Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1883-05-15
LA CIRQUE.
BarnUm and Iumbo's Big Day In
Wheeling.
How the Gorgeous Pageant Unfolded Upon
the Streets, How II Showed and
How It Folded Its Tent
Like the Arabs.

TOW u iAS
Like the Arabs.
Barnum and Jumbo have come and gone,
and the big day in Wheeling is over. 1t
ras q big day and no mistake. There are
holidays-feast days and fast days, Christ
mas and Fourth Of July, but circus day,
especially when Barnum rules the roost,
laws over them all. The day broke with
aspect, promising rain, but al
an early hour the scenes on the streets BE-
ran to hven up. People poured out OF
their houses and strangers flowed into, town.
The ''rooral deestricks" contributed lib
orally to the general throng, and the small
towns in the neighborhood sent up their
hundreds and tens of hundreds. They
came in every describable style. The old
farm wagon, with its bed filled with straw,
ranged alongside Of the country carriage,
illed with rustic SWANS and fair Phylises
without number, and all mingled, on :he
streets, with their city cousins, in mex
tricable CONT sion.
The drizzle which fell, early in the morn
ing, in no wise dam ened the ardor OF the
crowd and eight o'clock found the people
masSed on every corner and at every avail
able post, in readiness for he grand parade.
1t was almost 9 o'clock when it came and
IT WAS GORGEOUS PAGEANT.
There is nothing small about Barnum
and this procession vas of an order far su.
perior TO that usually seen on occasions OF
this kind. The crowd gazed in open.
wonder on the gorge
Gus chariots. the fine horses,
the dens of rare and wonderful beasts, the
strange nations represented and the richly
caparisoned steeds and riders; while the
blare of trumpets and the roll OF drums
were in keeping with the scene. 1t would
be difficult and is useless 10 enter further
into the particulars Of the street pageant.
Suffice il TO say it was fully up to expecta.
ton, if not beyond, and prepared spectators
for something unusually fine under the
canvas.
THE CITY OF TENTS.
The sky cleared about noon and gave
promise of delightful weather. The sun
had scarcely crossed the meridian, when
thousands of people began pou'in over to
the old fair ground, where the city OF tents
was pitched. Acres upon acres OF canvas
were seen, surrounded by men and ahimals
and thanked by the usual army OF vendors
Of eatableS, mild drinkables and peanuts.
The crush and jam could only be appre-
Ciated after a full experience. Thanks,
however, to the courtesy of Col. Thomas,
the press agent, the writer avoided all this,
and by a short cut uuder the canvas, en-
tered the first tent. Here
JUMBO HELD HIS RECEPTION.
Jumbo has apparently been calculating
how much the expenditure of muscular
energy consequent upon extending his
trunk and returning its end to his mouth
is in excess of the muscular force gained
by the digestion of q peanut, and has come
10 the conclusion that he would die OF star
walton eating peanuts singly. So he refuses
TO make the trip with one peanut, and runs
the end of his trunk along the line OF WIS.,
itOrs till he gets enough nutritious mate
rial in 1t to compensate for the wear and
tear Of transferring ii TO his mouth. He
washes these delicaCies with an occasional
whIsp of hay. He is not alone in his
glory. The same tent contains the wild Nu-
bans, the Zulus, the Australians and the
Indians, beSidesa number of rare beasts. But
THE MESAGERIE
comes next and with its hundreds OF at.
fractions would well consume the entire
day. The collection OF animals, birds and
reptiles is large and we'll assorted and every
cage bears evidence of the closest attention
and most scrupulous care. a most inter
esting sight was Afforded at 4 O'clOCk-that
of feeding the animals, and great crowds
gazed in awe at the animals OF the cat ribe,
the lion, tiger, leopard, panther, etc, fight
ing and growing over the huge masses OF
raw beef. But the band is striking up and
We hurry into the large tent. Here fully
ten thousand people are seated in the I'M
mense amphitheatre, in expectation OF
THE HIPPODROME
The only trouble was there was too much
to see. To properly see the show in al un-
interrupted glance requires man to be
cross eyed in four places. There were the
usual mid air exhibitions by experts on
wires, trapezss and flying horizontal bars;
there were accomplished riders on swift
racing horses; there were swee little fairy
children floating around the place on
wheels scarcely larger than a watch; there
were clowns as funny as a meeting OF
Council. There were wrestlerS. dancers,
contortionists, gladistors, roller skaters
and fencers, all as wonderful as
was represented on the bills, but
it was the skillful combination
of attractions that amazed lawyers,
office holders and mankind in general. The
sight Of elephants obeying little bit of q
man and going through regular soldier
drill was amusing. These mighty beasts,
fresh from the slaughter of boa constric:-
ors, tigers, lions, and other terrible evil
denCes of an all creating Providence, rang
bells, made music on hand organs aud
showed themselves far more intelligent
than Pennsylvania jury. 1t was one OF
the events Of the show to see one hundred
and fifty pounds of man demonstrate his
superiority over fifty tons OF elephant.
The animals that are being taught To play
the piano and perform on roller skates will
not be exhibited this week. When the
keeper came out and called the roll, TWEEN
tynine elephants stepped into line as
Obediently as newly appointed policemen.
n DETAIL.
The show opens with a pageant that is
Characteristic OF Barnum. This is followed
by the introduction of Jumbo aud the baby
eit plant, and an array of other living
wonders, human and not humtI. Then
begin the performances simultaneously on
the stage aud in the rings. There is q
small army OF men who perform the double
sOmersault so neatly and apparently with
20 much ease that II seems rs though The
effort comes IN when they stop reHOISlng
and alight. The Elliot children, win
Sheels strapped like stills to their feet, and
aiterSard with bicycles, do two extreme
" pretty acts. Maggie Claire's act in
the flying rings and on the single
rope is daring There is al laughable
roIler.skate act by Mile. Rose, Harris and
French. Buislay and Worland do good
work Emma Juteau's descent along an
inclined wire while hanging from pulley
by her teeth. at the close OF daring aer-
isl &c; with George Brown, is one OF the
sensational features of the show. Me
Martha the manege rider, was recalled last
evening. The bareback ri0ers are ANNE
Carol, Lizzie Rollande, Frank Melville
and VIM. DutIOn. The elephants are
more condesCending than they were last
year. The clowns are Billy Burke,
" ns;Cal Walker and the elephant Don.
Al ere funny, espec ally Burk in his par
g ii II the fugaciouS scrap OF paper.
THE RACES.
Tie performance closes with the hippo
d. u.e races, which were watched with
brssthless interest. The various rae 5
were genuine and that of the lady riders.