Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-10-06
BARNUM AND JUMBO.
THEY SUCCEED IN RAISING 4 EU-
RORE IN ST. PAUL.
The Gigantic Elephant Appears n RarS
Acts, Witnessed Only BY the Globe Re-
porter-A Performance That Distances
All Competiticn.

All COmpet1t1S
The great Barnum and London allied
shows, arrived in st. Paul at dawn yester-
day morning and pitched their mammoth
tents on Fort street near the Short Line
crossing. 1t was muggy morning. A
| cold drizzling rain set in about o'clock,
and heavy clouds lowered over st. Paul
throughout the day. Bnt it was BarnE:n's
day, and the thousands vi cilizens who had
patiently awaited the advent of the wonder
full exhibition, were not to be put off by
| such trivial drawback as unpropitious
weather. 1t is to be doubted if the usually
obliging gentleman who has charge of the
atmospheric and weather arrangements,
had done his worst, that the crowd which
turned out to see the show, would have
been much smaller Or less enthusiastic.
A patriotic and suffering public made up
their minds to see the show and they were
not going to be disappointed. At first it
seemed as though the idea of street
pageant would have to be abandoned.
Large crowds from all parts of the city
hocked down town and took up positions
on the line Q march. In spite of the rain
GAe streets presented a gala day appear
ance, and the crowd was not to be disap-
pointed. If there is one thing more than
another that breaks Barnum all up, SO TO
speak, it is the sense Of chagrin exper-
fenced at having to disappoint
the public; alongside of this, he says,
the door receipts are nowhere.
The street parade was advertised to take
place at $3.50 o'clock, and hence the early
morning turnout of citizens. About 10
o'clock the sky cleared off little and it
| was decided to have the
parade rain or shine. While
simply stupendous in extent, and wonder
full in the long line of remarkable curios-
| ties, wild and tame animals, unique daz-
zling and beautiful chariots, the pro-
cession was not what it would have been
had the day been bright and pleasant, as
many of the more costly and delicate at
! fractions were not brought out. However,
i it was big thing and duly appreciated.
THE ATTENDANCE AND PERFORMANCE.
At 2 O'Clock the huge canvass ampitheatre
contained from 10000 to 10000 spectators.
Long before That hour steady stream of
| pedestrians lined Fort street, headed for
the show, while the street cars were crowd
ed, and all the hacks aud common car
riers of the city were pressed into ser
vice.
To speak OF the show in detail would
require days of diligent investigation and
labor. 1t is simply incompatible, and
one cannot behold the varied sights with
out astonishnsnt-comprising as they do
the picked performers, rare living and
| e h
savage world. It is like a dream of en-
chantment, or the fairy tale of Aladdin and
there passes in stately procession before
the view OF the slumberer, a phantasma-
goria OF beautiful and be8ildering won
| ders.
The animal show is alone worth ten
times the price of admission,
ranging, as il does, from the ma
| iestic and monstrous Jumbo, to the sa-
cred cattle of the hides, or the mild eyed
and doeile zebra of the oriental plains. AS
for Jumbo, he has the bulk of a mountain
and the mild eye of missionary. He is
as geutls as girl, and like the girl of the
period he has great tooth for candy.
Time with him is regular pi ,nic, and
ginger bread, cookies, candy, pop
corn, and other dainties pass from
the hands of the donor to the main OF the
mastodon with graceful fuency that
would 90 credit to seight of hand per-
former. At times the mighty Jumbo be-
came as playful as kitten and he seemed
to eat circns programme or hat-full of
peanut shells with the same gusto as he
swallowed doughnut. One visitor lit
tie near-sighted, in examining Jumbo,
came in contact with the tip end of his
trunk, land mistaking it for the trumpet of a
telephone, cried out 'shello there, is that
the centrsl?" when Mr.. John Scott, the
keeper, shut off the connection, and the
mistaken individual was thrown into the
cage of hyenas.
| The elephants number twenty-seven in all,
from the diu1inutive Hazel Kirke, named
after Fife Ellsler, to Jumbo, and many of
them have wonderful records. The ele-
plants include the famous trick elephant,
perfect beauty in mis- way, and they are
all in charge of Mr.. Geo. Arstingstall, the
| trainer. Aside from the magnificent ami
NAL show the most interesting features CT
| this division of the circus are the groups
of Cannibals, wild men of Borneo and Can
ibals. Ono of the latter was quite dude,
| only his costume was little off for the
| weather. 1t consisted of breech clout,
two bracelets and cigarette, which he
wore in his ear.
But if Jumbo, the animals, etc., are
great, what can be said of the show !? If
the reader will have in his minds eye
three distinct arenas, and place within the
magic sawdust circle the picked talent of
the world, all performing at the same
time, he will have fair idea as starter.
There are all manner of feats of agility,
skill and strength; these are performed by
acrobats, jugglers, wrestlers, boxers,
clowns, gladiators, thrilling flights on the
trapeze, and high kickers generally. Then
mix in herd of educated elephants, trick
horses, bicycle and tricycle. acts, and fair
idea may be had of the situation.
The most thrilling and exciting part of
the programme is the hippodrome races,
which consist in jockey races, monkey
races, wheelbarrow, elephant, foot, chariot
and double team races, winding up with a
whoop,la Indian and cowboy race. Alu-
sion to the great show would not be com
plete without mention of that prince of
fellows, Mr.. D. S. Thomas, the press
agent, who is the soul of hospitality and
is IS interesting as any other feature of
the show.
The jam last night was simply immense,
the huge tents being crowded, and the
rush for street cars beats any crush ever