The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1891-04-15
P. T. BARNUM Is DEAD.
THE SNOWMAN EXPIRES AT HIS
HOME.

Phineas Taylor Barnum, the great
Snowman, died at Marina, Conn after
an Illness or twenty-one weeks. He had
during that whole period firmly insisted
that his sickness was only temporary,
and tlfat he would soon be out again.
Mr.. Barnum was without doubt the
greatest Snowman on earth. Very early
In life he took the measure OF average
human nature and profited by the accu-
racy OF his gauge. He found 1T both
curious and credulous, and he catered TO
IL accordingly. Nearly forty years ago
he wrote his autobiography, for he was
even then famous, and did not scruple to
show the manner In which he had i'm
posed upon public anxious TO see
the marvellous. Artemus Wards pea
green OK, the history of which
he told thirty years ago, was
pale reflection of Barnum's wooly horse,
and various other devices with which
| he was not unwilling TO admit he haC
| amused the public withal. The Dea-grecn
OK fell into Jersey canal and lost its
| peculiar color resuming thereafter, as
| Ward explained, agricultural pursuits.
As he advanced in years Barnum found
| IL more profitable to satisfy ordinary
curiosity than 10 attempt TO play upon
| credulity. The menagerie formed
never-failing source OF public interest,
and liking for the hippodrome, the ring
MASTER the clown, the little lady who in
| abbreviated skirts jumped through the
hoops, the intelligent dogs, and the per-
| forming elephants never tagged. Bar
mum soon came 10 look upon himself as
| curiosity and as such made in a coach and
four the circuit Of the ring. Far more
attractive than the footlights the can
vas yielded an immense fortune to the
man who could show what he described
as the greatest aggregation on earth.
| Barnum had long been millionaire, and
though he affected public spirit the trail
| of the sawdust was over it all. He had
no capacity for politics, no real under
standing of great public questions. He
was evermore the public's obedent SER
want, taking the public's cash at the
! boX-office. First and last he was a show
man, with something bizarre in his char
acter. He was a man OF the ring and
| the band wagon. No one in his profes-
sion has achieved equal fame or fortune.
| He was master of his art, because he pur-
sued his profession with undertaking
aydor and profound knowledge Of human
! kind.
Phineas Taylor Barnum, the most
widely known, unique, yet thoroughly
| typical American OF the time, was born
in the little town of Bethel, Conn, on
the 9TH of July, 1910. HIS grandfather,
| Ephraim Barnum, had been continent
| al captain in the revolutionary war, and
his father, Philo Barnum, took turns at
| tailoring, innkeeping and farming.
| Phineas' boyhood passed uneventfully in
his native town, where he showed in
| school and on the farm the traits of
thrift and shrewdness which so strongly
marked his character in after life.
About 1880, Mr.. Barnum became
deeply interested in politics, and, pub
LEGATION having been denied certain COM
munications of his TO a Danbury paper
on the dangers OF sectarian interference
in political affairs, with characteristic
determ nation he started, in October,
1881, paper OF his own-the Herald of
Freedom. The vehemence Of his youth
full editorials secured for the paper a
large subscription list at once and sew
eral libel suits very shortly, in one OF
whfch he was imprisoned for sixty days.
He continued TO edit his paper from jail,
and the notoriety he acquired still fur
Their sweled its circulation.
Ii was in 1885 that i. T. Barnum at
last struck his life's path. He had heard
of the existence of George WaShington's
negro nurse, then at the advanced age OF
16l years, and. selling out his business
again, he bought the right 10 exhibit her
| for 81, 900. and commenced his career rs
a Snowman. His success was immed date
and elcctrifying
About this time ne obtained control OF
the defunct American Museum, New
York. Wildly Improbable as were tho
promises held out by his advertisements,
interchangeable az he was in devising
schemes To humbug the public for their
own amusement and his profit. there
was never a time when his entertained
victims did not gladly acknowledge that
they had "got more than their moneys
worth out OF the show. A list of the
pranks he played with his patrons, the
undreamed Of monstrosities he exhibited.
would read like the catalogue of the
| ships in tie Had. Here was to be seen
the "club that killed Captain Cook. I"
niagara Falls with real water" the
"woolly horse" the "feejee mermaid, {"
the "ish with legs" mechanical toys and
automatons. He inaugurated the "baby
contests" which since have become
features in fairs the world around. He
placed powerful calcium lights on the
top Of his museum, giving an unheard
| OF illumination OF lower Broadway-pre-
cursors of the electric lights of to day.
OF all the adventures with which the
| name OF Barnum was ever connected.
the most successful was his engagement
ot Jenny Lind, the Swedish Nightingale,
for a series of concerts IN America and
| Havana In ls49. For these concerts he
was 10 pay the cantatrice the then I'M
heard OF sum of 81, 600 a night Par
NUNS gross receipts from the ninety five
| Jenny Lind concerts amounted to about
three-quarters of a million dollars.
In 1874, during his first visit TO Eng
| land, the great Snowman exhibited TO the
British public sixteen Indians, including
sqsaws, thus antedating the recent enter
| plsy es of Buffalo Bill.
From that time to the day OF his death
| Mr.. Barnum led all rivals in the show
businc :. Millions of Americans will
revere his memory.
1 -------
In "a. Miner" Kew.
| ell 49,, oan't holr, lfvfpC lopu