The daily gazette., 1875-03-22
A GREAT ENTERRRLSE.
Sarnnn's Travelling HfppOdrOme }.
From Harper's Weekly.

Pea ff p
harnum's Travelling HfppOdrome.
From Harper's Weekly.
These "reminiscences of the old Amer
lean Museum, which is still held in
anectionate remembrance by large
portion of the community, are natnr-
ally suggested by the announcement
OF MIR. Barnum's latest and most gigan-
tic. enterprise, the "Great Roman
Hippodrome." with which he proposes
to travel through the States. during the
coming season. His preparations are
on a scaie:of magnificence unrivaled in
the history OF travelling exhibitions
All his shows- have been merged IN q
chartered corporation, known as "Thc
T. 4. Barnum Universal Exposition
company, with a capital of million
dollars. MIR. Barnum, who is president
| OF the company, and his manager Mr.
Coup, have spent mouths, in Europe.
visiting every important exhibition.
aud bringing AVA many choice fea,
lures and valuable suggestions. and the
RESULTS combinatiOn of attractions
such as never have been seen in one
exhibition since the world began.
The Great Roman HIppodrome will
resemble q moving camp. There are
l20o men, women, and children in Mr..
barnum's service, and the stock in
l cludes 7oO horses and ponies, besides
l elephants, oamels, English stays and
stag g-hounds, trained ostriches, lions,
| bears, tigers and other animals. For
the exhibition of the menageric and
the various shows, displays, and per
formances connected with the enter
prise, Two enormous tents, each 500
feet in length and 300 in width, have
been provided, one of which will be
Kept In advance, in order that no time
may be lost by delay in making ready.
The question of transportation by rail
la very serious one-was solved by
the construction of $50 cars, twice the
usual length, built expressly for this
purpose. Among them are a number
OF horse-palace cars, constructed
with commodious stalls, in which the
horses can lie down and rest while on
the journey, and arrive at the place OF
exhibition quite fresh for the perform.
anae. Besides moving the tents, ami.
mails, and all other material in these
Hippodrome cars, berths will be pro-
vided in those devoted to the personnel
OF the company for nearly all the EN-.
lployes. Besides the great exhibition
tents, and stable tents for the horses
and other animals. There is also at.
tached to the company large corps OF
blacksmiths and carpenters and build
ers, some Of whom precede the show
several days, to make ready for the
Exhibition by preparing the ground,
erecting seats, etc. The dressing-room
tents alone will cover more ground
than an ordinary circus.
10 move such an enormous estab.
lishment without hitch or delay re-
Iquires the employment of clear headed
Ipractical men at the head of each de
APARTMENT. Every thing is so arranged
as to move with the smoothness and
precision of clock-work. At the ap.
pointed hour the canvas will go up,
the street procession will move, the
performances will commence. When
all is over, and the great tent emptied,
levery thing will be packed up by those
detailed for the work, and the caravan,
without the loss of minute, will be
lon the move toward the next place oil
Exhibition.
/ The programme of performances
will be varied and attractive. Don
aldson will make daily balloon ascen
siOns with q car large enough to con
tain a company of i've or six persons
. at cost of about $500 a day for thi,
feature alone. Then there will be the
"Ronan races" in chariots driven b,
i "Amazons," the ''liberty races" il
, which forty wild horses are turned
loose in the arena in exact imitation O.
the famous carnival races of Rome anl
Naples the standing races" in
which the riders stand on bare -bacl
horses hurdle races for ladies fla
races by English, French and Amer
Lean jockeys; besides camel, elephant
ostrich and monkey races. Anothe
feature will be exhibitions of Indian
: life on the plains, in which the actor
will be sscores of Indians, with thei
+ Isquaws and pappooses. They will
. put up a genuine Indian encampment
hunt real butfaloes, give war-dances
Ipony races, foot races against horses
: exhibitions of daring horsemanship
lasso- throwing. A band of Mexican
raiders, mounted on their famous mus
tangs, will make pretended attack OF
the Indian camp, and give a mimi
but faithful representation OF the will
, scenes enacted ON the Western iron
tier. The English stag-hunt will b
an exact picture of the sport itself
with a company of $50 men and VIC
men in full hunting costume, and
2 large pack of English stag-hounds
There will also be many other intei
esting and attractive features, the msr
: mention of which would make u smal
volume,
Mr.. Barnum certainly deserves grea
credit for an enterprise which is ca
culated to afford a vast amount of in
nocent, popular amusement and a
= though this gigantic venture involve
!. an enormous outlay of money, it wi
= present too many attractions not to b
generously sustained. 1t is Mr. Ba
NUNS intention to visit Europe nea
Iautumn with the whole establishment
N and astonish the Old World with tn
4 wonderful exposition of what can Il