The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1884-05-31
M0nstrosities TO Order.

what is wanted," said the artisan
adding a dob of glue to the dorsal fiji
of the mermaid, lis something the,
can put on the canvas tn t will draw
folks in. The side shows are gettiue
ready to start out. They have theil
fat wOmen, abllnOs. Brazilian al ca
big snakes and that sort Of thing
but they won't draw. Folks Ill
stop and look at the canvas, say thu I
they have ecu snakes, monkeys and
fat women enough, aud will pass on
But if the side show can hang out a
mermaid or q sea senpent or an ALI
gator Toy, folks viii paw their dimes
and step right in. Usually thsy find
t.at the monkeys alone are worth
the price Of admission, and they are
not disposed to find fault because the
mer naid is not alive. But if some
one does find fault the side Snowman
says to him.
Look a here voung fellow. Dye
| s'po>e tina, if I'd got hold Of that
m-rmald b. f re she died Ia he sh,w-
in her up county here for ten c .nts
4 head? No, sir; You'd have to come
to the city to see her, ami pay yer
dollar"
Cutting a three-cornered piece out
of the Golf. n skin and neatly dra w.
Ing 1t down around the papiern,ache
body of the mermaid, the arti-an
went on: II USED to he in the magic
line, (taking up his shears, swallow
ing them, and picking them from
beneath ms knee PAM, bnt magic
doesn't pay any longer. 1t Dleases
the Intelligent public, but the public
is SMALL"
III w came you to go into the
manufacture OF m~OnstrOsities and
curiositles?" asked an Item reporter.
"Well, Over in New York one dav,
I saw in q show window one OF these
Japanese mermaids. The price was
1900. Up country a little while after
That I saw q mermaid advertised at a
side show. II was nj OF japanese
make. I thought if the Japs could
get $500 for mermaids I could manu-
them probably ut those
igures."
Here the artisan gave the mer~
tail an upward and sidewise
wlst, put IN some glue, and set it
lp to harden.
"ihls mermaid" he said, twas
made to tit some expensive canvas
hat n Western man has got hold of
heap. Here Is a sketch of it,"
1t was a rough sketch of a mermaid ,
in the ocean, and a lasso de- 6
cending from a boat. In the distance
7as the ship from which the boat t
anne. The scene represented the {
apture OF the mermaid in the Pacific +
cean, 400 miles off San Francisco.
ut isn't a had way" said the !
to make the curiosities to f
t the canvas that is to he displayed q
atside. In that way the sights fill p
bill, and the public is not de- '
T.
"For what ia the chief demand Il
lis spring." b
"Mermaids, alligator boys, sea *
Irpt nts, and double babies" Il
"What does an alligator hoy cost?" a
"Here is one,' leading the way to 9,
/ inner room and pointing to a cree d
ion which he had recently finished
hat cost SIS. You see it is about
feet long and covered with \
ather. The mOnstrcsity is supposed /
have been born of negro parents in
ouisiana, to have made its escape
to a lagoon when about seven years
and to have been found dying F
the bank after a fight with a bull =
ligator."
And the double babies?'
''They are modelled after the one
at was born of Italian parents here
It year. 1 went to see it, as [ 20 ~
see all the monstrosities that | u
ar Of. Double babies have two
ads, four arms, four legs, and only
e body. 1t is a job to get them up
they should be, and they are rather
l.