cook tent. Clarence Farrell was his treasurer. Mrs. Brown had a daughter named Molly, who was the star rider with the Forepaugh circus. The old lady not wishing to lose her meal ticket, noticed that she and Farrell were getting very much in love with each CIRCUS MEMOIRS 45 other, and one day while at dinner, in the cook tent, the old lady and Farrell began cross firing at each other, or, to use a slang expression, getting back at each other with hot words, with Mr. Forepaugh sitting there enjoying it very much. Finally, they began throwing plates at each other, when Mr. Forepaugh thought it was time for him to say something, so he called out, " Here, this thing has gone far enough, by , these dishes cost money." When they commenced destroy- ing his property he did not see so much fun in it. Mr. Forepaugh could never forget that he was a butcher. Whenever he arrived in a town he would get into a buggy and make for the meat market, where his meat was contracted for, and get it up on the ground. Then, instead of paying any attention to the tents with the wagons or animals, he would get his knife and saw and go to cutting up the meat. It gave him more pleasure than anything else. He would say some very funny things. In Syracuse one day when the business was very dull, the dead head tickets seemed to come in very fast, and he would take them in and tear them up savagely. Dan Taylor, the boss canvas man said: "Mr. Forepaugh, don't we want some sawdust?" Mr. Forepaugh said : " By ! No! We will use these torn tickets for sawdust." 40 CIRCUS MEMOIRS VI. ON THE ROAD I remember one afternoon down at Texarkana when the circus let out, two darkeys passing along the bill- board looking at the circus posters, one remarked "I did not see that", naming several pictures he did not see, when his companion said how could he expect to see it all in one afternoon. That he would have to go along a week to see it all. Getting out of Louisville one spring we were very short of funds and considerably worried how to meet our bills, hotel accounts, also for feed, tents and lots of odds and ends. I told my partner we would have to appoint ourselves a Committee of Ways and Means. So we started around. The first we got to was the stable man and we began making excuses, paying out money all winter, none coming in, and would he be kind enough to wait for his money until we were out a couple of weeks? He said, yes, etc. Then on to the next creditor and it was all right. From this on we got brave and went to others and told them we would not pay them for two weeks, never asking them if it was agreeable. So in a few weeks we were all paid up and out of debt. While traveling through Kentucky about my second season, I found it was considered good business to CIRCUS MEMOIRS 47 have a bank roll in case of emergency, as I had quite a number of people on my hands, and the horses and outfit to take care of, so I decided to put away four hundred dollars. I had small money changed for four one hundred dollar bills, put them in a manilla envelope, sealed it and decided to carry it between my under shirt and my person. I did not think there would be any danger of losing it because in those days nearly every one wore high top boots. Going about I would feel to see if the money was still there and secure. One night when we were on our way to Carrollton, Kentucky, we had to ferry over to the town, which kept us so late it was not worth while to go to a hotel, so I put the stock in the livery stable, shook down a little clean straw, pulled my boots off and slept for about two hours until daylight. After getting up I missed the envelope, and from that day until this I have no idea whether it was stolen or if it worked out of my boots. I know I didn't get over the loss for quite a long while, as it was the most money I ever had possessed and the greatest loss I had ever sustained. That same season, out in Kansas, some men came to me one night and told me they had a great curiosity. Some well known desperate character, who had lived in that neighborhood, had been killed, and they offered me his head, which they had cut off and put 48 CIRCUS MEMOIRS in a jar of alcohol. I took a look at it, but that was as much as I wanted to do with it. We would often see some very strange sights and occurrences. Going down through Arkansas we reached the county where there was great excitement and contention over moving the county seat from Dover to Russellville. United States troops were still stationed down in that country in those days, and the feeling was so intense that serious trouble was liable to break out in the circus. Troops were stationed at the entrance and they searched every man that attended the circus for pistols and knives, making a stack of them out in front of the show as large as a hogshead. On coming out each one was handed his weapon, and thus the trouble was avoided. At one time in Kansas, when they were extending the railroad out west, we showed in the tent city, and Fulton happened to meet a friend there, running a billiard hall. He surely dressed funny. He was wearing a suit of clothes made out of green billiard cloth. That was the only suit I have ever seen made of this material. The circus boys were always a study to me. As soon as they are in a position that will justify it, they are taken with the diamond fever, and they are never satisfied until they get a diamond or two. In the spring of the year previous to starting out, they would sometimes arrive weeks ahead, the ones that were CIRCUS MEMOIRS 49 broke always arriving early. They were sure of a meal ticket, and it was probable their welcome had worn out where they had spent the winter. On their arrival it was never necessary to ask them how they were fixed. If any diamonds were on their persons necktie, shirtbosom or fingers they were all right, and had passed through the winter in good shape, but if no diamonds adorned them it was a dead sure thing they were flat broke; because if they had ten dollars they would have a diamond. We had many strange experiences when we traveled by wagon. On long routes we would have to start early. We often had breakdowns, or some other accident. On Sunday we would have a long journey, sometimes as much as fifty miles. No provision was made for meals, and we had to eat the best we could on the road. I remember one time when we were in Missouri, it was too late for regular meals. We stopped at a little old hotel and asked the proprietor if we could get some dinner. There were about ten or twelve of us, but he said, "No, I cannot take care of you." We pleaded as well as we could; we told him we were nice people and would be no trouble to take care of, that he would find us all right, etc. He listened to our talk, and in answer to our saying that we were all right, he replied that he had often heard of entertain- ing angels unawares, but he had never heard of any 60 CIRCUS MEMOIRS angels being with a circus. So we drove on, hoping to do better at the next place. In traveling through the country we had many funny experiences. Often when we wished things for the table, such as eggs, butter, milk, etc., we would go to a house and plead for these things for the people to eat, and nine times out of ten it would be impossible to get them. But I never knew it to fail if we went to a house and asked for something for a sick monkey, he would surely get it, if they had it. That was one thing I never could understand. I remember one day at Indianapolis, I was sitting behind the candy stand in the menagerie, when a lady came up with a child and asked if we had any drinking water. She was told that we had not. She remarked that the little boy could not drink lemonade. She was assured that he could drink what we had as there was not a particle of lemon in it. The circus boys did not waste lemons by making lemonade out of them. Colonel Goshen, the Arabian Giant, was a side show curiosity who amused me a great deal with the awful lies he used to tell. He said he had been in the Mexican war and was wounded and taken prisoner in one of the battles. He claimed to be a great shot, and that the Mexicans agreed to release him on condition that he would show them some of his great marksmanship. With nothing to lose and all to gain, CIRCUS MEMOIRS 61 he said, they asked him to hit the dial of the town clock about a mile away. He threw the gun to his shoulder, and with just one shot tore the hands off the clock. He used to amuse Kohl and me a great deal when we would ask him how he was feeling, by replying, "Not very well; the lead in me is very heavy today, and I feel it." So it became a by- word between Kohl and me. Often we would say, if we did not feel very well, "The lead is pretty heavy in me today." Col. Goshen often told us that he could make a salve that would be a great thing in case of another war. That for wounds, etc., it was simply great. Amputate a soldier's leg or arm, apply some of this salve and the part was healed the next day. He said he spoke to Gen. Grant and Sherman about selling it to the government but they said we would never have another war and could not use it. Colonel always reminded me of Jack Lawton who was not careful of the truth of his statements and at times would believe his own lies. He was down at the steamship docks one day and started up town. Meeting some friends they inquired where he had been. He told them "down on the pier looking at some fishermen landing a whale". They hurriedly left him to see it. He proceeded on up town, meeting more friends and telling them about the whale. The story got ahead of him and the people began to pass 52 CIRCUS MEMOIRS him on their way down to see the whale. Crowds passing him all talking about the whale. He stopped, looked back as if in doubt, saying, "I am going back myself by . Maybe they have caught one". Isaac Sprague was a skeleton. He and Kohl did not always get along very well together. Oftentimes after a little tilt between them Kohl would be giving a description of him, his ailments, etc., and right in the midst of it Sprague would speak out and say, "It is not true, the only trouble is they do not give me enough to eat." At the time I had a museum on the Bowery he was with me and roomed on Houston Street. That was not the finest neighborhood in New York at that time. I should have said before this that Sprague was married and had a wife and three children. On arriving at the Museum one morning he told me that he had been robbed, that some one had climbed over the roof of an adjoining shed, opened the window into his room and stolen his pocket book. He knew nothing of this until he awoke in the morning, very cold and with his wife lying up close to him to keep warm. It developed that, being in the winter, and the thief leaving the window up, both of them no doubt woke up very cold; but how his wife could expect heat or warmth by lying up against him I cannot see, as it would be like lying up against a pair of iron tongs. CIRCUS MEMOIRS 53 One night at Grand Rapids, Michigan, the weather looked very threatening. Show people have a great dread of packing up a wet tent, the rain making it so heavy to handle, as well as very muddy under foot. That night they were working very fast. Kohl picked up Sprague and leaned him up in a fence corner, while they hustled to get the tent down and packed. It was raining, with thunder and lightning, and there stood Sprague over in the fence corner, swearing and calling, but no one paid any attention to him until the tent was put away, when they took him down and put him away in the car. Jimmy Quigley came to me one day and told me that he had a positive novelty in the way of a per- formance a troop of trained chickens. That sounded good to me, so Jimmy brought them down in the morning and they gave a very interesting perfor- mance. When night came the chickens went on a strike, as we called it. They wanted to go to roost, and to roost they did go. They never would work at night. Quigley did not know this because he had been training them for months during the day time. So the chicken performers were a failure. 