The morning call., 1891-04-08
THE GREATEST OF sHowMEN.

An Eastern dispatch announces that P. T.
Barnum has crossed the Dark River. He was
81 years old. long life of incessant aetiv-
ity and struggles, crowned at last with
handsome measure OF success, is closed at
last.
Few men in this country were as widely
known as Barnum. lie was type of the
American Snowman; gifted with quick
and accurate knowledge of the instincts OF
the masses. he hardly ever made mistake
in catering to their taste. and took their
measure with preternatural Judgment For
fifteen or twenty years ne owned and man
aged the American Museum at New York,
on the site now occupied by the New York
Herald office. In it he collected curl Osltles
of all sorts; there were oddities to amuse the
, Open-mouthed country visitor, and Speel-
mems of art and science to instruct the stu
dent The rooms were clean, light, airy and
capacous; order was strictly maintained;
in the rear there was theater, to which
admission could be obtained on payment OF
10 cents. Altogether it was a pleasant place
to spend an afternoon, and Barnum realized
half million out of it, part Of which he in
vested in a travelling circus. He made more
money by importing Jenny Lind. 1t was IN
this venture that be displayed his genius Tor
advertising. Nowadays singer like Patti
| adyertises herself; the impresario is re-
lieved from all concern on this head. But
forty years ago the business was in its in
! fancy. 1t was left to Barnum to systematic
it. He did it so well that some of his meth
| DDS are in use to-day.
Money had come to him so easily that he
| began to imagine he was universal genius,
and he engaged in various manufacturing
and other enterprises in Connecticut His
lesson soon came, he failed and went back
| to mis- business as Snowman without dol
lar Bat he had great grit and his early
| training had not been forgotten. In ten
| years he had made another fortune. Then
| he tried politics, and ran for Congress. 1t
| is perhaps well for his reputation that he
was elected to stay at home. He was moral
man. with some sound ideas; but he had
the New England failing of running after
fads, and he would probably have made q
| failure in Washington.
| His last conspicuous appearance in public
was on the occasion OF a personal quarrel
with James Gordon Bennett the elder.
| Bennett was in treaty with him for the lot
! on which the museum stood. A difference
! arose between them, and the editor accused
| the Snowman of having oyerreached him.
By way Of revenge he ordered that no ad-
| vertisement of Barnum's Museum should
! ever again appear in the Herald Barnum
was equal to the occasion. The theatrical
managers of New York had just formed an
| organization for mutual protection. Bar
nun had no trouble in convincing them that
they could not afford to allow journal of
| the circulation Of the Herald to 0straeze a
| theater on personal grounds. They one and
| all withdrew their advertisements from the
! Herald, and headed their playbills and adj
vertisements in other sheets with the words:
! This establishment does not advertise in
| the New York Herald" Bennett stood the
| fight for over a year; but at last the end
which had been inevitable from the first
| occurred and he surrendered. The sur
/ render was the more CALLING, as he and Bar
NUN had always been personal foes.