Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-01-25
MOVING A GREAT CIRCUS.
A SKiLLFUL MAN WHO DOES NOT
 SHOW IN THE RING.

A sKILLFuL MAN WHO DOES NOT SHOW IN THE RING.
 Brain Work of the Railroad Contractor. Man of Large Experience and Burden
 some Duties, Who Is Not as We'll Known as the Clown.
 There has always been more or less mystery surrounding the sudden arrival and departure of all large circuses, and oven tho newspaper man, who is supposed to know everything and more too, often stands aghast at the 1 will-o-the-wisp manner in which tho great Barnum & Bailey shows manage to make a | tour of the continent year after year, exhibit ing in a different town nearly every day, scarcely ever missing an exhibition, and d. ways on time.
 of an old snowman whose hair had grown gray in surveying the tented field
 Well, it Is just this way" replied the vet eran, as he lighted fresh cigar and leaned back in a comfortable position against tho wall "You see, the first man that starts out | in advance of the circus Is the railroad con- tractor, as he ii termed, and he must not only be . man of vast experience but . walking | encyclopedia as well. Among all the agents and managers connected with the great army of circus and theatrical enterprises, few of them understand the art of successfully pilot ing largo show over the country and SO ar- ranging everything that 1t Is plain sailing for the several advertising cars and the many railway trains that follow afterwards, as in the case of 'Barnumb greatest show on earth First of all, the proposed route for the entire season is carefully mapped out by tho man. ager, who must determine upon tho territory he wishes to visit and then the railroad ! contractor Is called in to lay out the route and arrange the order of towns, or stands, as they are called in show parlanco CONSIDERING ALL THE DETAILS. Here begins the brain work of the route agent and the deepest study of tho successful | manager. It Is no easy matter to even take map and jot down the best and most prom | tstng show towns in such 8 manner as to make the 'runs' easy and practicable. A thousand and one questions will arise, and they must be answered then and there. 1t will not do to make 0 double run'--that Is, pass over two distinct roads in going from one show stand to another-as 1t usually doubles the price of | transportation and often causes serious de- layA Therefore the route must be so ar ranged that only one line Is used on tho same day, and this often necessitates making pc culiar geographical courses in order to bring tho towns to be visited In proper rotation, and whenever 1t is necessary to make a long jump or use two railroads in making the rum 1t must be done on Sunday, in order to | give ample time to make the transfers and reach the place of destination before daylight on Monday morning.
 "Au the while you must be looking far enough ahead to bring the show into . cer- tain part of the country just ct the right sea son of tho year-that Is, avoiding an agricul- l f,,po I{cfv jv, ,1lo | catching the New England and coast country before the regular excursion and picnic seq l son sets in, swinging back into the wheat l growing section after the grain has been | gathered and the farmers feel flush and ready | for fun, sweeping down through Illinois and Indiana when the frost is on the pumpkin and the corn Is in the shock and later on | vending its way through the southern states just in time to reap @ rich reward for the pains and foresight of waiting until the last bale of cotton is marketed and the festive darkies are willing to give up their last dollar l for 'yaller keard to the cirkis.'
 "Armed with all this knowledge the rail- road contractor sets out to negotiate with the
 various railway managers for the transporta- tion of the show in the order mentioned
 Nothing daunted, he approaches the general manager or general freight agent of a given Unexpectedly renews old acQuaintances- and at once proceeds to business With sur prising facility and quick precision he states
 just what he wants, and often astonishes the railway magnates themselves by giving them information about track facilities and their connections with other roads at certain points,
 which they could not vouchsafe without call
 ing in the general traffic manager or tele-
 graphing to some distant place for tho desired
 knowledge. He usually knows every side track from Bangor to San Francisco, and by some kind of psychological reasoning Is able
 to tell whether there is " at Cranberry crossing and if 1t is possible to make trans l fer of tho entire circus train as that point and
 reach Growler City before C. m.
 NO TnH FOR PLLAsuRE.
 "Having ascertained that everything Is in
 perfect order and agreed upon terms. he
 whisks out . blank contract, fills 1t up in
 short order, gets tho official signature of the
 road, obtains sufficient documents and orders
 to pass the advance agents and advertising
 cars over the road, extends his best compn-
 ments- perhaps should say complimentaries 1 to the officers of the line, bids them good
 day, and departs No, he does not go and
 play billiards after that He has no time for
 such pleasures The car orders transporta- l tion and other information has to be mailed
 back to the various agents; the contract and
 all details of the runs must be sent to the l manager, ana letter O1 instructions written to the master of transportation, who has the
 show In charge from the time that it Is ready | to load upon the cars until it is unloaded at the next show stand.
 linen, too, he must consult the maps and
 guides and determine upon the extent of the
 excursion routes to be made and notify the
 excursion agent who follows closely in his l wake and arranges with the passenger agents
 of all lines centering at the place of exhibi-
 tion for special trains and low rates of fars
 on the show day. The contractor and excur-
 sion agent are closely allied. and much the
 same methods apply in perfecting the ar
 arrangements of both. Few persons unfamiliar
 with tho duties of these dignitaries realize
 the many details they have to look after or | the necessity of immediate action and
 thorough investigation on their part. They
 are tho forerunners of . great event and q
 necessary to the circus as the center pole
 itself. J. A. Bailey, Barnums equal partner,
 has always insisted upon having the very
 best men that money could obtain to fill
 these positionA "-New York Times.
 Singular Stomachs.