54 CIRCUS MEMOIRS VII. IN FOREIGN LANDS Our stay in Australia was marked with financial success as well as very pleasant business acquaintances with Australian people. They always extended us a hearty welcome. I never was in a country where they were as fond of athletic sports, horse racing, rowing, cricket, etc. The bathing beaches of Australia had to be guarded by driving piles around them to keep the bathers out of the jaws of the sharks. On going up the coast of Australia on our way to Java we had some strange experiences. At one point, which was the land end of the cable, was a small settlement where people in the employ of the cable company lived, and at the time we were there, living out about half a mile, were quite a number of aborigines. The climate being very warm, they did not require much clothing, but when any of them had occasion to come into the station, they would take a coffee sack, cut a hole in the centre to push their head through, and holes in either corner for their arms, and with this for clothing they were permitted to come in. On their return they would loan it to another native, which usually kept it in use. C I. ECUS MEMOIRS 55 At a place called McKay, I remember one black chap coming down to our steamer wearing a brass plate about the size of half the head of a barrel, on the plate being engraved and inlaid with black letters : "Jimmie Strongstink, King of Patrick's Plains". It was hung around his neck by a chain, and was presented to him by some of the boys about town as a joke. But he would call attention to it and point to it with great pride. There was a Mr. Robinson, a cannon ball performer, whom we heard of in Australia. They used to tell about his wonderful strength, etc. One of his tricks he used to do when he took offence at the people of the music halls where he was working. All the music they had was a piano, so when he was offended in any way, in the course of his act he would use one of the cannon balls to smash the piano, putting it out of business, he claiming it to be an accident. At one time on our trip along the coast of Australia we had to wait for the tide to come in to get us over a bar. I asked if I could go ashore in the wilds to shoot a kangaroo and the captain consented, saying he would have the whistle blow every little while so I would not lose my direction. After being ashore awhile I shot a kangaroo and dragged it down to the steamer, where it was taken aboard. Everybody had a look at it. The captain finally ordered the men to take it back to the cook. Some of the women folks 56 CIRCUS MEMOIRS asked what was to be done with it, and he answered, "Cook it and eat it." They all exclaimed that they wouldn't eat it. He told them that it was very nice. The next night after dinner the captain and everybody were on deck and feeling very happy, when he asked them how they liked the dinner. They said very well. "How did you like the soup?" "Fine!" Then he told them it was kangaroo soup. So they had eaten kangaroo soup without knowing it. On this trip we stopped at Cookstown, and the only ground we found large enough on which to erect our tent was down at the edge of the water. Our tent extended on the beach and before the performance was finished the tide had come in, and there were our seats standing in the water. It was my second experience of that kind. The other was at Shreve- port, Louisiana, when the river was very low, and we erected our tents on theriver bottom. We gave a circus performance at Cookstown. Our troupe was made up of first class artists, but the only music we had was an old fashioned hand organ. It was really comical to see it, but everybody seemed to enjoy it. In Melbourne, Australia, while we were showing on the banks of the river Yarra Yarra, something happened to the eels in the river, and thousands of them were seen dead, floating on the river. That night, while the people who came in carriages and CIRCUS MEMOIRS 57 hacks were in looking at the show, some of the town boys on the outside thought they would have some fun, and I think they put dead eels on the seats of every carriage that was waiting around the show. They had no lights for the carriages and hacks, and when the people came to sit down they found them- selves sitting on these slimy, dead eels. I can assure you that things were very lively around there for a while, between the screaming of the women, the swearing of the men and the laughing of the onlookers. The papers in Melbourne said they thought the death of the eels was caused by the noise our steam calliope made. It was in Australia that I first met Harry Keller, the great magician, who has retired and is now living in Los Angeles. I also met Will J. Davis in Australia, and I am pleased to say the three of us have been good friends ever since. We had a funny experience in Australia. In America circus men have no hour for meals. If the outfit is delayed its just hustle until the doors are open. In Australia we were late one day getting in to one of the interior towns and had to hire a lot of extra men to unload and get up the tents. Imagine one day when they all sat down to smoke for half an hour. I thought Mr. Bailey would go crazy. The idea of 58 CIRCUS MEMOIRS them taking a smoke when we were so late was a new thing for him. Before the present plan of cook tents the manage- ment and performers stopped in the hotels, the proprietor generally in the best, the performers in the next best, etc. When Bailey & Cooper engaged James Robinson, the rider, to go to Australia he was the only one available so he dictated his own terms regarding price, etc. He got $500.00 per week, work or play, and all his expenses for horses and family. Robinson also insisted on inserting in the contract that he was to be put up in the same hotel with Mr. Bailey at which Mr. Bailey was annoyed. So Bailey to get even with Robinson, stopped at boarding houses all the tune. He said he was sure to have the contract framed. While in Australia we were told about sand storms but never saw one until we were showing up the country from Adelaide when one came rolling along in our direction. When it reached us you could not see two feet and when it passed on then came a cloud burst and soon the streams were out of their banks. Our tents were washed away. Some of the people in the town did not seem alarmed for the saloons kept on doing business though the water was two feet deep in the saloons and the folks standing in the water up to the bar drinking away. We did not get our stuff together for several days. 59 Jos. K. Emmet was playing in Australia while we were there and he, like many others, once in a great while got too much aboard. It was announced that the Governor-General Sir Hercules Robinson was to attend his performance this night and Emmet was not in condition to appear, and to the surprise of many Emmet's business was capacity afterwards; the curiosity to see the American actor who had the nerve to disappoint when the Governor-General was to attend filled the house as long as he stayed. We were much amused while in one of the interior towns by a black woman who was carrying her baby in her arms. Our curiosity to see the black baby was great, and looking at it very closely, we discovered that she had mixed some grease and charcoal and given the baby a coating of it. It was a very warm day and the heat of the sun had caused the black grease to run off the baby, which showed the child to be half white. It struck us that the mother was ashamed of having a mulatto baby. Mr. Cunningham, whom I knew over there, had occasion to bring some aborigines over to the Barnum show the year I was with it. He told me in crossing from San Francisco to Omaha they encountered a snow storm. These natives had never seen snow and of course, were much surprised, and in trying to make Cunningham see that they knew what it was, they gave a motion of the hand as though they were 60 CIRCUS MEMOIRS turning a crank. In a short time Cunningham figured out they had experienced turning an ice cream freezer and likened the snow to ice cream. In going up the coast of Australia the natives would pull out into the ocean in little log dug-outs, come as near to the ship as they felt was safe, and cry out to us to throw them tobacco. The captain always threw them food, such as a leg of mutton or meat of some sort, but they never seemed to care for anything except tobacco. It was very interesting to see them throw the boomerang. I left that country under the impression that they were the only people who could do it, but I have since seen people employed by me stand on the stage, throw them over the audience and have them return to them with more precision than shown by the Australians. We get our eucalyptus tree, which is so plentiful in California, from Australia. It is surely a great asset to that country, as it is a fast grower, a hard wood, and of many varieties. The tree sheds its bark instead of its leaves. While there are many birds with beautiful plumage in Australia, there are very few, if any, song birds. While in Australia I never heard of or saw a snake. We found Van Deeman's Land, now called Tas- CIRCUS MEMOIRS 61 mania, a very fine island. Its name was changed in order to lose its former identity as a penal colony. New Zealand is a very beautiful land. It has beautiful harbors and attractive cities, with a fine climate. When in Lima, Peru, on Sunday afternoon Mr. Bailey and I attended the bull fight, never having attended one. After the matador had killed several I remarked to Bailey that I would like to see the bull get the best of it one time and I had scarcely finished saying the words until the bull had the people's idol down on the ground horning him in good shape. The audience in turn applauded the bull. We chartered a sailing ship named the "Golden Sea" and sailed from Auckland, New Zealand, to Peru, South America, and were for fifty-four days out of sight of land. We were surely glad when we reached Callao. After being out for about a week on this voyage, the elephant, which I have already mentioned, ate a box of sulphur matches which one of the men had left carelessly near him, and died the next day. We threw the carcass overboard. We learned afterwards that the tides carried it back to Auckland, where the people concluded that we had been shipwrecked. We certainly experienced some very severe weather. We were in one storm in which fourteen ships were 62 CIRCUS MEMOIRS lost along the coast, but, luckily, we pulled through. I remember we had a couple of sea lions on board, and after our fish were consumed we had nothing to feed them. We thought they would only eat fresh fish, but soon found that by running the thread off of a linen spool, which was used to sew on spangles, and letting that fly from the rear of the ship for a couple of hundred yards, the gulls and Cape pigeons and albatross would get tangled up in it, when we would pull them on board and feed them to the sea lions. As the birds had a fishy flavor the sea lions would eat them, and by this means we kept the sea lions alive until we reached port. The hotels in South America seemed very strange to us. Of course, on account of giving night per- formances, we were always late in