News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1889-02-14
FAXES AND FREAKS.
Origin of the Curios of Dime Mu.
seums and Side Shows.

"The American people like to be
hambugged. AS with p. Il. Barnum
80 with the managers of the "fakes,
freaks and follies" class of dime mu-
seums, side shows, and travel ling stores,
this truism is indelibly stamped in let
tiers OF gold on the corner stone Of their
existence. Were it not for this phrase
OF public character their profession
would be in vain.
The 'fegitimate' as we'll as the ellie
gitimate" business is found among dime
museums and low-price shows, and there
are those who do what they advertise
and work on general business principles,
although they may not appeal to the
| higher tastes and do not contribute to
| the culture which Matthew Arnold look
ed for i'll vain among Americans. A
rather confidential dime museum man
not long ago was led by Springfield
| Republican reporter to talk about his
| brotherhood, and the facts here set forth
| are maiuly as he des ribbed them. He
had in his Exposition snake-charmer,
an Abyssinian beauty, a bodiless woman,
and two-headed calf (stuff d.. The
museum was in tent about thirty feet
in diameter aud the curios were arrang-
ed around the sidos. Two or three glar-
Jug bit6bIS Oh CdnNuS WcrC
about the entrance to depict what the
show contained. To be sure the snakes
on the illustration were thirty feet long,
while the alities were thirty inches,
an the calf WAS represented us espec-
tally lively, but the Abysslnian and the
bodiless woman were fairly portrayed,
except for an amount OF physical beauty
which the originals could never have
possessed.
The account of these attractions which
the proprietor gave was delightfully."-
naive. The snake charmer, he asserted,
was the daughter of real Indian charm
er who was brought over by Barnum.
She became enamored with concert
ticket seller, and, as he had ambitions
to start museum, married her, aud
their only child was then doing the
"snake act on the post Office lot in
Spring field. The fakir said that the
mother really had power over snakes,
but that the daughter used toothless
snakes and chloroform. "She is, how
ever" he said, "very fond of snakes,
and would sleep with them il 1 woald
let her" The "Abyssinian beauty"
Princess Irymi, was described as %
years old, q native of New York, and de.
scended from poor but honest Irish
parents. At the age of IL she was en-
ployed to scrub floors in New York
Bowery dime museum, and there learned
the secret of bleaching her hair and
being able to make it stand upright.
She was paid IS week for her services.
The bodiless woman was the fakir's wife,
who had formerly been n chara ter
dancer in variety show Tho man sud
that there hal been time when the
"bodiless woman act" had been whole
show, and that he had been able to coin
money. The calf, or the remains of
what had once been calf, he asserted,
was Legitimate curiosity which he had
bid in at an auction sale of curios for
$3.50. He said that his whole outfit
cost S5S and his salary list was from SIT
to $25 a week, with his other expenses
about $40 week, and his receipts were
from $15 to $35 day. "We don't lay
up nothin', though, because when we
lay off We have to go with the boys, and
We all buck the tiger n bit, and, of
course, in the long run, that beats u.s.
He told OF many hardships they had to
endure and said that they ara always
afraid of getting stranded away fIom
home. Very few of the so-called freaks
are what they seem, and are "doctored'
in q more or less ingenious way. Mon
are all the time doing some strange
thing simply to get n Job to pose for
wonder, as tneY are too lazy to work.