Telegram-herald., 1889-09-17
Up IN A BALLOON.
some 81 Manager G&rseoa's hafeft-
snces TAsrs saa Elsss keEs-

Manager GarwOod Is busy man, and
his onioe duties are widely different
from his mode OF making a livelihood
twenty years ago.
My hrsi venture n tie theatrical of
SHOW business he Sad, was NTH skin
q G4ylerd's old-fasAleued mlDsuels
way lack lu j sos WAS brought up ia
Philadelphia, where. Gke boys ~ my
iaclinaUons. / learned to sing and dance,
AID il Was after my folks had removed
u Atlanta, Ga, that ] ran away and
joined tbs organization in Athens For
q bref period of FIVE weeks ] remained
with them. Tor the show closed al that
tine, ana then / JOINED u q. Grady
Ola-fasl.oned circus Al Augusta. lney
had pef.enced considerable bad
weather, and my advent IA the ring aia
not alter matters, for INSIDE Of three
weeks, while showing 10 Atlanta, 4 storm
DESTROYED Tie canvas and made COM
plete wreck of tie proper tes, when
caused Grady 20 close the season. The
Gilbert Dramatic Company, starring
Frank Grey IN Don Cesar dc B4zAn'
and a repertoire, came along, and my
application Mas fayorably considered
/ old the page part, very small, can
assure YOU, and between the acts ln-
truduced speciality. From this COM
pADy went with old John 1ompletOn
and the Nane sisters, then producing
The White Pawn Doubling up with
/. c. Armstrong, 1 continued With the
troupe until 1870.
My second circus experience was
with NOOten n Halght's Empire CITY
circus, with winch aid double song
and dance IN the concert and went ia
leaps ana tumbllng IA the ring. We
made great TRIP, never closing while
/ was with them. We played the Brit
lsh American provinces and down
through the New England States, ship
png 10y water 10 Savannah from BOs-
ton. With this show l also made bal
loon asccnslOns, commencing AT CALAIS,
Me, and continuing on until | had
gone up over two hundred and nifty
times"
'ln this line you doubtless had some
Thrilling experiences"
"Ies, | certainly did, and | do not
care 10 ever try II again. The worst
time | ever had was IN Jacksonville,
! Ia, on a decoration day, when | was
with the Great Eastern circus. Ii was
a perfect day for the purpose. and /
| had a new ll0-fect balloon, named at
ter the circus. When they initiate hot
AR balloon a guy pole If placed at each
SIDE, so It may rest squarcly. IL nap
| poned that they had very
| high liberty pole at Jacksonville, so
we used thai on one side, erecting a reg
ular guy pole on the other. We al
ways had four men TO hold the balloon
when IL was about ready TO go, and on
! tins occasion one of the men was taken
sick and called burly negro from the
| crowd 70 take the rope, enJOlnlng HIM
10 wind il around his body one, but not
! tie il, because when the word was gwen
all were 10 let 90 AT once. ! took my
position at the trapcze bar suspended
| from the basket and called, All ready.
! let gOp The three white men Obcyed.
but the cOlOred man had taken a hitcn
in the rope and heCon 20 pull on Il.
| This brought the hoad of the balloon
on a line toward the liberty pole and d.
shot straight for il. the ropes breaking
of the foot pegs which were driven IA
the pole, and | was swung violently
! against one of these broken pegs, winch
| pierced my skull. When ] regained
Consciousness the balloon had nearly
attained its height and | was hanging
10y one leg, the trapeze being almost
perpendicular on account of a twisted
rope. knew something had happened
| and fixed up matters as soon n could,
tving ropes around both Of my wrists so
that | could not fall.
ut began 10 descend, and ] saw a
| beautiful field Of grass across from the
| soldiers graves and did all ! could IL
land there. 1t was surrounded 10y a
high board fence. and the balloon,
which was ready to break out IN flames
when ii struck, sailed over the place
and landed me on the inside OF the
fence. while ii fell on the other and
burned. The shock again rendered me
unconscious. hut two ladies who had
seen the descent managed 10 tear a
loose board from the fence and olsen
gagged my wrists. else ! should have
been badly burned. ! laid in the city
three weeks. and the doctors patched
up my head by trepanning the skull.
learned afterWard that the beautiful
pasture in which ! landed was dan
gcrous quicksand, fenced n TO prevent
cattle beng lost.
"This accident, however, did not
dampen my ardOr, and for year
after il | continued % make ascCnsiOns
the last being i'm st. Louis, when
came down n the Mississippi river and
nearly drowned. ! asked for NOR,
Iav bat they would not allow j.. 60
hcgau a two years engagement with =
2. Barnum. after which 7 spent wear
with the Selis Bros, and four year
with Howc's Great London Show.
went back 70 Sells and staid there nine
wears. selling tickets for them Th.
| ended my life a. circus man, and
think would rather live the life Of Z
manager than that Of the creates
aeronaut, ticket seller or tumbler or
earth"
I'm addition 20 what Mr.. GarwooC
SAID. { might be well ~ note tust h'
was one Of the two greatest ticket eel
ers on earth. At Kansas City. ln 1871
Bon Iusbv. Baruum Lightning tckc
seller. sold $500 tickets in about 2
minutes. using scTIp for change Whih
with fho sells Bros Nr. GaTwood s0h
1000 kcts in Just - minutes, hav.n.
the advantage Of silver change. Thes
were unparalleled feats.
M Garwood' cole attention r. m
gwen to the Whitney Opers House II
does ali IFS book I'D part of VI
Wntnrvs hooking for tho Drtro
opera Horse and Wheel |ers oper
House n Toledo. Mr G8rwood book
for the new Peoples The8ter ln ToIed
and tne Redmond and Powers House
r Grand Rapids TEe "a ir uerfnr~sh
vfh ~ame - rrafv. n Toledo. #
ere Toledo ari Grand Esras horsr.