St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-02-17
AN Ex-CIRCUs RINGMAsTER
Tells of Some Wonderful Riders
Twenty Years Ago.

Among group of men assembled last
evening at the bar of an uptown hotel
was stout, elderly man with iron-gray
hair and Well-WaXed mustache, SAYS the
New York Evening Telegram. His eve
fell on circus poster, and he eX-
claimed:
"Why, is Charles w. Fish riding vet?
He was the best bareback rider in the
world twenty years ago. | never saw "a
man i'll his business wear so we'll as he
has done. The first time | saw him was
at Hengler'S circus in England, twenty
years ago. l had been ringmaSter in a
travelling circus, and went there every
night to get some points, as / was going
to start travelling circus ofmy own. Fish
was the champion rider then. and that
was twenty years ago, and he's cham
pion yet. But things are changed since
then, and circus now is utterly unlike
what a circus was then; and for myself
here, L am now farming out at st.
Paul, Minn.'
The old gentleman, under the genial
influence of some extra dry" he had
been imbibing, began to grow remi-
niscent and said:
"NO one, to look at me now. would
think that L could at one time have done
feat on horseback that you'll seldom
see done now.''
"What is that?" asked Telegram re-
porter.
"Oh." said the ex-ringmaster tex
cuse me. | mean jumping clear on a
horses back. when he is going at full
gall0p, without touching it with the
hands, and alighting astride Oh him.
It's beautiful feat, and / know only
about three or four men in the world
who could do it properly.
The man that did it the neatest of
any L ever knew was known as the
great Hubert in Hengler's circus. when
it was i'll London twenty years ago. [
never could learn his surname. He was
perfect Apollo, but had cast in one
of his eyes, and no one would think he
was looking at his horse when he was
Masking the spring, which made the feat
seem still more snowy.
''He made very little ado about it. but
sprang so lightly that he seemed to fly
through the air, giving himself kind
OF graceful turn or twist and alighting
easily on the horse, which was going at
its hardest.
SAT that time circuses had not the
opposition from other shows that they
have nOw,and did not depend on menag-
cries. There were better clowns and
cheaper prices, but not the same kind of
feats. The whole thing is running to
feats of strength and rope dancing, and
things of that kind now. Then it was
riding featS.
II could rig up travelling circus there
at half the cost that | could here. There
are plenty of mechanics in all the big
towns in England who are good aero
bats. They go to circus when they
are boys and learn to tumble by practic-
ing among themselves.
after a while one perhaps better at
this than the rest gets into some circus
and becomes regular acrobat. In this
way we got plenty of men at cheap prices.
who, when the season broke up or they
tired of circus work, went back to
their trade and went again to circus life
when they tired of their trade.
''FOr myself, was school-teacher:
then clown. then a ringmaster, after
ward circus proprietor, and finally
came over to this country and bOughtfal
farm in Minnesota, and farmer nj
probably remain.'' 81