New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1886-06-02
THE oLD-T1,1E CIRCUS.
Some Experiences of Tented9s4,ews in tho
Backwood Towns>

some Experiences OF rensedssa,ews in tho
Backwood Towns
Milwaukee Sentinel.
1.-The good old days,ef.orcus fights
have gone, but there is an occasional
row between canvasmen.and tough cit
liens that brings back, most vivid rec
objections of1the lively long ago."
The speaEeErwas- Charlie Bell, the
lecturer at the dime museum. Mr..
Bell has been identified with tent
shows ever since he was three wears
old, being, descended. from a circus
family.
"Why, IT. was; mo- longer ago than
last summer continued Mr.. Bell.
"that I was compelled to take hand.
in about; as lively a fracas as l ever
Witnessed. There. was no one killed
outright, but there. was some fearful
hard knocks given. It was in a town
called Wall Lake, out in Nebraska.
The daysbefore the riot we showed in
another town. forget the name now
twenty miles from Wall
Lake, After the afternoon per-
Torrance. thare was party OF
us sitting ON the hotel stoop, when
we heard cries Tor help. It seemsthat
tour toughs had set on the Sheriff,
and it was his shouts we heard. Well,
We. went to- the officers assistance,
aadwith our, aid he managed 60 give
the thugs terrible humping. The
lews- travelled ahead OF US 10 Wall
Lake., and by the time it reached
there ii was magnified into state
ment that the circusmen haxa cleaned
out a town just below. THIS put the
Wall Lake thumpers on their mettle,
and they decided to make mischief
Before the show opened in the after
noon I noticed a rough-looking, red
whiskered fellow, who had come into
town especially to maketrouble. Sure
enough, during the afternoon show
the fellow with the rcd whiskers was
ON hand, primed for row. Hestood
up IN front Of the reserved seats, so as
to obstruct the view of some of the
people. | was playing clown, and |
courteously asked him to sit down,
but he refused.
"'See here, said I, you sit dovn or
you'll be knocked down.
"'1s that so?' said he. >Mebbe
you've cleaned out one town, but you
can't clean out Wall Lake
"He no sooner had the words out
OF his mouth than 'bitf' went can
vasman's fist in his face, and the
crimson-bearded desperate was kicked
ont OF breath beneath the canvass
aand the speaker laughed heartily as he
RECALLED the scene.
>SWhile the evening show was COIN.
On, continued Mr.. Bell, eve had the
canvasmen all ready for a fracas.
The manage" gave out instructions to
tight If necessary, but not to kill any.
body. Well, we were a little surprised
that they did not interrupt the show,
but when we were packing up the
tough citizens clustered around and
watched us, but made no attack.
noticed the red-headed chap saying
something to the crowd, when they al
hurried off. We had left oar band
wagon down town in front OF li.e-y
stable, ard the minute I saw tEss
gang wheel Off surmised that they
were going to break up the wagon.
Now, 1t was a very elaborate affair,
and we did not propose to allow 1t to
be sacrificed, so we Hurried after them
and sure enough, they had almost
torn one side Off the wagon when We
reached there. We sailed into ths
gang. The whiskered leader, as
soon as he saw real fight ahead.
made a break for his horse to get out
OF town, but he dlln get Jar. One OF
the boys fired at The horse and killed
it. and the he. i;;.sMpea on NJ. RelWhis,
kers and just cares ed him with a
stake until his mother wouldn't have
known him. Well, We cot the best OF
it, and we had twenty-five of our as
sallants stretched out on the hotel
stOop, all unable to wax after the
licking we had giver them. And the
beauty of it was that the sheriff ar.
rested the whole twenty-five and they
all went up for a couple of months for
disturbing the peace.
"1es, clrcusmen generally get the best
OF such fights, because they are better
and then they are fightin,
for a principle. They are Just like men
defending their homes, and that makes
CAlC1Il lllC uIIu. Quill Ilda Z l1ptfu OF
clrcusmen getting the worst of the fra
cas-. Did you ever hear how Dan Rice
got square with the Troy thugs? Well,
III tell YOU
''Troy has yet the reputation OF be-
ing the toughest town in New York
state, and twenty years ago it was
terror. Well, Dan Rice's show was
there one night, and the cir
,usmen were all quite roughly handled.
The next day Dan telegraphed to his
advance agent to go back and bill Troy,
as the show would go back there again.
When the Troy rowdies saw thereturn
of the show announced they smile.
'rimly, and promised to demolish ii
entirely this time. In the meantime
Rice went to New York and engaged 100
'luggers, regular short-haired brutes
Who would rather fight than eat. He
brought them to Troy with the show.
IN the evening the tent was filled, but
here wasn't a single lady in theent
audience. Dan had his hundred pusii-
SITS scattered through the audience,