returning to the hotel. We found that the doors opened outward. The hotels were generally located on the second floor, with large steps leading up to them. The porter would sleep at the head of the stairs in a cot, with a strong cord, one end of which was attached to the door knob and the other end to his big toe. Upon any one opening the door the cord pulling on his toe would awaken him. I have spoken of James Robinson being a great rider in his day, but I must not lose sight of the fact that no man can be a grand rider without a grand horse. Then, when he has a grand horse, he must CIRCUS MEMOIRS 63 also have a person who understands it, to follow the horse around with a whip in his hand, "Keeping the horse up", as it is termed. He must start with the right foot first, as the rider cannot ride him if he is running what is termed "False". Often it is neces- sary to put rosin on the back of the horse, which sometimes makes the horse's back sore. Naturally, when the rider attempts to throw a summersault, or do some other trick, the horse flinches, which tends to throw the rider off. I have nothing but good words for circus people. They are kind hearted and always willing to aid each other when in distress or trouble. It is surprising how little drinking is done in the circus. It is strange how easily a person can get into ex- travagant habits. I have seen some of the performers go along with the show, earning, I will say to illus- trate, one hundred dollars per week, and with no one to provide for, and I have seen those same people go to a man who was earning, perhaps, only forty dollars a month, and borrow money from him; then stay in his debt the whole season. It is strange how men's lines fall. In the army I was where the military bands and bugles and fifes were always playing. From the army I went into the circus business, where we were always with music. Then I got into a line of business where the principal 64 CIRCUS MEMOIRS thing was to make people laugh, to entertain them and amuse them, as well as to instruct them. I don't feel that I ever got a dollar by making people feel badly, and as I look back now, I am much pleased to know it. Sometimes, perhaps, they may not have thought they had the worth of their money, but I think that was because we are all of different minds. Sometimes we would do things and say things which would make us laugh among ourselves. I re- member one time when Kohl and I, and a man by the name of Morton, talked of leasing the Columbia Theatre in Chicago. Morton was managing it at that time with other parties. We began figuring up what the probable expense would be to run it. The three of us agreed along pretty well until we reached the treasurer, who was to be in the box office. Morton told us that a man to fill that position should get a salary of about thirty-five or fifty dollars per week. We didn't think it was worth so much. Morton then began to tell us about the way a man would have to dress; how it would be necessary for him to have a full dress suit, etc., so as to make a nice appearance in the box office. Kohl, in a hah* joking way and half in earnest, replied that it would not be necessary for the man to have a full dress suit; that, standing up there with his breast to the window, it would only be necessary for him to wear one of those fronts they put on a corpse. I thought Morton would CIRCUS MEMOIRS 65 drop dead, and when Kohl and I were alone I think we laughed for full ten minutes at Morton's appear- ance when he heard Kohl's remark. Belle Boyd was a Confederate spy during the war, and her name was on the lips of every one in the army. Imagine my surprise one day, twenty years after the war, when she came along and made application to lecture in the museum, which she did in a Confederate uniform. In Java I had a native brass band of about thirty- five pieces. They could only play one tune, so the music was the same all through the performance; whether we wanted a march, a gallop or a waltz, it had to do for all the acts. The Javanese all look alike, and I couldn't tell one from another when they came to the show, but their instrument was the pass that let them in. For the first few performances it was really amusing to watch them. They would become so interested in watching the act that out of the thirty- five there would sometimes be only about four or five tooting on the horns, and then, when they realized they were not playing, all would commence to blow a blast together. Our show included Madame De Atalie, a strong woman. When the brass cannon was placed on her shoulders and a man standing on it would fire it off, the Javanese band quit playing altogether, forgetting 66 CIRCUS MEMOIRS all about the music. After a time some of them would become tired, having seen enough of the show, when they would hand over their instruments to their friends in the town, so there would remain out of a supposed thirty-five musicians, not more than six or eight of them who could play at all. They had just used the horns to get into the show. The watering of streets in Java was done by hand. The policemen were armed only with pitchforks. When arresting a person they would simply shove him along by the back of the neck wherever they wanted him to go. Java is a very interesting country. On arriving at the hotel the manager calls a boy, who is engaged to wait on the guest during his stay. To one's sur- prise, when the boy appears, he is seen to be a man of about fifty years of age. This waiter attends you at the table and takes care of your room. The hotels are run on the American plan and all the food is served on larger platters. The waiter will not ask whether or not one wishes any of the different dishes, but takes one after the other and scrapes some of it on the diner's plate. When the meal is finished the plate is heaped up like a derby hat. One will understand why he has served so liberally when it is learned that the food left upon the plate belongs to him. He takes the dishes to the guest's CIRCUS MEMOIRS 67 room and scrapes them into a bucket which he has standing behind the door. On returning to his family at night he takes this along for them to eat. Java belongs to Holland. Gin is free in the hotels. There were no ice-making plants when I was there. Ice was brought around from Boston in sailing vessels, and we paid ten cents a glass for ice water. Smoking was a cheap luxury; one could buy about fifteen cigars for five cents, and they were not real bad either. At first we were greatly annoyed while lying in bed to see lizards crawling around on the walls and ceilings. Often times they would fall on the bed. This was a sure enough sight, not an imaginary one caused by drinking. We gave our matinees there at seven o'clock in the morning while it was cool. Funerals take place there at that time of day also. Labor saving devices were not employed on the Island. 68 CIRCUS MEMOIRS VIII. CIRCUS AND MUSEUM In 1880 I went out with Adam Forepaugh's circus. We were out, of course, the regular season of six months. It was not a very prosperous season and I didn't like the idea of being idle all winter, so I went over to New York just before my season closed and started a dime museum. Having an acquaintance with curiosities, and managed a circus as well as the side shows, I was familiar with the performances necessary; so I rented a room and opened up a dime museum the first in the United States. It proved a success from the start. I continued for about two years, when the circus fever came over me again and I wanted to travel, so I sold the dime museum, or rather, I might say, I gave it away, for I got nothing for it, and went out on the road again with a circus, lost all the money I had made and wound up flat broke. I went out next season with John O'Brien's circus, which was not very successful, and we left a trail of circus plunder behind us to pay debts, or as security for debts incurred, that reached nearly from St. Louis to Winnipeg, where, fortunately, we struck good business and Kohl and I formed a partnership. CIRCUS MEMOIRS 69 The show wintered in Frankford and opened there in the spring. In the side show we had a big negro whom we had fitted up with rings in his nose, a leopard skin, some assagais and a large shield made out of cow's skin. While he was sitting on the stage in the side show, along came two negro women and remarked, "See that nigger over there? He ain't no Zulu, that's Bill Jackson. He worked over here at Camden on the dock. I seen that nigger often." Poor old Bill Jackson was as uneasy as if he was sitting on needles, holding the shield between him and the two negro women. Fortunately for him, about this time the audience was called to another portion of the tent. In coming down from the northwest C. E. Kohl and I decided there was an opening in Chicago for a dime museum, so we formed a co-partnership and I went on to Chicago to look up a location, which I found at 150 West Madison Street,. just east of Halstead. It was an instantaneous success, and we kept in operation a great many years. The next year we opened one at 150 Clark Street, which was also very successful. During the World's Fair we opened another one at 300 State Street, which was also a success. We also established them in Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Louisville, St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Cleveland. 70 CIRCUS MEMOIRS All except Cleveland paid handsomely, which was our only failure in the dime museum business. It was a strange business, and for a few years the dime was something new for the price of admission to a place of amusement. Thousands and thousands of people would pass along and say, "Oh, let's go in for fun;" but as years went by those same people became critics and would not spend their dime nor their time unless the show was considered worth it. The dime museum business, with its curiosities, its stage performance and its music, led to the continuous vaudeville of the theatres; then came the ten, twenty and thirty cent performance, the people all the time demanding better shows, for which they were willing to pay, until finally it has reached the high class vaudeville of today, in which higher salaries are paid than in any other class of amusement, excepting grand opera. We exhibited many strange curiosities and some very interesting ones. One was Anna Leake, who was born without arms. She told me her father was a man who drank a great deal and was very quarrelsome with his friends. Her mother learned of his being in a scrap down in the town, and when she saw him coming home, he had his overcoat thrown over his shoulders without his arms in the sleeves. She claimed this was the reason she was armless. She died a few years ago. She was a noble woman CIRCUS MEMOIRS 71 and I think the angels came out of heaven to meet her. Jonathan Bass, the Ossified Man, was quite a curiosity. A great many people came to see him. He told me the ossification was brought on by his being in the water so much of his time rafting lumber. I would always have a little chat with him on his arrival. He was blind and had no more control of himself than a broomstick. He would tell me of the trouble he was having in the management of his farm; how the men would not put in the crops he told them to. He would swear like a trooper. When- ever he was raised up to give a lecture some one in the audience would surely faint. The public was incredulous that it was he speaking, some declaring that it was a ventriloquist. John Snyder was quite a drawing card for us. He was afflicted with a nervous disease which made it impossible for him to keep still. Kohl made the advertising