The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1882-04-28

woman or OIL the WIG men OF Borneo are
placed side by side with those of Edwin
Booth and Clara Morris In the town shop
windows, and we may see the melancholy
eye of Anna Dickinson trying to decipher
the hieroglyphic countenance of the What
Is IL. There Is something else which cheers
the human curiosities. The supply of them
does not meet the demand, and salaries
have consequently increased. Indeed, cir
cuses have depleted many of the museums
of their giants, bearded women, ETC., causing
museum managers to seek In new fields and
to substitute for fat women and living male
skeletons such attractions rs a tattooed lady,
long-haired damseis, female phantoms, and
electric boys. Thus, necessity Is the mother
of invention in the show business. Toshow
the value Of metropolitan notoriety to living
| clriosities, 1t may be instaneed that Chez
nah, the Chinese dwarf, and Brustad, the
Norwegian giant, were imported to this
country at cost of seventy-fve dollars per
week. At the conclusion of their short con-
tract with Bunnell, they were engaged by q
ShSuS hoh anu Paiu tWo nuhuISu uoilaiS u
week apiece. The famous living skeleton,
who up to this year never received higher
salary than forty dollars week, now grows
| fat on double that amount. But notwith-
standing the prosperity of human curiosities,
there is nothing on record to prove that fe-
| male skeleton ever became an attraction as
fat woman. There is but one genuine
Hindoo snake charmer in America, yet every
show has Its snake enchantress. A boa-con-
strictor, usually kept In blue box with a
| glass top, is looked after generally by a fat
woman or Circassian girl, who handles the
snake without extra pay. Her only danger
is from construction, but the boa is almost
invariably too delicate to " consttict."
The pay of fat women runs from fifteen to
seventy-fve dollars per week, according TO
weight and personal beauty. There is one
attraction in the business who in addition to
being a fat woman is besides bearded lady,
and also charms the snake. Her salary Is
the smallest in the show, because she is
crssseyed. The highest price paid to fat
woman is received by Hannah Battersby.
Her face is very pretty and she weighs 7S0
pounds. Her height is six feet. She has,
however, dangerous rival in the fifteen-year
old giantess, Jessie Warner, who now tilts
the beam at five hundred pounds, and stands
six feet four inches. The ever increasing
| Thirst of the public for novelties has made
museum managers send into the wilds of
| Africa and to the out of the way islands of
the Pacific for interesting samples of human
ity, to whom they have TO offer special in
ducements to come to this country. A band
of Zulus recently exhibited in this city cost
four hundred dollars per week and hotel ex-
penses. This line of curiosites is different
from home monstrosties, inasmuch as the
longer they stay here the less their salaries.
In other words, a savage ceases to attract
quicker than armless, legless men or a five
legged calf. The highest salaries paid TO
giants 60 to Captain Bates and his wife, who
are each eight feet high. They are very
wealthy, and it is difficult to get them to
| exhibit themselves. They will sometimes,
| however, stand before the vulgar gaze at five
hundred dollars per week and expenses on
| short contracts. Within recent years the
| Tom Thumb school Of dwarfs has been re-
placed to a great extent by the Midgets.
| The two which attracted so much attention
at Masonic Hall receive together five hun
dred dollars per week. Dudley Foster, the
five pound midget, though only ten years old,
gives his parents one hundred dollars every
Saturday. Two headed girls are extremely
rare and are worth six hundred dollars per
| week and expenses. Their rarity makes
them very conservative aud sensitive as to
bogus two headed curiosities. Giants are
very sensitive also, and seven foot five inch
man has been known to cry like baby be-
cause the printer cut off one inch from his
| stature.