Connecticut western news., 1875-04-23
P. T. Barnum's Latest WOnders...A
 Colossal Exhibition.

i es with Whlch r. T. Bafnum IS making hlstOr1- cal his forty years career as the most liberal and daring snowman in the world. The statis- ! tics which Harper Brothers give us from authentic sources are nearly overwhelming They make an ordinary head dizzy. MT. Bar mum has always boaSted that he gave his patrons double their moneys worth, and his claims are generally acknowledged but this time he seems to have far outstripped himself Last year he obtained from the Connecticut Legislature charter for ''The P. T. Barnums Universal Exposition Company" with capital of 8 million of dollars. MT. Barnum, who is president of the company, and MT. Coup, his manager, have spent many months in Europe perfecting their plans. The object of this 1 great company, as they announce, is to elevate amusements, divest them of all objectionable features, and thus render them worthy the patronage of the most moral and refined classes. They say that eventually they will 1 have score or more of exhibitions (traveling and permanenD in America and Europe and | they intend that their chartered title shall be guarantee of the merits of whatever they bring before the public. The present season they have but two exhibitions. One is MT. Barnum's l wel-knoWn Museum, Menagerie, Circus and | Travelling Worlds Fair, the other is simply called {" The Great Roman Hippodrome." Mr. l Barnum seems to have devoted years to per fecting this great enterprise, and nearly every l year of h1s personal attention was paid to it in 1 Europe. At an expense of several hundred | thousand dollars he erected a great hippo l drome building in the heart of New York city, l ana under an outlay or over nV0 thousand dol lars each day he has run his establishment in New York for nearly year. This exposition company are engaged to ship the entire Hippo drome to Europe next autumn meanwhile they have undertaken the difficult task of transporting it entire to the principal cities in America. Hd1per's Weekly says
 "The Great Roman Hippodrome will re- semble moving camp. There are 1,200 men, women and children in MT. Barnums service, and the stock includes 750 horses and ponies, | haoi6 a1aOhonfs and l stag-hounds, trained ostriches, lions, bears, tigers and other animals. For the exhibition of the menagerie and the various shows, dis l plays and performances connected with the en- | terprises two enormous tents each 500 feet in | length and 300 ill width, have been provided, one of which will be kept in advance, in order that no time may be lost by delaying in making ready. The question of transportation by rail | "a very serious one-was solved by the con- struction of 150 cars twice the usual length built expressly for this purpose. Among them are anumber of "horse-palace' cars, construct | ed with commodious stalls, in which the horses l can lie down and rest while on the Journey and arrive at the place of exhibition quite fresh for l the performance. Besides moving the tents, animals and all other material in these Hippo drome cars, berths will be provided in those devoted to the personel of the company for | nearly all the employees. Besides the great exhibition tents, and stable tents for the horses and other animals, there is also attached to the company large corps of blacksmiths and | carpenters and builders, some of whom precede | the show several days, to make ready for the exhibition by preparing the ground, erecting l seats, etc. The dressing-room tents alone will cover more ground than an ordinary circus. "To move such an enormous establishment, without hitch or delay, requires the employment of clear headed practical men at the head of each department Everything is so arranged | as to move with the smoothness and precision of clock-work. At the appointed hour the can vas will go up, the street procession will move, i, over, and the great tent Is empted, everything ! will be packed mp by those detailed for the work, and the caravan, without the loss of 8 minute, will be on the movo toward the next | place of exhibition.
 "The programme of performance will be varied and attractive. Donaldson will make ! daily balloon ascensions with car large enough to contain a company of five or six per sons, at cost of about $5OO a day for this 1 feature alone. Then there will be the "Roman races" in chariots driven by 'sAmazons;" the "iberty races" in which forty wild horses are | turned loose in the arena in exact imitation of the famous carnival races of Rome and Naples; standing races" ill which the riders stand on bareback horses hurdle races by ladies flat races by English, French, and American jockeys besides camel, elephant, ostrich, and monkey races. Another feature will be the ex- hibition of Indian life on the plains, in which the actors will be scores of Indians with their squaws and pappooses. They will put up | genuine Indian encampment hunt real buffaloes, give war dances, pony races, foot races against horses exhibitions of daring horsemanship, lasso-throwing. A band of | Mexican riders, mounted on famous mustangs, will make 8 pretended attack on the Indian camp and give mimic but faithful representa- tion of the wild scenes enacted on the Western frontier. The English stag hunt will be an exact picture of the sport itself, with company of 15O men and women in full hunting costume, and large pack of English stag hounds. There will also be many other interesting and attractive features, the mere mention of which would make 8 small volume
 "Mr Barnum certainly deserves great credit for enterprise which is calculated to afford & vast amount of innocent, popular amuse- ment and although this gigantic venture in- wolves an enormous outlay of money, it will present too many attractions not to be generally sustained"
 Amazing as this exhibition seems from the description given by Harper's, we can say, from actual observation, that one feature is to be introduced into the travelling Roman Hippo drome more interesting and instructive than any other. It is the great procession known as "The Congress of Monarchs." The Hd1per's omitted mentioning this, because, probably, they supposed Mr. Barnum would not dare to incur the expense of transporting such an enormous affair through the country. But he will do so, and here is 8 brief description of this dazzling and bewildering exhibition, as given by New York cotemporary:
 "Of all the gorgeous pageants the world ever saw the Congress of Nations is the greatest, and how the surpasslng genius Of even Barnnm could produce it is wonder. The costumes are true to life, and many of them are genuine. having been procured direct from the nationalities which they represent. The individuals employed to personate the historical characters have the most faithful re- semblance to the originals in face and physique. Each nation finds its special portraiture in some kind of tli,1lnphal car, brilliantly bedecked with appropriate flags, emblems, coors and in fTio ia Gf l in the way of peculiar uniforms, animals soldiely. attendants and music. Scores of glistering gided chariots llumiue the arena with halo of lusJer, as it were, and the display of royal splendor Is far. more imposing and i'm pressive than words can describe, thrilling the auditor with unspeakable amazement and ad- mrat;on.
 "A. rne name of the grand Congress inn plies, it is stupendous gathering of the Monarchs of the universe bringing ill vivid view the living Kings, Queens, Rulers, and Potentateo of the past nine centuries, culmina- ting i'll affecting fit0le so touching that it must awaken the emotions of stolc. Her majesty the Queen of Ens;land heads the gilt tcrng column. surrounded by her royal court and followed hy long ancestral line the notabi!iiy and richly uniformed life guards meIi.' Then France ill the person of Napoleon the First and his famous field maTshals Ire-
 land, Rome, Russia, Germany, Italy, Turkey,
 India Japan, Clna and so on. until all the
 Monarchs and Courts of the entire world pass
 in review, winding up like 8 jewel besprinkled
 coil around the continuous circle. To look
 upon this beautiful historical procession in all
 it's grandnees and greatness equivalent to
 sitting in full view of the courts of all the
 earth, so truthfully realistic are the bewilder-
 ing pictures revealed ill rapid succession. Such
 8 dszzing half mile of solid gold, jewels, silver
 precious stones and tjnsel could only be pro-
 duced after years of preparation and the ex penditure of half dozen competencies. Any
 attempt at imitation on the part of ambitious
 ,f,,1,I, will result ill the most inglorious failure. None other than tine Prince of Showmen himself , would undertake it. and none other than the , great and irrepressible Balnum could achieve To triu D