read that "When he got tired he would have to run up and down stairs to rest himself. " In 1880, while owner of the Globe Dime Museum, 298 Bowery, New York, along came two bright chaps, Weber and Fields, asking for something to do. I put them to passing hand bills. After making themselves useful for a week or two they informed me they would like to go on the stage for a turn. So I put them on and they made good 72 CIRCUS MEMOIRS and have continued to do so from that day up to the present time. We often talk it over and we always have a warm place in our hearts for each other. It is strange, and then again, I do not know that it is so strange, the number of ideas you can get from an outsider for your business. We had been exhibiting fat women for a great many years, when down in Cincinnati one day there came a chap along from over in Kentucky who said he had a fat woman, a negress, called Big Winny; that he would like to hire her out and wanted us to give him three hundred dollars a week for her. We had been hiring fat women for twenty-five and fifty dollars a week, and big ones too. This chap was so persistent that I listened to him, and finally decided to take a chance. So I wired up to Kohl that I had hired a fat woman for three hundred dollars a week. Well he, of course, was staggered by my hiring her, but no more than I was at doing it. This is what I learned from the chap, whose name was Robinson: He had her arrive in town in an express car, claiming she was too big to get into a passenger coach door. Then he hired a big truck to be at the depot and backed up to the door of the express car, taking her on the truck through the streets to the museum. It is a wonder we were not all arrested, for the streets were blockaded, street cars stopped, and CIRCUS MEMOIRS 73 traffic was suspended. Everybody wanted to see BIG Winny. They were lined up in front of the box office and across the side walk, and were going in just as fast as they could. They looked like soldiers going to the war. That business kept up for weeks, and it surely opened our eyes. We took her to Chicago with the same result. Everywhere we took her it was capacity house for months. Robinson got sore and of course wanted a raise in his salary, but we had an iron clad contract with him and held him to it. We put on a beauty show of about fifteen or sixteen fairly good looking young ladies and one old girl who thought she still retained her charms. In giving out the numbers, she drew number nine. Every person entering the museum was entitled to a vote of their choice, the one receiving the largest number of votes to be declared the beauty. The fun of it was that eight out of ten of the public, just as a joke, voted for number nine. This of course swelled the poor girl's head and she really believed that she was "It." "Number Nine" was a great joke around Chicago for a number of years afterward. We had gum-chewing contests, type-writing contests and many other kinds of contests as could be given in a small space. 74 CIRCUS MEMOIRS We conceived the idea one day of exhibiting the fat man lying down, so we fixed up a comfortable bed for him on the stage, and began advertising him as being so large that he couldn't walk. He was perfectly contented to lie there on the mattress, until the public came to see him in such great numbers that he began to think he was a great drawing card, then claimed that it was very hard work to lie there and asked for more money. We stood him off the best we could, but one day when the lecturer was telling of how large he was, and what a burden he was to himself; how he couldn't walk nor help himself, in fact, how he had to be taken care of like a baby, he got up right in the midst of the talk and informed the lecturer that he was tired of it and wouldn't work that way any more unless he got more money; then walked off the stage. Mille Christine, the Double-Headed Nightingale, colored, born in South Carolina, was brought up north once in a while and placed on exhibition by Joe Smith. She was a very fine drawing card. She could sing, dance and play the piano. One head sang soprano while the other head sang contralto. She was very religious and could never be induced to exhibit on Sunday. In all my experience she was the only person that I ever met who would not. Eli Bowen was quite an attraction for us. He was CIRCUS MEMOIRS 75 born without legs, his feet protruding from his body. He was a very nice entertainer. Quite a character, who may be living today, was "Popcorn George." His home was in Evansville, Wisconsin. He had the record of being more success- ful in discovering curiosities than any man I ever knew. Old George would come along with something to hire out quite often, and it was generally a curiosity or a good freak. Kohl never forgave him for the last one he handed us. He came down and said he had a great thing for us, informing us that it was a Mongoose. Kohl nor I never knew what a Mongoose was, but he gave us a very careful description of it, as we thought. On his description we ordered the paintings for the front of the house, having them made about as large as a small elephant. When the wagon backed up to the door with the Mongoose, to our great surprise it was in a small soap box and looked to be about the size of a muskrat. There was an awful amount of kicking about the Mongoose from the visitors. It is a showman's place to supply what the public wants, if he can find out what that is, and we found they always liked a fortune teller. We usually kept one for the ladies so they could visit her and be told the good, bad and indifferent of what was to happen, etc. I never could understand why people with common sense would consult a clairvoyant or a 76 CIRCUS MEMOIRS fortune teller and expect to learn anything of any benefit. I always contended and maintained that if they had the power to foresee the future they would not have time to bother telling others their fortunes. They could be so independent, and have so much money they would not have to be living in garrets or back rooms, as they usually do; neither would they be travelling around through the country. They could use their powers and take advantage in a large way of their knowledge, instead of fooling with inquisitive people. They used to tell me in the museum that men from the Board of Trade and banks would consult them as to the future markets, and the price of wheat, corn and pork. To me it was always a joke. We exhibited Tom Thumb and his wife quite often . Tom was always a good card. I think he was the drawing card, but at the same time his wife, a very charming little woman, pleased the people after they arrived. Tom got much larger the latter years of his life than when he was formerly on exhibition, but he was the best drawing midget this country ever saw. I think his name had something to do with it. It was such a proper name for a midget; no one ever seemed to forget it. Going along the street, if the word was passed that he was Tom Thumb, the sidewalk would soon be blocked, while any other midget would receive only CIRCUS MEMOIRS 77 a glance from the people. I have seen him in billiard halls playing the game. He was never a very desirable patron, because there would be nothing doing at any of the other tables while he was playing. He played a fairly good game, too. Tom would take a little straight nip once in a while. His wife is still living and married happily to an Italian Count. It was only the other day that I read that they were going into the Hotel business somewhere up in Massachusetts. Chang, the Chinese Giant, was a fine attraction for a museum or a side show, and he was a very nice, decent fellow. I had Captain Constantinus, the Greek. He was the original tattooed man. They caricatured James G. Blaine after this man. The tattoo work on him was very fine, the best I have ever seen, but he was a surly, overbearing individual, which made it very hard to get along with him. We often had bearded women on exhibition. I have often listened to Faber's talking machine that Barnum had with his circus in 1871. It was a very feeble attempt at talking compared with the present talking machines. I traveled through the South one season with Madame Lake's Circus, and as an outside attraction we sent up hot air balloons. We had a man named Smith who had charge of sending them up. He 78 CIRCUS MEMOIRS always succeeded in getting a few negroes to dig the trenches in which to make the fire. On one occasion at Newman, Georgia, after working half a day, and just before the show doors opened, Smithy let the balloon go, and it sailed off beautifully out of sight with a man in the basket. The understanding with the negroes that Smithy employed was that they were to be admitted to the show for their work. In the excitement, while the balloon was sailing off, the darkeys began to think about getting into the show, and one said to the other, "where is that man that said he would put us into the show?" Smithy was in the crowd and the other negro answered : " My God, man, he sailed away in that balloon! He's gone on to the town where they are going to show tomorrow!" And they raised Cain around there until they found Smith, who of course let them into the show as he had agreed to do. Smith was a good man at getting outside help when we were in a hurry. Before the night show he would always look up ten or fifteen men or boys who would agree to work at packing, he letting them in to see the show; but he would take their hats and caps to be returned after they had finished their work of taking down the tents. They would work along very nicely for a few seasons until they got foxy; then some of them would bring along another hat or cap, keeping it out of sight, and hand him the CIRCUS MEMOIRS 79 old no-account hat they were wearing. When the show was over they were on their way home and he was in possession of their old, worn out caps. Smithy was a good man and remained with me for twenty-five years. He had one great fault, and that was playing faro. I remember on one occasion he worked all the six summer months. He had saved his money and arrived in Chicago on a Sunday morning. One man who ran a gambling house there, on learning that he had this money, opened up his game and robbed him of it all before night. Some years ago quite a few of the circuses had grafters. It was never my fortune, or misfortune, whichever it was, to ever be connected with one. They surely had some very clever boys working those games, and the people they worked them on most successfully were aged men, who in their prime never would have fallen into the traps. I have often thought that men who could handle other men and formulate and carry out such schemes and tricks as they did would have been very successful business men had their lines fallen in other places. I remember on one occasion they got Mr. Nat Lee, of southern Indiana, to go to the bank where his son-in-law, David Graham Phillips' father, was cash- ier, and ask him for ten thousand dollars. He refused to give any explanation of what he was going 80 CIRCUS MEMOIRS to do with it and rushed back and handed it over to these men, who of course made way with it. Now, I call that pretty slick work. There were thousands of cases of this kind but I think, on the whole, there is more danger of having one's means taken away by one's friends and acquaintances, for as a rule you are more suspicious of strangers than you are of people you know. I knew E. J. Lehman whose estate owns the Fair in Chicago when he was connected with the Van Ambergs Circus when I was looking around for a location in Chicago to start the Museum. I had been trying to close