The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1875-04-15
p. I. Barnun's Latest Wenders-A
Colossal Exhibition.

ing historical his forty years career as me
most liberal and daring Snowman IN .ne
world. The statistics which Harper brotne,s
| give us from authentic sources are nsariy
| Overwhelming. They make an ordinary neaa
disyy. Mf, Barnum has always boosted thet
he gave his patrons double their money
i worth and his claims are generally achho"f
| edged: but this time he seems to nave lar OUT
stripped himself. Last year he ootained lrom
the Connecticut Legislature charter hof
| Cnmpany.n with capital of million OF dol
| lars: Mr.. Barnum, who is President OF the
| company, and Mr. Coup, his Manager, nave
4 sDent MANY months in Europe perfectlng their
plans. The object of this great company, as
| they announce, is to elevate amusements, ol,
vest them of oil objectionable features, ana 10
Tins render them worthy the patr6na5e H
the most moral and refined classes. They say
that eventually they will have score or more
| of exhibitions (traveling and permanent
! in America and Europe, and they intend tnat
their chartered title shall be a guarantee oil
the merits of whatever they bring before tne
public. The present season they nave pm'
two exhibitions One is Mr.. Barnum's wen,
known "Museum. Menagerie, Circus ana
Travelling Worlds Fair" the other is simply
| called 1.-The Great Roman Hippo1rome. MI.
| Bsrpum seems to have devoted years 10 per-
fecting this great enterprise, ana nesriS one
wear of his personal aiteltion was PAD 70 ID
in Europe. At an expense OF se'erai nun
dred thousand dollars he erected great mp
redrome building in the heart of New 1ofs
cciiy, and under an outlay Of over So,oN each
| day he has run his establishment IN New
York for nssrly y year. This ENpoSitioh
| COMPANY are engaged 10 ship the entire hip
| pedrome to Europe next autumn; mean
while they have undertaken the aiineu.. .ash
of transporting il entire to the principal cites
| in America. Ha,ysris Weekly saws:
| "The Great Roman Hippoorome will re-
| sembie moving camp. There are L. ~ men,
women and children in Mr.. Barnum's service,
| and the stock includes 80 horses and ponies,
4 besides elephants, camels. English stag ana
1 stag hounds. trained ostriches, lions, pears,
| tigers and other animals, For the exhibluoh
| of the menagerie and the various shows, dls-
| PLAYS and performances connected with tne
| enterprises, two enormous tents, each 5oo
/ feet in length and 500 in width, have been
! nrnVidei. 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 construction OF loo cars
| twice the usual length, built expressly for
| this purpose. Among them are a number OF
| 'horSt.palacc' cars, constructed with COM
| ra(,dious stalls, In which the horses can lie
down aud rest while on the journey and arrive
at the place otexhibiion quite fresh for the per-
I Torrance. Besides moving the tents, animals
4
1 cars, berihs will be provided in those devoted
| to the personnel of the company for nearly all
| the employees. Besides the great eShibluon
/ tents, and stable tents for the horses ana
| other animals. There is also attached TO the
| company a large corps of blacksmlths and
carpenters and builders, some OF whom pre-
| cede the show several days, 10 make ready for
1 the exhibition by preparing the ground, erect
| ing seats. etc. The dresSing-room tents alone
| will cover more ground than an ordinary
circus.
ITO move such an enormous establishment
| without hitch or delay requires the employ
ment 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 canvas will go up, the street process
J sion will move, the performance Will COM
mence. When all is over, and the great tent
| emptied, everything will be packed up by those
! detailed for the work, and the caravan, with
| out the loss of minute, will be on the move
toward the next place of exhibition.
