Omaha daily bee., 1883-02-16
SH0WMEN'S SECRETS.
A Recipe for Circassian Girls
Celtic Egyptian
Oharmers.

"Hsnnah Battersby's husband rum
. blacksmith shop at Frankfort, Penn.
~sylvanla," said the Snowman to the
reporter Of the Boston Globe. "He
used to be q living skeleton, but he
grew too fat for the business. Good
living skeletons are hard to get-al.
most as hard az two.headed girls.
They can't DO made to order like other
~curiosities.Y
A real Orcassian lady never was
shown In this country, the Snowman
said. Circassian ladies are the cheap
est kind Of curiosities. The common.
est female can be turned into one in q
few days, and 1t is wholly unnecessary,
according to the showman's Idea, to 60
to q far off land after an object that
domestic resource will supply. Bar
mum brought out the first Ciroassian
lady twenty-tbree years ago. She was
. rather pretty cresture Of French OK.
traction, and before coming to this
country she displayed herself In the
sidoshows Of France and Germany.
John Greenwood, since dead, engaged
her for Bsrnum. She was dressed In
Circasslsn costume. In less than o
month every slde-show and museum
In the county were drawing crowds
to see ita Clroassian lady. Clrcassian
ladies multiplied until many homes in
the land were blessed With them, and
this day a show Is incomplete without
one She Ia almost invariably the
wife of q magician, giant, living skel-
eton, or some other monstroslty or
curiosity, who can put herself to no
better use than to turn herself Into Q
beautiful CircAssisn, no matter how
ugly she ID, and sell her pictures on q
platform.
Every woman In the country who Is
not baldheadei may become o Clroas-
sian lady II she desires by braiding the
hair over long pins and saturating II
with stale beer before retiring at night.
In the morning 1t will stand straight
up on the head like q porcupine's
quilts. The beer imparts q wiry con.
sistency without destroying the gloss
or leaving IL sticky. The American
girl who became the wife of the Da.
honey giant, afterwards the Abysuin-
Ian prince, exhibits her praces as a
Ciroassisn lady. Beaded women, un-
fortunately for tha showmen. cannot
be brought forth like Clrcasaian ladies.
The white Moore Of Madagascar
were four albinos. The husband was
an Italian by birth and the wife an
Austrian. The children were q boy
and a girl. They were known as the
Lucosie family. The girl died when
three years old and the mother died
las. winter. The father and son are
still curiosit!es. The boy lisa splendid
specimen of physical manhood, and
resembles the late Charles Feohter
very much. He Is o fine violin player
and made his first appearance "a a
musician In Newark, N. j., three
years ago. His solos are well exc
cuted. Albinos have married before,
but, except in this case, the unions are
not known to have been fruitful. The
eyes of albinos make them more OBJ
jects of sympathy than anything else.
They are, as a rule, illiterate and igno-
rant, seldom learn to read, and are
usually put on exhibition when very
young. Albinois exist In many wealthy
families, but such are rarely exhib-
tied.
Seven hundred and twenty pounds
Is the show weight of Hannah Bat
tersby, the biggest woman In the
business. On the scales she would
probably go a little above 500. 1t 10
an easy thing to make fat women
look 200 or 800 pounds heavier than
they are. They can conceal an i'm.
mense amount of padding beneath
their dress about the waist, and a
hustle still further adds to their ap.
parent vastness Of proportion. Mrs.
Battersby, 1t will be remembered,
carried her husband, the living skele.
ton, out of the old Broadway museum
at the time OF the fire and saved his
life. She has a beautiful daughter,
who is living with her father In Penn
gylvania. The next largest omar Is
Jessie Waldron, a Bixteen-year. old
mountain of flesh, who was born and
reared In Greenpoint, Long Island.
She Is six feet six inches high and
weighs about $50 pounds. On the
bills she is put down as Weighing 600
pounds. Emile Hill Ia the lightest of
the fat women, Weighing only about
$50 pounds. She Is only four feet
high, aud II Is her immense clrcum.
ference that makes her q great curl.
osity. Fat women are easy to pick
up. Showmen find women all over
the country that will do, and by add.
Ing 200 or 800 pounds to their
weight on the gorgeous canvass they
W the public with their immensely.
Living skeletons are the result of
disease, and cannot be manufactured. |
While doubtless, consumption and
dyspepsia have made q few respectable
skeletons, the cause of their thinnses
Is, for the most part, inexplioable. No
skeleton of consequence Ia shown who
has not been examined by more doc
tors than all the other curloslties put
together. Calvin Edison, who diedten
yearn ago, and who ~singularly enough,
was a ~violinist, anne into prominence
twenty years ago, and was the first
living skeleton Of account to be exhib.
tied. Isaac w. Sprsgue is still alive.
He is married. and has three big strap.
ping sons. Colonel Martin p. Avery.
who died Last winter In this city, was
the adjutant of ex President HAYES
regiment. He was ,sfssrd made
colonel, snd was bre y,sd brigadier.
general for drawer, At the laat
charge mt PstersburuH ahalI LIlI,,d hi.
horse under him ar tore his thigh.
The wound never lied and was what
reduced him to living skeleton.
Skeletons are gerA5k lily eat.
err. but Col AYsEa lived ON loo nrnnn.