for a lease with John M. Smyth and it hung fire. One day he asked me who I knew in Chicago. I told him I knew Mr. Lehman of the Fair. He asked me to bring a letter from him. I went over to ask Mr. Lehman if I could have one. He said, " come around at 3 :00 p.m. I will go over with you to see him." That afternoon we went over. Mr. Lehman said to Mr. Smyth, "If Kohl and Middleton wish the lease have them sign it and send it over to the Fair and I will also sign it. " But Mr. Smyth never sent it over. The kindness of Mr. Lehman I never could repay. I was much surprised when in foreign countries to notice the difference in the circus performers. In our country, where we showed at a different town every day, it was not necessary to change the program, CIRCUS MEMOIRS 81 so the performers were educated for one act; while in foreign countries where we remained two, three and four months in one place, they were trained to do many different acts, to make possible a change every week. I noticed the children of the performers were able to speak three, four or five languages, picking up the language of the country they were in very readily. In those days all foreign circuses had a number of very fine menage horses, beautifully broken to do their tricks under saddle, and the performers as a rule, were finished artists. The circus of today is a very different proposition. In the early days the clowns were very popular with the public, the same as a celebrated actor is today. The people were always anxious to hear their latest jokes and songs. After his arrival in a town, he would circulate among the wise ones of the place get hold of a little gossip about some couple going to marry, and to the surprise of the audience he would spring it on them in the way of a joke. Great excitement and pleasure would take place for a few minutes, when the horse would go galloping around the ring again with its rider. But in these days of three-rings and the platform all the talking is lost. I have heard people say they would rather go to an old time show of one ring, than the three-ring circus, 82 CIRCUS MEMOIRS but if I am a judge, it is dollars to marbles they wouldn't. It is strange that all large things are more attractive to the public than small things. A large horse is more attractive generally than a small one; a large man is more attractive than a small one. I do not know why it is, but it is undoubtedly true in everything except a woman. I had quite a card travelling with me for many years by the name of Johnnie Murray, who was often called "The Irish Lord." Everything with him was a joke. If he could get hold of a big ring and a diamond cross he wouldn't trade places with any one on earth. But half the time the cross was in pawn, as he was very fond of faro bank. Sometimes when business was very dull while he was in the ticket wagon, a farmer would come up and say, "give me two tickets." Murray would take a pencil and piece of paper and figure for about hah* a minute and then tell the gentleman that the two tickets would come to one dollar. On other occasions we would be pretty hard up for coin, with the bills coming in for hay and other supplies. About this time Murray would get out of the wagon, for there was no money in it, and tell the boy who would take his place to say that the Treasurer had gone up town, and that he could not pay any bills until his return. And Murray would take good care not to CIRCUS MEMOIRS 83 return until there was some money in the ticket wagon, when he would bluster around and say he was so sorry to have kept the gentlemen waiting. John O'Brien, whom I have mentioned before, was quite original in his way of paying bills when hard up. He was always sitting at the entrance, and maybe there would be ten men with small bills and one man with a bill that amounted to as much as all the other ten. O'Brien would figure up what the ten small bills amounted to and pay them off and they would go on their way rejoicing. The man with the large bill would contend that he was there first and should have had his money first. O'Brien would explain to him that it was easier for him to satisfy the man with the large bill and keep him quiet than it was the ten men with the small bills; that one man with the small bill out of the ten would make just as much noise and insist just as hard for his money as the one man with the large bill. I thought this was very good logic. It was much better to have one man yelling around there for his money than ten. The last season I traveled with O'Brien he said some day he was going to give a lecture and that his subject would be: "The Way of the Transgressor is Hard;" and with him it was no joke. While traveling with Barnum's Show, with which I was interested in the side show and concert and candy stands, I became quite well acquainted with 84 CIRCUS MEMOIRS Mr. Barnum. I found him quite an interesting gentleman, but very jealous of his name being con- nected with any show business which was not all right and first class in every particular. His name was very valuable when connected with any amuse- ment enterprise. Barnum always regretted having said in his first publication of the history of his life that "American people loved to be humbugged." He told me that he had eliminated it in all the later editions. It annoyed him greatly if any small weekly country newspaper spoke disparagingly of his show. I had Tom Thumb working for me at one time. One day Barnum was speaking to me about him, saying how ungrateful Tom was; that he had made Tom Thumb the drawing card that he was, but on account of a falling out they had he had cut Tom out of his will. Then when I would be speaking to Tom about Barnum, he would declare that he had made Barnum by exhibiting for him. I decided I wanted a buggy team and went to Milwaukee and paid five thousand dollars for a pair of trotters, Jack and Knight. Got a nice Brewster buggy and sleigh and was having nice rides, enjoying it all very much. People would ask about them and tell me they had seen Jack race as a four year old and that I ought not to drive him but have him trained to race, which I did. He proved a great horse, the best of CIRCUS MEMOIRS 85 his year. People said, "Such luck some men have. Carrigan sold that team to Middleton for all that money." Then when Jack began to show a great horse they said " What luck some men have. Middle- ton got that team from Carrigan for nothing. " Budd Doble did the driving. I had a race horse instead of a road horse and I did not have any more rides. But under the excellent care and guidance of Mr. Budd Doble Jack proved the great race horse of the year and many days I sat in the grand stand and saw him pilot him to victory. Doble often tells that after his great race at Rochester, N. Y., where he won the ten thousand dollar flower stake I asked Doble to stick a pin in me to see if I was alive or dreaming. In the early days, like the present, press agents were always looking out for catchy lines and about this time panoramas were being built in all large cities, most of them depicting large battles. One of them was of Christ entering Jerusalem, and the press agent wishing to have the manager stand out big, made the advertisement read, "Christ entering Jerusalem, under the management of James Jordon". Barnum, like many others, regretted getting old. He told me one day that he would give all he had in the world if he could set the peg back twenty years. One of his great sayings was, that "all men must have a vent so they can blow off and not explode. " 86 CIRCUS MEMOIRS I hired a large horse from Barnum once and had him on exhibition in my museum on the Bowery. I took particular pains to paint on the banner in front of the house that the horse belonged to Barnum. He happened to pass on the street one day and came in to see me about it, and said he objected to the way I was advertising the horse; that I had his name out in such a way that people would think it was Barnum's museum. I told him that I only wished it was, that I would like to have his name up over the museum as in the old days. He said, "Well, maybe we can arrange it some day." But that day never came. When Barnum toured Jenny Lind through the country the people of Madison induced him to have her sing in their city. There being no theater or hall suitable they fitted up an old pork house where she gave her concert. In years afterwards Mr. Barnum often referred to it when speaking to me. I sometimes wonder if there is any person with ambition who is perfectly satisfied and contented. I had my first lesson in this when I was in prison during the war. When first taken to Belle Isle prison the rations they served us were very good. We had fresh meat, sweet potatoes, beans, white bread, etc., but as the war dragged along these things began to get very scarce. The Southern soldiers, themselves, after a while had nothing but black eyed CIRCUS MEMOIRS 87 peas, sweet potatoes or corn bread, and not much of these, and never but one of them at a time. Then we began to wish that we could get enough to fill us up on even one kind. We thought we would be perfectly satisfied if we had plenty of it, even if it was only corn bread or black eyed peas. After a time I began to fare better by speculating a little, and then I wanted wheat bread, which I bought. When I had all the wheat bread I wanted, I began to wish for some meat. After I was enjoying all the meat I could eat, I wanted pie. It has been so all through my life, and while people who do not have means ridicule the idea that you are rich if you are contented, it really is the only wealth in the world, because being contented means every- thing. In traveling over the country I was much impressed with the soldiers' monuments I saw in the different states and cities and counties, and always hoped the day would come when I could erect one, for I always felt if any soldiers deserved a monument, those from Jefferson county did. The old saying that "everything comes to those who wait," came in my instance, and I took great pleasure and pride in erecting a monument at my old home at Madison. I shall never forget when Mr. Kohl was talking to me down at Madison at the time of the dedication. He was very much pleased to be there with me and 88 CIRCUS MEMOIRS to see what I had done, but he would get me to one side once in a while and say, "George, I have always regarded you as a man of good sense; how you ever went out into the army and let them shoot at you for thirteen dollars a month, I do not understand." We were together for twenty-eight years, and in all that time we never disputed one cent with each other. Great changes take place during a business life. There was a time when I knew every manager, every agent and every performer with every circus in the country. I went to the Barnum and Bailey show last week and there was only one man in the whole outfit that I knew Mr. J. Rial. Before showing through South America I had picked out attractions that would appeal to the eye as far as I could, like a fire eater, swordsman, an educated pig, a woman without arms who could write, sew, etc. Then I had some dancing girls in tights. Everything went along very nicely until one day, at Montevideo, when a committee of prominent Germans called on me to protest against my having a banner displayed with the picture of an educated pig named Bismark. They thought so much of Bismark that they did not like to see his name desecrated. I told them they ought to feel honored, that it was surely a wonderful pig as wonderful in his way as Bismark was in his. Nobody else but a German would have made a CIRCUS MEMOIRS 89 protest for a thing like