Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1880-05-23
A COUP DErAT

a COUP DETAT
Through which q Representative of the
"GIob." managed to Worm Few Secret
Points out of the Agent of Coup's Great
Circus. Menagerie and Aquarium.
Although he is tolerably good looking, Mr..
Frank j. Pilling doesn't look like circus
agent. His smile is childlike and bland, and
except for the Ratchet that projects from the
belt that surrounds his corporosity pat
termed after that once owned by the immor-
tai G. Washington and designated an emblem
of truth-he might be mistaken for theo-
logical student just graduated from some
theological seminary. Nevertheless he is
the agent of w. G. sCoup's great aggregation
of curiosities that is to make it's appearance
here on the 26th of the present month, and
when found by a representative of the
GLOBE at the Windsor appeared to be on
the verge of distraction. Questioned as to
the cause of his mental disguietude
he confessed that he had been
attempting to figure how fifteen thousand
people could be seated in circus tent made
tc hold eight thousand. Finally, with
sigh which was from the uttermost depth of
his vest, he gave it up,as he would the solution
of the fifteen puzzle. Turning to the repor-
ter, to whom he offered cigar, which, by the
way, was declined, Mr.. Pilling propounded a
conundrum. He wanted to know why w.
G. Coup's promises were like those of the
good book, the answer being because they
both utter words of truth.
After this there was silence for q moment,
and you might have heard gum drop.
The scribe told Mr.. Pilling that little in
formation regarding Mr.. Coup would not
be out of place, as considerable interest had
been manifested regarding the man who is
said to be the great Snowman of the age.
Before going further it may be mentioned
that Mr.. Pilling swears by w. @. Coup. 70
use his own words:
W. G. Coup is one OF Gods noblemen, q
man who scorns mean action, and whose
motto is honesty and uprightness; man who
is careful of the welfare of the people, as
if they were his own family; a man whom
his employees would stand by to the last,
and there die in defending his life aud
honor. s'No, sir,'' said Mr.. Pilling, "Mr.
Coup is not Barnum's sonsin-law, nor
is he related to him in any way.
How the report originated it is difficult to
say, but Mr.. Coup being in partnership with
Barnum for several years probably gave rise
to the reports. Coup was the originator OF
the big Barnum show, and OF the hippo
drome, also of the Gilmore concerts and
great New York aquarium"
On being asked Why Mr.. Coup did not re-
main with Barnum, Mr.. Pilling replied:
swell, there was just this about it: Mr..
Coup was doing all the work and Mr.. Bar
mum was taking the honor of it to himself,
aud Coup came to the conclusion that he
might just as well have the honor as well as
the work. Is he hard worker? Well, he
can do as much work himself as any ten
men, and he does thing while others are
standing around thinking about it. One
thing about Coup" continued Mr.. .Pilling,
sis his almost reckless expenditure of money
for novelties. He never asks what a thing
costs. If he wants it he gets it, and then
looks at the bill afterwards. Why, this
year he has added feature after
feature to his great show, which
other sbowmen would not dare spend the
money for. He always advertisss, too, just
what he has. Here, for instance, is a clip
ping cut from the Chicago Times of last
Wednesday, in which it says: "Every feature
advertised was carried out to the letter.
What better endorsement could any one have
than that. You see the great trouble with
the circus business is this: Some small
show comes along, and by means of highly
colored paper and extensive sounding adver-
tisements deludes the people into the belief
that their little show is q towering mountain
of shows, reaching far above all others.
Coup advertises in different way. He says,
have so-and-so, and you can bet your last
dollar that he has it. He has aimed far
above the old style of circus entertainments.
He replaced old stale features with
new novelties. For instance, elephants,
which several years ago were considered Gu
riosities. Coup sold five of his for $1,000,
and replaced them with what the people had
never before seen. Incredible as it may
seem, we have between fifty and sixty trick
horses and ponies, ten times as many as any
other show in the country. And so might
go on and talk to you all day, but l will just
say this, that last week, in Chicago, we
closed the doors at every performance, un-
able to accommodate the crowds. The Chi
cago papers, in abiding to this, spoke of it
as being unprecedented in the history of a
canvas exhibition in that CITY,"
Mr.. Pilling closed the interview by re-
marking: 81 suppose you are like all the
rest of the grown people. You don't care
to go yourself, but the children want to go,
and you must go to take care of them.
That's right. Always take care of the chill
dren, for remember you were one once your
self, and your parents took you simply that
you might enjoy it."