Northwest enterprise. [volume] (Anacortes, Wash. Ter.) 1882-1887, 1883-03-31
CIRCUS TRICKS.
Some ofthe Secrets Of the Sids.show Divulged
bya Manager.
ZEBRAs WHO FAIL TO HOLD COLOR
WHEN 1T RAINS.

1neres letter from the agent
OF the Wild Man of Madagascar" !"
said Hank Stone, as he dropped the
sheet of foolscap on the table and con-
templated the hieroglyphics through
the bottom of a beer glass. Mr..
Stone makes business of engaging
attractions for circuses and side
shows. He entered the business be-
fore Barnum's woolly horse or Colonel
Bened;ct's papier mache whale were
thought of, and he was bold and
abdominous before Major Bunnell
in 1866 astounded the freedmen with
his wonderful three-tailed COW. He
is now attached to j. b. Doris's Inter
ocean Circus and Menagerie, show
with which the untamed native Of
Madagascar is anxious to exhibit
himself. "Wild men are played out"
replied Mr.. Stone in decisive way.
They won't do for the Interocean.
There was time when a wild man
was a drawing card, and country
people would come hurdling over
the fences to get sight of one in a
show, but that day has gone by. You
see, there never was real, out-and-
out, Simon-pure. gilt-edge wild man
in any show in this country. They
are all fakes When I say fakes 1
mean something that isn't genuine.
That day has gone by; the people
are tired of being scooped. The wild
man of Afghanistan was the first one
/ ever knew. He was simple
mulatto. Tom Courtland found him
in a poorhouse in Ulster county, N.
Y. and made good deal of money
by showing him in halls. A few
seasons later wild folks became a glut
in the market, and there wasn't a
novelty among them until the Austria
liam Children were brought out.
They were idiots, of course, but they
pulled many dollar into Barnum's
old museum, at Broadway and Ann
streets, in New York. Sam Ashbridge
had good wild niger, but his tusks
didn't fit him, and he worried himself
to death. You see, Sam wanted q
novelty, and he had all the coon's
upper teeth pulled. Then he got a
set of false ones made-regular tusks,
that came out over the lower lip.
Why, you never saw anything that
looked more like a gorilla than that
coon OF Ashbridge's did. He only
lived a season, though
"Well, / should say genuine cur
iosities are scarce. Why, there amt
a half dozen good ones in the country.
OF course there are scores of stand
ards, such as fat women and living
skeletons and dwarfs, but they are
only good to fill out with after the
strong cards are found. Without
doubt the best and most wonderful
living curiosity in the world to-day
is the double-headed girl. They
we always call her they-have been
examined by thousands, and she
knocks 'em out, physicians, scientists
and all. Why, the Siamese twins,
wouldn't be white marker to the
double header, and the beauty Of the
attraction is that it is not offensive.
Barnum's tatooed Greek was a good
card, but he don't hold color well,
and when saw him last fall he looked
like faded calico. The man with the
india rubber skin was a first class
curiosity, but he offended good taste.
No one cared to see man pull out
his upper lip and cover his forehead
with it, even if the act was new.'
Mr.. Stone shuddered as he thought
of the rubber mans elastic cuticle.
Then he lighted cigarette, called
for a fresh tankard, and drifted off on
the money drawing powers OF Zulus.
"Zulus," said he, "neyer amounted to
much in this country. In England
and France they were great cards.
Here people were too intimately &C
quainted with negro character to care
for imported doses Of it. Then there
were no natural points about a gen
uine Zulu that differed from those OF
an Alaska street coon. l guess there
were dozen genuine Zulus brought
to this country, but there were enough
on exhibition to form regiment
Sword swallowers are as common as
paving stones, and about one in ten
Is what it is claimed to be; the others
have trick swords, or do sleight-of-
hand business. No, stree, no sword
swallowers or fire eaters in mine; but
they say there is a colored man in
Chicago who can blow flames out OF
his mouth at any time. 1t looks
fishy. but / am in correspondence
with his manager, and it the fire.
blower is what he represents, you can
bet he'll be with the Interocean show
next season.
"Oh. it would be impossible to give
any idea of the salaries curiosities
receive. Giants, dwarfs, fat women
and skeletons. unless exceptionally
big, small, fat or lean, are cheap.
They all value themselves at much
higher salaries than they receive.
Captain Constantinus received big
salary, but in less than year after
he came out they got to making
tatooed people. There will be score
of tatooed men and three tatoOed
women on the road next season. /
had letter from a tatooed woman q
few days ago. She wanted $40 q
week. Invent to New York and looked
her over, and found that she was
stamped with indellible ink. When
/ made that discovery she offered to
travel for $40 week. Aztecs are all
fakes, and q brunette with good
haad of hair can. for $50. be trans