The daily gazette., 1882-10-14
BARNUM'S BIG SHOW.
SIGHTS AND SOUNDS OF CIR
Gus AND MENAGERIE.
$4,000 PEOPLE LOOK AND WONDER
Jumbo and His Less Remarkable Animal
Friends-A Performance That Was Sat-
isfactOry and Elected Much Praise.

Barnum was monarch Of Wilmington yes
terday, and more than $4,000 people paid
tribute to him and Jumbo at the great moral
show. The exhibition was eminently salts
factory TO the crowd and exceedingly sue
cessful In business point of view. The cir
Gus arrived In town early liz the day, and
magnificent street parade was given In the
forenoon In the presence of an immense and
cheering crowd. Jumbo was not in the line
and people were disappointed and became
all the more determined In their intention
to 60 tofthe show In the afternoon. 4s9
When the afternoon came a big crowd had
| assembled In and around the tent at the
circus lot on the upland back of Brandy
wine village. 1t was the biggest thing of
the season. Carriages crowded the thorough
| fare, and people thronged the entrance way
| and clamored for admission. Inside, the
scene was even more stirring and full of
| life. In the early part OF the afternoon the
animals formed the chief attraction, and
the crowd went around aud fed peanuts to
the gentle and gigantic Jumbo, patted the
| rhinocereros on the snout, shook hands with
| the wild men of Borneo and poked the lions
with umbrellas until the keeper got mad
and swore. The menagerie is probably the
finest In the land and has some rare speei-
mems of the animal kingdom. Two features
| of this branch of the show were wanting
| the huge snakes and the girafis. The last
| snake died yesterday and the giraffs are SO
| delicate that they could not be taken from
their car yesterday owing to the damp
weather
Between 9 and 8 o'clock the circus tent
was the object toward which all steps were
bents 1t is estimated that nearly $4,000
| people were present at the afternoon per-
| fOrmance. The huge tent, as large again as
| any In the country, has q seating capacity
| Of 15, 800, and 1t was so nearly full that no
one could notice 1t. Through the kindness
of Mr.. Thomas, Barnum's press agent, the
reporters We're kindly given reserved space
and easy seats, and Senator Bayard and
family were favored with seats In the same
place. having been unable to get good posi-
tions.
The performance was in every respect a
good one. The eacrobats tumbled and vaulted
the bareback riders went through remarka-
BILE feats Eva Walker walked the tight
rope with astonishing ease and grace and
Billy Burke and Whimsical Walker created
a laugh and positively got off new jokes,
although one of them did sing "0ver the
| Garden Wall"
Then came what was considered the best
feature of the performance-the races.
They comprised bare back contests, races by
ladies, foot races, chariot races, and, what
was last but not least, an elephant race.
The show, all in all, has never been equalled
in Wilmington, and praises of the most pro-
fuse nature were showered ON Barnum
Bailey and Hutchinson for the grand treat
An amusing incident was when Martin
Philip Bayard was given a ride on the baby
elephant, and what was more amusing was
when the city editor of the Neps seated him
self upon the tusks of the elephant Albert
and was raised about 10 feet In the air
amid the plaudits of the admiring crowd
while the newspaper mans face paled and
his robust form shook as with the ague.
The circus exhibits at Chester, Pa, to
day, and then goes into winter quarters al
Bridgeport, Conn.