that, and I kept the name Bisinark for the pig, just the same. Traveling through the South was very precarious business, as in those days many of the states were not reconstructed and had no use for the Yankee. I remember one day at Oxford, Mississippi, where three or four men came up to the tent. One of them took out a large knife, slashed an opening down through the side of the wall and asked if it was the door. We answered, "yes, come right in." They looked around, and when their curiosity was satisfied they departed. Another day down at Van Buren, Arkansas, the citizens got to quarreling among themselves, shooting at each other, and when it was all over a couple of dead horses lying in the street looked as if there had been a battle fought there. One night while showing at Canton, Mississippi, a colored man offended some southerners and when the show was out one of the gentlemen shot the negro as we supposed, dead but when they passed on, Mr. Negro got up and walked off. He had "played the 'possum " and got away with it. I was always amused at the circus and menagerie owned by a man by the name of Smith, who did most of his traveling through Texas. Naturally they would have to drive late at night or early in the morning, as the roads were bad and distances 90 CIRCUS MEMOIRS long. Once in a while would be heard the call "Whoa," which meant for the team ahead to stop, and they would always pass the word along. When asked what was the matter they would answer that one of the bears had fallen out. Everyone would have to stop, help lasso the bear and put him back in the cage, which was nothing more than an old ram- shackle and hardly fit to hold bears. We had a funny incident down in Florida one day. There was a drunken guy, as the boys called him, hanging around all day looking for a fight. He kept on taking drinks quite frequently until night overtook him, so he lay down about two-hundred yards from the tent in the grass among the palm trees. One of the boys went out where he was sleeping, and with a sharp knife slit his clothes up the legs, body and arms, so that when he awoke during the night and sobered up a little, he just stood up out of his clothes. It pleased every one, as he had been an awful nuisance around there all day. With the Great Eastern Circus in Texas one winter we always unloaded the show alongside the lot when- ever it was possible. On one occasion we struck a town where the craze and excitement was chicken fights. Most of us put in the day looking at the fights. Charley Stiles, who was quite a character, said one could buy a chicken for $5.00, put him in the pit, and by the time he could turn around to CIRCUS MEMOIRS 91 spit the chicken was dead. It was quick work. When night came they had what they called a Battle Royal. Any one could buy a chicken and enter him in the fight. I think there were fifteen in the pit, and the last one to leave the pit alive was the victor. It was surely an unsightly scene. It was always amusing to watch the circus dogs traveling with the wagon shows. They would go alongside, in front and behind the wagons, whenever they chose, but when they came to a farm house Mr. Foxy Dog would always run under the wagon and travel along between the two pole horses so the country dogs would be unable to reach them. After passing beyond the farm house they would come out and travel along in their usual way. Speaking about dogs, it reminds me of two that were owned by the Olympic Theater at Chicago. They were surely characters and possessed a great deal of intelligence, as they would travel around to the different saloons and get lunch off the counters where they were known. But on one occasion they lost their heads and nearly lost their lives. They had been accustomed to sleeping in the lower boxes, which were about on a level with the stage floor, but in some way which was never explained they got into an upper box and when they were whistled for, thought they were in the lower box and that all they had to do was to hop out on the stage. When they 92 CIRCUS MEMOIRS made their hop they found that they were thirty feet above the stage in an upper box, landing on the stage below much to their surprise and discomfiture. But they were always careful ever after not to go into an upper box. It was always amusing and a dead give-away to hire teamsters in the town to haul the cages in the circus parade. Lined up along the sidewalks would be the citizens, and among them the driver's friends, calling "Hello, Jim," "Hello, John," etc., which always injured the business. I think one of the funniest things that ever happened was when John Wilson shipped his circus from San Francisco to Australia. He told his wife that the steamer would not sail until Wednesday morning, but instead of that he fixed it to sail Tuesday night. He wanted to leave her behind. So when she went down Wednesday morning she found the steamer had sailed with all on board. In a couple of days a faster steamer left. She took passage on it and when the steamer carrying Wilson and his circus landed at the pier in Auckland, New Zealand, Wilson's wife was there to meet him. When the circus boys spied her they remarked, "Why, there is Dutch Lizzie." She was a big blonde. The Happy Family Circus always amused me. It usually included cats, pups, rabbits and monkeys, all living together in harmony. Once in a while we CIRCUS MEMOIRS 93 would put in a strange rabbit, and Mr. Monkey was always very wary. The first thing they usually did was to push up a barricade of straw between themselves and the new arrival. In a short time they would be peeking over to see what the rabbit was doing. Then they would muster up courage and reach over and touch the rabbit. If he offered no resistance it was but a little while before one would be pitying him, for Mr. Monkey would be riding on his back all over the cage holding his two ears as though they were a bridle. I remember one occasion, when I had two monkeys in a cage and the small one got out. He went over to a near by trunk, took the things out of it and carried them over to the large monkey in the cage, who destroyed them as fast as the small monkey brought them to him. Such things as parasols he would strip down to the wires. This monkey Jeff, that I have mentioned before, was always up to something, and whenever any one would call to me that Jeff was trying to untie his chain, Jeff became that person's enemy for all time to come. We had men to go ahead and mark the road at forks, placing brush or sticks across the road which we were not to take. We had difficulties, notwith- standing, for sometimes they were not very careful and often times it was too dark to see the object. 94 CIRCUS MEMOIRS I remember down near New Orleans one winter, that after climbing up a pole and burning matches to read the sign, it was discovered to read, "Get your shirts at Moody's New Orleans. " This became a by-word with the boys afterward. Moody was certainly a great advertiser for those days. When on the prairie and we had nothing else with which to mark the road we would pull grass and stretch across the roads which we were not to take. When I was in Java I would frequently go out to the Zoological Garden where there was a very large elephant confined with a chain. Even in that country the natives were not averse to making a dime, so they kept two or three barrels of cocoanuts on sale at five cents each, which people would buy to throw to the elephant. It was interesting to see how the elephant would get the milk and meat out of them. There was fastened around his front foot a very heavy chain. He would take the cocoanut in his trunk, crack it on the chain, and quick as a flash have it up to his mouth drinking the milk. After he had finished the milk he would drop the cocoanut on the ground and tramp lightly upon it with his foot to break away the white meat from the shell. There was very little of it left when he had finished. On starting out from near Louisville one spring we were all very short of money. Gardner and I had to have some money and I remembered I had credit CIRCUS MEMOIRS 95 at a jewelry house in Cincinnati. Selling a pair of cuff buttons, three shirt studs and a collar button, all on one card was a new thing in those days so I sent up and bought a lot of them. I had a funny fellow with me by the name of Castella, who was a good salesman. He went out on the street corners and sold five to ten dollars worth every day, bring the money down to us in the evening, giving us a little go-along money. We needed it badly for W. E. Franklin told me years afterwards that I had remarked that Billie Gardner could not go into the dining room without his overcoat on as his trousers were not presentable. I am told there are two bad payers in the world one that pays in advance and one that never pays at all. I agree that paying in advance is a bad thing, because on one occasion I came near losing my life by so doing. After the show was out one night I called into a little restaurant near where they were loading the cars, to have a cup of coffee and a piece of pie, paying for it as soon as served. In the meantime the man whom I had paid had left to go over to his house to get some doughnuts, and while he was away I finished my coffee and pie and was walking out, when one of the men behind the counter asked me if I had paid for my coffee. I told him I had. He disputed it. I asked where the other man was, and said I would wait until he returned. 96 CIRCUS MEMOIRS I became annoyed at the idea of being held up there for a cup of coffee and started out. As I did so one of them hit me with a brick and the other shot me. I came near losing my life. On another occasion, when on the steamer leaving Melbourne, Joe Williams, one of the performers, and a calliope player whose name was Palmer, became involved in a misunder- standing. I foolishly stepped in between them to keep them from fighting, and Palmer in trying to shoot Williams shot me instead. I felt strange, after serving in the army where it was their business to shoot, and never being hit, to be shot twice afterward over a cup of coffee and while acting as peacemaker. I often think of the old days when I see Mclntyre and Heath playing the "Georgia Minstrels." Heath remarks to Mclntyre when he takes from him the pocketbook he has found, "WTiat business have you with money?" I guess that is what some of their acquaintances thought some years ago according to a story related to me by Mclntyre. One day in San Francisco they informed him that one of the Daly Bros, was dead and invited him down to look at the corpse. On the way down they stopped at several saloons to wash down their grief and drown their sorrows, and by the time they brought Mclntyre to the corpse he was pretty well filled up. They had the whole plan arranged for him. The lights were turned down, and in a coffin they had a fellow with big long CIRCUS MEMOIRS 97 whiskers. The crowd was weeping and groaning and expressing their sympathy, and as they led Jim up to take a last look he asserted, "That is not Daly." They said, "Yes it is." "Why," he says, "I know Daly. That is not him." By that time they had Jim's pocketbook and his watch and took Jim out of the room and back up town, stripped as clean as a chicken. I think this was about as strong a game as I have ever known any of them to work. I think they must have thought, as Heath says, "What business have you with money?" These two men are remarkable. They have been together for over forty years, and I hope they will live to enjoy their Jubilee. 