The Press.
London, England, 1855-01-06 00:00:00

SATURDAY,

high opinion of my performance, bat I felt happy in believ-
ing that 1 possibly had done some good in that charming
grove on 'tog, beautiful Sabbath.
Vasssing over the principal events in his
public career—the Vivalla and Museum tricks,
the Feejee Mermaid, and Tom Thumb, who,
by the bye, was a child of five years only
instead of eleven, the whole history of the
Jenny Lind engagements, and the account of
the Woolly Horse, we come to his famous trick
of the wild buffalo hunt. Having deaeabed
how he met with and purchased fifteen
tame buffalo calves, and hired a than' who
could throw the lasso, he relates that
Paragraphs were soon started in the papers announcing
that a herd of wild buffaloes, caught by the lasso when quit*
young, were now on their way from the Rocky Mona-
utins to Europe vitt, New York, in charge of the men w.. 0
captured them. In a few days communications appealed
iu several papers, suggesting that if the buffaloes cou J be
safely secured in some racecourse, and a regular buffalo
chase given by their owners, showing the use of the lasso,
it would be a treat worth going many miles to see.
Another correspondent declared it would be worth a dollar
to see it; another correspondent asserted that fifty thousand
persons would gladly pay to witness it, J,:c. One Suggested
the Long Island Racecourse ; another thought a large
plot of ground at Harlem, inclosed expressly fur the par-
pose, would be better; and a third suggested Hobokeu as
just the place.
In due time the exhibition of a wild buffalo
hunt, without danger to the spectators, was
announced in all the papers as to take place
at Hoboken, and it was to be free, the mystery
of which piece of gratuitous generosity on the
part of Barnum is explained in few words. " I
next eugaged," he says, " all the ferry,boats to
Hoboken at a stipulated price " '
The eventful day arrived. Taking time by the forelock,
multitudes of people crossed to Hokoben before ten
o'clock, and by noun the ferry-boats were constantly
crowded to their utmost capacity. Au extra boat, the
Pantile, was put on, and the rush of passengers continued
until the o'clock. Twenty-four thousand persoffs went by
the ferry-boats to Hoboken that day. Each paid if: and a
quarter cents going, and as much returning, and the aggre-
gate receipts, including the ferriage of carts and carriages,
and the hire for refreshment-stands on the ground, *err
3,500 dollars. Many thousand persons were present from
various parts of New Jersey, and these, though bringing
`• grist to my mill," of course escaped my " toll " at the
ferries.
The band of music engaged for the occasion did its best •
to amuse the immense crowd until duce o'clock. At pre. ,1.
cisely that hour the buffaloes emerged from a shed in the
centre of the enclosure—my man French having previously
administered a punching with a sharp stick, hoping to
excite them to a trot on their first appearance. He 1131,
mediately followed them, painted and creased ea an 1u4A..,
mounted on a fiery steed, with lasso in one baud I.:A.
sharp stick in the other, but the poor little calves huddld
together, and refused to move ! This scene was so wholly
unexpected, and so perfectly ludicrous, that the spectators'
burst into uncontrollable, and uproarious laughter. The
shouting somewhat startled the buffaloes, and, goaded by •
French and his assistants, they started off iu a slow trot.
The uproar of merriment was renewed, and the multitude
swinging their hats and hallowing in wild disorder, the
buffaloes broke into a gallop, ran against the panel of the
low fence (cunsisting of two narrow boards), tumbled over,,
and scrambled away as fast as they could. The crowd in
that quarter offered no obstruction. Seeing the animals
approach, and not being sufficiently near to discover how
harmless they were, men, women, and children scattered
pell-mell ! Such a scampering 1 never saw before. The
buffaloes, which were as badly frightened as the people,
found shelter in a neighbouring swamp, and all efforts to
disengage them proved ineffectual. French, however, cap-
tured one of them with his lasso, and afterwards amused
the people by lassoing horses and riders—and good humour
prevailed.
No one seemed to suspect the ferry-boat arrangement—
the projector was ineog.—the exhibition had been free to
the public—there had been much amusement fur twelve
and a half cents. each, and no one complained. It was,
however, nearly midnight before all the visitors fount eery
accommodations to New York.
N. P. Willis, of the Horne Journal, wrote an article illus-
trating the perfect good-nature with which the Amedeau
public submits to a clever humbug. He said that he went
to Hoboken to witness the buffalo hunt. It was nearly
four o'clock when the boat left the foot of Barclay-street,
yet it was so densely crowded that many persons were
obliged to stand upon the railing* and hold on to the awn-
ing posts. When they reached the Hoboken side, a boat
equally crowded was leaving that wharf. The passengers
of the boat just arriving cried out to those in the boat just
returning, '' la the buffalo hunt over ?" to which came the
reply, "
passengersYes,addaendlidegdiiti,tedtwhasatthtthbateethbiegygeinstshumbug you ever heard
of."
wereWil I siso tsnt
yo
gave
h the boat
threebo a
cheerstw i with
for the author of the humbug, whoever lie might be.
This concluding paragraph is a capital bit of
American character ; they like a man who
does them; it's a cute and smart thing to take
another in; and appreciated with a sort of
gusto which we cannot exactly comprehend.
But may we not naturally suppose that the
statistical results of bankruptcy may be in
some measure influenced by this system,
when we read that sixty-seven per cont. of