1.-The programme OF performance will be
varied aad attractive. Donaldson will make
daily balloon aseensions with car large
enough to contain a company of five or six
| persons, at a cost of about $500 day for this
feature alone. Then there will be the Ro-
man races in chariots driven by Amazons;
the liberty races in which forty wild horses
are turned loose in the arena, in exact inita-
ton of the famous carnival races OF Rome
and Naples; standing races in which the
riders stand on bareback horses; hurdle races
for ladies: fiat races by English, French and
American Jockeys: besides camel, elephant
and ostrich and monkey races. Another
feature will be the exhibition of Indian life
on the plains, in which the actors will be
scores of Indians, with their squaws and pap
pooses They will put up genuine Indian
enc ampment, hunt real butfaloes, give war
dances, pony races, foot races against horses,
exhibitions of daring craftsmanship, lasso-
throwing. A band of Mexican riders, mount
ed on famous mustangs, will make pretend-
ed attack on the Indian camp and give a
mimic but faithful representation of the
wild scenes enacted on the Western frontier
The English stag hunt will be an exact pict-
ufe of the sport Itself, with a company of Isl
men and women in full hunting costume, and
large pack of English stag hounds. There
will also be many other Interesting and at
tractive features, the mere mention of which
would make small volume.
"Mr Barnum certainly deserves great credit
for an enterprise which is calculated to afford
a vast amount of innocent, popular amuse-
ment; and although this gigantic venture
involves an enormous outlay of money it viii
present too many attractions not to be gen
orally sustained"
Amazing as this exhibition seems from the
description given by Haype's, We can say,
from actual observation that one feature is
to be introduced into the travelling Roman
| Hippodrome more interesting and instructive
than any other. II is the great procession
known as 1.-The Congress. of Monarchs.n The
| HUpeT's omitted mentioning this because.
probably, they imposed Mr.. Barnum would
not dare incur the expense of transporting
such an enormous affair through the coun-
try. But he will do so, and here is brief de-
scription OF this dazzling and bewildering
exhibition, as given by New York contem-
porary:
"Of all the gorgeous pageants the world
ever saw the Congress of Nations is the
greatest, and how the surprising genius of
| even Barnum could produce it is a wonder.
The costumes are true to life, and many of
them are genuine, having been procured di-
| rect from the natonalities which they repre-
sent. The individuals employed to personate
the historical characters have the most faith
full resemblance to the originals in face and
physique. Each nation finds its special por-
trature in some kind of triumphal car, brill
iantly bedeckcd with appropriate flags, en-
blems, colors and intricate devices, and all
sorts of characteristics in the way of pecul-
lar uniforms, animals, soldiery, attendants
and music. Scores ofglstening gilded chart
OTIS illumine the arena with halo Of luster,
as it were, and the display Of royal splendor
is far more imposing and impressive than
words can describe, thrilling the auditor with
unspeakable amazement and admiration.
las the name Of the grand Congress implies,
it is stupendous gathering of the Monarchs
of the universe, bringing ia vivid view the
living Kings, Queens, Rulers and Potentates
| of tie past nine centuries, eliminating in an
affecting finale so touching that it must
awaken the emotions of stole. Her Majesty,
the Queen of England, heads the glttering
column, surrounded by her royal court and
followed by long ancestral line, the notabil-
ity and richly uniformed "life guardsmen."
Then France, in the person of Napoleon the
First and his famous Field Marshals; Ireland,
Rome, Russia, Germany Italy, Turkey, India,
Japan, China, and SO on, until all the Mon
! archs and Courts OF the entire world pass in
review, winding up like jewel-besprinkled
coil around the continuous circle. To look
| upon this beautiful historical procession in
all its grandness and greatness is equivalent
| to sitting in full view Of the courts of all the
earth, SO truthfully realistic are the bewilder-
ing pictures revealed il rapid succession.
| Such a dazzling half mile of solid gold,
| jewels, silver, precious stones and tin
sci could only be produced after years of
| preparation and the expenditure Of half a
| dozen completeness. ANY attempt at imita-
| ton on the part of ambitious and unscrupu-
lous showmen for years to come will result
in the most inglorious failure. None other
| than the Prince of Showmen' himself
would undertake it, and none other than the
| great and irrepressible Barnum could achieve
| so signal a triumph"
| This entire exhibition is advertised to ex-
hibit in New England in May, New York. etc,
| in June, Chicago early in July, Ohio, Illinois
| and Michigan in July and August.
1t is due to our readers that we inform them
| that Mr.. Barnum announces that certain i'm
posters in Cincinnati have copied his bills,
| posters, cuts and advertisements, and with a
| few broken-down circus horses and wagons
will precede his exhibition in the West, and