98 CIRCUS MEMOIRS IX. PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS Col. John Hopkins was a character. When it was announced that I had given a Soldiers' monument to Jefferson County, Indiana, he remarked that I ought to do some nice thing; that most of my life had been spent in passing silver three-cent pieces for dimes; that I paid a premium for them. My friends informed him they had told me what he had said. Next time we met and before I had said a word, he informed me it was Kohl he had said had changed three-cent pieces for dimes. Poor John has passed away. He was a good sport, handled prize fighters, had race horses and was always on hand when anything was going on. I heard him tell Keith in Boston one day, when he was showing him around the theater, that if ever he had money enough to build a theater like Mr. Keith's, he would put the money in his pocket instead and run down the road with it so fast that all one could see would be his coat tails flying in the dust. I often think that the dime museum was responsible for a great many bad actors being turned loose in the country. It is a funny thing about a man going on the stage. It seems if you only work a half hour on the stage from that time on they are actors and CIRCUS MEMOIRS 99 that is their excuse through life for never doing a lick of work or earning their living. There is many a one who should go on the Theatrical Dump Pile. Weber and Fields, who I think have made more people laugh than any two men in America, made their first appearance on the Dime Museum stage, 298 Bowery, during my ownership. I read an admonition the other day not to be reminiscent; that it was a sign of old age. It is surely true, for how could a young person have anything to be reminiscent about? One surely must live longer than the milk age to get experience to tell about. It is like gray hair. Those who die young do not have it. Some say their 's turned gray in one night from fright, etc. People usually admire gray hair on the other person. I have never seen a case of this quick change, except where it turned black, red or blonde in one night. These cases are frequent. The goods can be bought at any drug store. In Chicago the other day, on my return home from visiting my friend, E. D. Stair, in Detroit, Michigan, I met John Ringling in the Congress Hotel. We were glad to see each other. Inquiry developed that we both were going to New Orleans, so I accepted John's kind invitation to go with him in his private car. Mrs. Ringling was one of the party and she told me about losing one of her pet black snakes at 100 CIRCUS MEMOIRS their winter home in Florida. It seems they had a bull dog, a present from Carl Hagenbeck, which was jealous of the pet black snake, and Mrs. Ringling had cautioned the dog several times to let the snake alone when it was lying on the porch. For a while there was no trouble, but one day she discovered Mr. Bull Dog coming up from under the house with the snake in his mouth. He had watched the first opportunity to get it alone and killed it. It was quite a loss to her because it kept the mice, rats and other vermin away from the house. When I arrived in New Orleans I did not see much change in the city. I made a record in New Orleans once. I was arrested there and locked up for about five minutes until the desk sergeant came and let me out. This was the only time I ever have been arrested. I may have deserved to be since but if I did they never got me. I am always a little sore on this city for when our tent blew down and was torn to pieces I went to New Orleans to get needles and threads and palms to sew the tent with, and the fellow down at the French Market loaded me up with left hand palms which no one could use unless he was left handed. I think he worked off the accumulation of years on me. However, I enjoyed the ride down to the city and the kind attentions of Mr. Ringling and his family. SOLDIERS' MONUMENT Erected at Madison, Indiana, by George Middleton CIRCUS MEMOIRS 101 X. THE MIDDLETON MONUMENT THEY LED AND FOLLOWED Erected to THE EVERLASTING MEMORY OF THE SOLDIERS OF JEFFERSON COUNTY IN THE CIVIL WAR 18611865 By Their Comrade GEORGE MIDDLETON Private Company E, Third Regiment INDIANA CAVALRY At the dedication of the Middleton monument Friday, May 29th, Hon. Augustus E. Willson, Governor of Kentucky, spoke as follows: GOV. WILLSON'S REMARKS Soldiers of the Union, and guests who may have been upon the other side: we honor ourselves, our country, Indiana and Kentucky, and the old flag by meeting here today. The spirit manifest shows that this vast audience meets not for the purpose of business nor gain, but in every heart beats a love for 102 CIRCUS MEMOIRS the flag and what that statue stands for. The spirit which beat in George Middleton's heart has found expression in that monument. There is something in it no other community has. It speaks joy to the eye, inspiration to the heart, glory to our country. There is not another group in the land which has so much life, hope and faith in it. Pilgrimages will be made to this city in the future to see it. It is a proper appreciation of this good old county of Jefferson and splendid City of Madison. No county in the land has a patriotic record which exceeds that of this county of Jefferson. Patriotism stirred the hearts of its people and it sent 5000 soldiers to the Union Army. I heard a woman say today: "I came from Kentucky and it is the best State in the Union." Another woman spoke up and said: "I am from Indiana and there is no better State." A third woman then remarked: "We are all from the United States and it is the best country in the world. " That is the sentiment for us all. It is patriotism, the spirit which prompted Middleton to build this monu- ment, and prompts your presence here today to see it dedicated. Every boy shall look upon it as something sacred and imperishable, typifying loyalty to country and duty. I wish to say something to you of loyalty to those whom you place in office and power. At the recent conference of Governors some one objected to their CIRCUS MEMOIRS 103 repetition on the ground that some future President might take advantage of it. Another said : " We have never had a President whom we could not trust; every one has been a clean, upright, honest executive. " In an election you fight hard in Indiana and sometimes we fight in Kentucky. But when a President is elected he is entitled to the support of the whole American people. Let us be loyal to our officials, to our country and to each other. I have brought over here today the First Regiment of Kentucky. I have great pride in it, and the Colonel who rode so erect, handsome and manly at their head followed John Morgan into Indiana in 1863. The Colonel asked me to tell you that the other time he rode to Madison every man seemed to get a gun or a hatchet and come out to meet him. He says he likes the welcome you gave him today better than that of 1863. I congratulate you on the spirit of patriotism shown today, and I bear you a greeting from Kentucky and our soldiers. We have with us today the soldiers of the United States, the soldiers of Indiana and Kentucky. They are all ours. All our boys. Take that into your hearts. There is not in the hearts of those men any desire to oppress you. They are our boys. We build a monument in our hearts to these boys as beautiful as this superb one of bronze and granite to the soldiers of the Union. 104 CIRCUS MEMOIRS CAPTAIN W. E. KETCHAM'S REMARKS This magnificent demonstration is worthy of this splendid spectacle of Kentucky standing side by side with Indiana. We are proud to have Kentucky's Governor, the Kentucky regiment and Colonel William B. Haldeman who was with John Morgan here today. We tried to give him a warm welcome in 1863. We hope he will come again and often. While he was riding with John Morgan over Indiana there were Indiana boys at the same time riding over Kentucky so honors are easy. It is fitting this splendid monument should be erected here to remain forever as a symbol of the patriotism of the men of 1861. Comrade Middleton, when life was young and sweet, turned his back on aspirations and ambitions and gave his all to his country. Successful as he has been he never used his heart, brain and pocketbook to a better purpose than when he built this monument. In summer rain and winter sleet it will always tell the story of a nation redeemed, a country saved, of men made free by the idea typified. As children go to school, as men pass by, as women go on their way, looking upon it, their minds will go back to the fierce furnace heat of war, and they will thank the generous donor for it. Where could there be a more fitting place for a soldiers' monument than here, in this county named after Jefferson, the creator of the constitution; than CIRCUS MEMOIRS 105 here in Madison, nestling down amongst her beautiful hills? These people did not wait for the enemy to come to them but went out to meet the enemy at the front. The Sixth, 13th, 19th, 22nd, 39th, 45th, 82nd the roll is too long to call fifty organizations went out from Jefferson county to do battle for the country. This superb monument fitly commemorates what they went forth for. As we look upon it let us be inspired, in other ways, and methods and different fields, to remember to do for our country as the boys of 1861. ADDRESS BY MR. MIDDLETON Fellow Citizens: In erecting this monument designed to perpetuate the memory of soldiers whose nobility of purpose and unflinching bravery has never been doubted, I enjoy a privilege and an honor of which I am deeply conscious. In presenting you with the result of prolonged and sincere efforts to secure a permanent, dignified and impressive emblem of respect for the fearless soldiery of Jefferson county, I become your debtor in that you have encouraged me to assume the initiative in a labor of love which some other of our citizens might have performed with greater distinction. 106 CIRCUS MEMOIRS I am, indeed, deeply sensible of the honor which springs from association with a cause that appeals to every patriotic heart a cause involving not only love of country but a fixed sentiment of deep and abiding regard for those who, arms in hand, have risked life, or have gone down to a glorious death, for that country. Standing here in such a distinguished presence on this, to me, most momentous occasion when the dream of years is at last realized, the one regret shadowing the hour is that our purpose of honoring the living and the dead was not accomplished sooner that this soldiers' monument was not completed years ago when many of our comrades who have gone over to the silent majority might have been with us to join reverently, but with the enthusiasm of true soldiers, in proclaiming this monument sacred, for all time, to the memory of the men who went from this county during the Civil War to fight for the preserva- tion of the Union. It is my sincere belief that no monument was ever erected to braver or more manly men than those who volunteered from Jefferson County, Indiana, to support the belief that the Federation of States established by the Revolutionary fathers should not be dissolved but must be forever maintained. What other heroes of every historic war have done in suffering, enduring and dying for a cherished cause they did, nobly, within the limits of their CIRCUS MEMOIRS 107 opportunities. Offering their lives for the preservation of freedom and justice to all men who appealed to the stars and stripes for protection, they deserve all honor that has been ascribed to the more famous soldiers of the world. If their names are not enrolled upon the blazing tablets of military glory for all the people of earth to look upon, they areenshrined incur hearts as we dedicate this enduring memorial of their heroic deeds. To this county bearing the name of Jefferson, a distinguished President, and to this city named for Madison, another great chief executive of the United States, I present and commit this soldiers' monument as a sacred trust. Guard it well in memory of those for whom it has been erected. Guard it well that your children and children's children, may be inspired to patriotism by this silent but eloquent reminder of times that tried men's souls in the dark days of '61 of the days when the marching hosts of this great Republic cemented with their blood the Union of States and established forever the principle pro- claimed by the immortal Lincoln that "this govern- ment of the people, by the people, and for the people shall never perish from the earth." 