Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1881-01-06

ELEPHANTS, ELKs. AND zEBRAS A. BEASTS
OF BUKDEN-rRAINING THE HORSES AND
BUILDING PYRAMIDS OF ELEPHANT>-THE
900 POUND BABY THAT INITIATES ITS
ELDER>-THE SEASON OF 1881.
Elephants pushing long and heavily laden
cars on diyerglng side tracks. and dragging
charots through the mud zebras in harness,
working alongside piebald horses; elks as
beasts of burden drawing ike oNen-such
have been some Of the curious sights Of
which travellers on the New York. New
Haven and Hartford Railroad have caught
passing glimpses recently as the trains from
New York neared Bridgeport. Conductors
whose experience goes back a quarter of u
century were once e>tonlshed al such spec
tacleS. but ever since they saw =. I. Barnum
ploughing with an elephant in the fields
where the side tracks run they have ceased
to wonder at ANYTHING long. Some Of them
had new sensation few days ago. how
ever, when they saw the sign of the Great
London Circus painted on the top of one of
Barnum> big show buildings. Ii was then
that they first learned that the Lion and the
Lamb had lain down together-that the two
great shows were thenceforth to travel under
one canvass, and were to stay together in
winter quarters.
There was no particular ceremony over
the union. The Great London Circus closed
season Of remarkable prosperity i'll Wash
ington. ID. C., on the Both of October On
the ID of November the long circus train
rolled up to Barnums show headquarters in
Bridgeport. and the show material was
slowed away in the ample buildings PIE
pared for the two shows.
Barnum's Greatest Show on Earth was
overtaken bv bad weather in Washington
Mo. on the 9th Of November. and abruptly
terminated its season there and started
/ homeward. One week from that daV the
/ EMPLOYEES of the London were welcoming
( their brethren of Barnum's at their Joint
quarters. Inc animal cages were arrayed
side by side. the trained horses of the two
( circuSeS were placed in contiguous stalls. the
1 surplus work horses were punched together
( and sent 10 farmers in the neighboring coun,
/ try. the golden charlots were housed under
single roof; and the clowns and ring mas.
! tiers, acrobats and fat men, giants and light
ming calculators. Albinos and Fills, and 9th.
/ er professionals whose season of profit and
usefulness had ended, vanished as mysteri
ously as they will come out again when the
/ next show wear commences.
BEHIND THE SCENES.
The most interesting part of show i,
the part that the public never sees" said Mr.
| James L. Hutchinson, one of the proprietor,
/ Of the combined shows, yesterday. Drive
/ over with me to the winter quarters and take
a stroll through. think YOU will agree with
me-
/ After a drive of mile and half, the car
riage stopped at the doorway of substan-
/ tial frame building that formed one of the
/ outworks of tive-acre enclosure. A tight
/ board fence surrounds the lot, and within
/ the boundaries stand six buildings, so stu
ated as to leave a quadrangular space be-
I tween them. The lot borders on the New
/ Haven Railroad track, and the hundred cars
tracks, and are pushed under the long frame
I sheds.
The ring barn. said Mr. Hutchinson
/ opening the door of the long building al
which the company had alighted. The ring
barn is compartment eighty feet square
with stalls for thirty-six horses on three sides
Of it. In the corners of the other side are
two dressing rooms. In the centre there is
a ring forty-four feet in diameter, of the or
dinary circus pattern. The floor of the ring
is of earth, and the wooden rim around it is
carefully padded to prevent injury to the
practising riders. Mr. r. Dockrill, eques-
trian director of the combined shows, had
completed his morning work of training the
new performing horses for next season, but
he illustrated the manner in which the riders
practised. From the centre of the ring rose
a structure something like a derrick. 1t
consisted of an upright beam. with hori-
zontal timber extending out from the top.
The horizontal piece revolved on a pivot.
From the end furthest from the centre
pole rope depended. At the end of the
rope was strap made into a loop. The
rope worked on a pulley and was raised or
lowersl by man standing at the centre of
the ri When the candidate for equestri
an y; mounted his barebacked steed (no
ps ders are allowed in the show, the
st1sy fastened around his body. The
man at the centre pushed the horizontal piece
around as fast as the man rode. and thus
ePt the rope continually attached to him.