The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1889-09-01
ALL DEPENDS ON THE LECTURER.
How Museum CuriOsities from Ordinary Sur
roundings Come Into Public Notice.

The interior workings of a dime museum
were described yesterday to a Journal rep
resentative by an old Snowman, now resi-
dent in this city, who has long since for
saken his calling. "Most of thestrange and
peculiar ~personages." said he, ''who figure
in dime museums and side shows, and who
are introduced to the f~requenters of such
places. by strange and h%lgh-flown titles
and represented to hail from all parts of
the world, generally come from New
York and its suburbs. For instance, the
Circassian girl, whose hairbreadth escape
from q life of slavery in a Turkish harem
causes a tear to dim the eye of the sympa-
thetic, originated In the vicinity of Chat
ham street. The luxuriant growth of hair,
not a popularity of the tribe to which
she belongs, but only a marked character
istic of about four hundred families, in fact
is rather a family than a national Pc
culiarity. No matter how much comb
ing or brushing the hair may receive.
1T will always stand erect. In reality this
popularity of capillary adornment is
brought about by a honr's labor every aft
ernoOn on the part of the said Circassian
in the manipulation Of innumerable hair
Her vis-a-vis on the museum stage is
generally an Albino, with marked white
hair and pink eyes. Here our friend, the
lecturer, again steps in, and, with the
.i fnfer@s You that Ia the e young Mso sady is a s natsSs
of the island OF Madagascar. a representa-
tive of a race of people known as the White
Moors, that at one time inhabitated the
islands, but have now become almost ex-
tinct. Professor D~ingwaller. or some other
eminene scientific authority. while travel
ing for his health through the islands some
years ago, managed to purchase the albino
at a slave market, aud bringing
her to. this country and ~intJOdncing
loose in his kitchen, as he originally in
tended, ne took a fondness for her, adopted
her, and educated her as his own child.
But her benefactOr dying a few years, ago
and leaving her almost destitute, she was
met by the manager of this museum. and
he, seeing in her a great curiosity and at
t~ractive feature, made her q fabulous offer
of S. a week and photograph m~oney-and
she has consented to place her.
self on exhibition. In private
Mary Ann Mccarthy, she being nothing
but a freak of nature, and one Just liable to
occur in any family.
1.-The Australian children. Tom and Hat
tie. which AVE been exhibited for over
twenty-five years in various museums in
all parts of this country. are I'M
doubleday the strangest-looking peo-
pie ever seen. Their heads are al
most hat, and measure but about six
and a quarter inches in circumference, and
of all hideous creatures ever placed before
a suffering public. these Two are certainly
the most horrible to behold. Here the lect-
urer again steps in and in a grandiloquent
style informs the people that they are alb
original Australians. and goes on to tell
how Captain Reed, Of the bark Sunburst,
running to Australia. saw a number of
these people running upon allfours, andhow,
after q long chase, the sailors succeeded in
capturing these two, while the other escaped.
etc. Now. while these people are certainly
great curiOsities, it would be better for
their true history to be told. Two Of these
freaks | particularly know were born of
colored parents in the vicinity of Tifin, o..
and are nothing more than uniformed.
idiotic negroes. Next ON the list is Jo-Jo.
the dog-faced boy, whom the lecturer is
good enough TO inform us was captured run
ming wild in Russia, when in reality
the boy was born and raised in good cir
cumstances, his parents being Russian
Jews. One of his brothers conceived the
idea of placing the boy on exhibition. and
10 show to what extent he has been success
full. as he arrived in this country almost
penniless, his bank account is close in the
neighborhood of 100000. Giants. dwarfs
and midgets are to be found in almost every
community. Probably the largest giant ever
exhibited in this country was Col. Ruth
Goshen, who recently died on his farm
near New Brunswick, n. j. Colonel Gosh