108 CIRCUS MEMOIRS XI. MY BUSINESS ASSOCIATES It was always my good fortune to be associated with fine gentlemen which made business with them pleasant as well as profitable. A nice combination: J. A. Bailey, C. E. Kohl, G. Castle, E. D. Stair, J. H. Havlin, J. J. Murdock, M. Beck, M. Meyerfeld, Jr., Paul Keith, E. B. Albee, B. F. Keith, M. C. Anderson, F. Tate. All starting at the bottom, getting to the top and remaining there. In leaving them I have nothing but the best wishes for their happiness and deserved success and will never forget their many kindnesses to me, and here in California where I have settled to enjoy the beautiful scenery, the fragrance of the many roses, plants and flowers, and climate, I will enjoy their success as much as if I was still interested with them. On November 12, 1910, Chas. E. Kohl, my former partner and friend for twenty-eight years, died. He was a remarkable man, honest to a penny, untiring worker, a great organizer and would have been success- ful in any business undertaking ; to start when he did and reach the top of the ladder and remain there, bears out all that can be said of him. CHAS. E. KOHL, AND HIS DOG MIKE CIRCUS MEMOIRS 109 XII. FRIENDSHIP A small word with a wealth of meaning. How lucky to have known in one small life a friend. The memories of my good friend Chas. E. Kohl have been a solace to me so often in the last three years. I recall this friendship with the deepest feeling, his strength of character was colossal, ambitious, charita- ble and faithful. I count myself the luckiest of men to have known this noble character for so many years. The contact planted a seed that has grown into reverence. Many years ago, as I mentioned, I had been to Java, Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, South America, and with my friend Mr. Henry Cutter of Chicago I made a trip to England, Germany, and France which I enjoyed very much. Mrs. Middleton never having been abroad we decided to go to Europe and after being over there during the winter decided to go around the world, so away we went via India, China, Japan, Hawaii, landing in San Francisco after a very pleasant trip. So I find only a few remaining places for me to see which some day I may. When passing through San Jose, Cal., I called on Col. W. B. Hardy to renew an acquaintance made with him during the war in Virginia when I was one of 110 CIRCUS MEMOIRS a squad under-then Lieut. George A. Custer at Hardy's capture. We had a pleasant chat. He spoke feelingly of General Ouster's death at the battle of the Little Big Horn River, where the whole command was killed by the Indians. I have been divorced twice and married three times. Paid each time for my freedom and while it cost me much money, in fact a fortune, I am pleased and consider I got off cheaply. I cannot understand the stand the Catholic Church takes against divorce. Priests cannot act intelligently as they never marry and have no experience. In my present wife, Ruth K. Middleton, I have a jewel in all the word implies, and congratulate myself often for venturing out on the Sea of Matrimony the third time, proving the old saying is true that the third time charms. Sells Floto Show came along the other day under the management of Mr. Fred Hutchinson, whom I have known ever since his childhood days, he being a nephew of Mrs. James A. Bailey and brought up in the Bailey school than which there was none better. He showed me a wagon with a patent hoister to load the tents on the wagon by rolling it on like you would roll up an awning. Also a patent device that holds the stringers without toe pins and many other labor saving devices. The show on the whole was well CIRCUS MEMOIRS 111 managed. Nice clean performance. We spent a pleasant day with Mr. Hutchinson and his family, enjoying a nice dinner in the cook tent, reminding me of old times. My old friend Robt. Stickney the equestrian director of the show, was a delight to see, happy smiling face, young heart, the same old Bob, time has dealt so kindly with him. He was the handsomest, best groomed man I ever knew and a finished artist when he appeared in the ring to ride you never forget the man or his work. In all my experience he was one of the best in his specialty I ever saw and there is no one to take his place. His wife and charming graceful daughter work to- gether like sisters, each true artists. I want to add here that family life with circus people is very smooth, there are not the small, petty things to meet in a domestic way. The circus woman remains younger than other women, happier, freer from cares they are the most virtuous women always, being chaperoned by their parents or older relatives. Circus children speak many languages, have their books and toys, enjoying a happy and practical childhood gathering a great deal of education by travel and contact. Mrs. Hutchinson and their charming little daughter were traveling with the circus, in their private car, a comfortable home on wheels. We went to the circus lot about 7 :30 a. m. remaining all day for both per- 112 CIRCUS MEMOIRS formances, and saw the tent go down at night, having dined in the cook tent. The ranges are built in large wagons, every thing so orderly each article has its place, and is in its place. One can get a very good lesson in order around a circus. The food is delicious, good, wholesome food. Soup, steak, potatoes, salad, bread, celery, ice cream, cake and coffee was the evening menu. We finished a full and delightful day having studied the different performers, their contented faces left a pleasant and lasting impression of circus lif e. While in Denver this summer, 1913, we attended the Ringling Brothers Circus in company with Otto Floto and his charming wife, in fact we were on hand for afternoon and night performances, as well as on the street to see the parade. I could not help thinking how different the show was from the first one I was with in Denver; we were lighted up with candles. But no change in the ginger cakes, lemonade or peanuts and never will be, this seems to be part of the circus. I had some brothers named Berriman working for me one season in charge of the outside candy stands. They had tall glasses filled up with red lemonade. Along came a party of about eight elegantly dressed ladies and gentlemen. Berriman tapping on the glasses called to them to come running, come hopping, and get the red lemonade and they just for the fun did as he call- ed them to do, drank their lemonade and on their way they said it was not dignified, but it was all circus. CIRCUS MEMOIRS 113 XIII. A VISIT TO THE LADIES DRESSING ROOM, RINGLING'S CIRCUS AT DENVER, COLO., WITH MRS. OTTO FLOTO A large, comfortable tent resting on a green, grassy lawn, entrance like a reception hall, with large tables on which rest the ladies hats and wraps. Let me add this tent is double, gentlemen on one side, ladies the other, tables on each side, gent's hats and trappings on one side, ladies' on the other. Performers have their trunks numbered, they are placed in rotation. They have a small rug, folding chair, small mirror, all the toilet articles known to one set. Their hair is dressed in fashion's latest twist, each lady wore a kimono or dressing robe, while making her toilet. Modest, clean, happy chatty women, mothers with two or three grown daughers, you would be unable to guess the mother. While I took a seat to study and enjoy my new friends I heard every known tongue. It seemed good to be a woman, I felt so near to my new acquaintances, they were so human to each other, one large and happy family, living useful lives. The bell rang, which was the signal for the " Grand Entry." I hurried on to take my seat, to recognize 114 CIRCUS MEMOIRS my new friends as they passed by; there was such warmth of feeling in their happy smiles as they bowed, leaving much food for thought in my busy brain to feed upon for years to come. MRS. GEO. MIDDLETON CIRCUS MEMOIRS 115 SPORTS It has always been my good fortune to enjoy every known out-door sport. I am a great believer in a complete diversion from business cares (and I might add domestic). From early youth hunting has been my chief passion deer hunting in Indian Territory, prairie chickens in Dakota, wild ducks in Manitoba, kangaroos in Australia, and quail here in California have offered a great deal of pleasure for me. Trap shooting I consider a great science and a wonderful training for the eye. It is a clean, gentle- manly sport, always enjoyed by high-class gentlemen. Another delightful sport that it has been my pleasure to know was cruising and racing on Lake Michigan on my yacht Charlotte R., a comfortable craft accommodating fifteen people. I passed many a pleasant week-end aboard her, and sailed a few good races each season, adding spice to the sport. Horses and dogs have always given me a great deal of pleasure. The horse, the most noble animal in the world, I think, is the most abused. Throughout my life I have known the faithfulness and fidelity of most every known breed of dog. A boy who has grown up not knowing the love of animals has missed a great deal in his youth. 116 CIRCUS MEMOIRS Golf has offered a great field of diversion and pleasure for me for a great many years. It is a pleasant and fascinating out-door game. I am not surprised at the hold the game of baseball has taken on the American people. It is being played all over the world. When I was in Japan a few years ago I was surprised to see the Japanese teams and their enthusiasm in the game. To become a good player it is necessary to be skillful mentally as well as physically. It is truly American. CIRCUS MEMOIRS 117 EPILOGUE Here ends my notes, as I have never kept a diary or a line in my life. It has been a queer and pleasant sensation to cast an attentive look behind into the cal- endar of my mind after a long and successful life. What a vast number of events disappear in a life with- out leaving a trace; age modifies and changes the nature of our impressions but nevertheless does not blot them out. Kind friend and reader, it is delicate to write of one's self; my friends have asked for my circus memoirs, and as you follow with me through the experiences I hope you enjoy them as much as I do to pass them on to you. I wish it understood that this book was not written to fill a long-felt want, and I do not expect it to be one of the six best sellers. 118 CIRCUS MEMOIRS CONTENTMENT Contented thoughts weave a charm within my heart as I write, Crowned not by jewels fair or rare, Contently content. A seat among the flowers with California's sunshine Fortune placed, Charmed, contented, soothed in the eve of life Not but good to live, Not but good to breathe. TIME "Turning the accomplishments of many years, into an hour glass. " Shakespeare Henry V. 5732 4 was borrowed. DEC 1 7 20(0 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY A 001344161 3