The Portland daily press., 1891-04-08
p. BARNUM DEAD.
The Great American Sho" :
Life Ended Last Evening"


Drs. Hubbard and Godfrey. the physicians
regularly In attendance. quickly perceived
that his pulse weakened and that more diff
cult respiration and lower temperature indi-
Gated that the action of the heart had be-
come so feeble as to presage the collapse
which was the beginning Of the end. Dur
ing the period Of Mr.. Barnum's sickness Of
over 81 weeks. In which he has been con-
fined to the house, he has slowly. but gradu-
ally. become weaker; lie has been n down
81 ortly after midnight he seemed TO suffer
considerably, and apparently realized that
the end was near at hand. He spoke to DR..
Hubbard, and said 1t was rellef
to him that he had adjusted all his
earthly affairs for the best as he thought.
1t was not the idea Of death that he so much
dreaded, but he wished to be spared the
needless suffering In his last hours During
his illness the physicians have been careful
about administering morphine or sedatives
of any kind through fear that they might
produce ulterior Ill effects. Last night Mr..
Barnum spoke of this and said that when
all hope was gone he wished to be given Sc
datives which would allay his pain and make
his passage from this world as peaceful as
possible. Mrs. Barnum has been an almost con
slant attendant at the bedside OF her hus-
band and carefully watched every pecepti-
| BILE change. Those VINO had been about the
death bed and who were present at the end
tonight were Mrs. Barnum, Mrs. David
w. Thompson Of New York and Mrs. w.
III. Busnell OF Denver. his daughter.
Clinton u. Seeley. his grandson and princi
Church of the Redeemer, OF which the de-
ceased was member, and Mrs. George IL.
Wilson, his granddaughter. Mr.. Barnnm
never rallied from the c0matose state In
which he entered this afternoon and died ap-
parently peaceful and happy. Mr.. Barnum's
sole ambition Of late was that he might be
spared to see the new and handsome build
| ing which ho recently ordered built for his
| torical and scientific societies completed.
The funeral will be held probably from
the late residence Friday afternoon. Rev.
Robert Collyer Of New York. life long
| friend of Mr.. Barnum, will offic.ate. The
remains will not lie In state and will only
be open to view by the family, In accordance
with the desire Of Mr.. Barnum expressed
some time ago.
Phineas Taylor Barnum was native Of
| the state In which he died. He was the son
of an innkeeper and country merchant In
| the village Of Bethel, aud was born July 5.
| 1870 10 1926, Barnum's father died, leaving
| no property, and from the age of i3 20 Is.
| young Barnum was in various business oc-
| cupatiOns, part OF the time in Brooklyn and
| New York City. Having accumulated little
/ money, he returned to Bethel and opened a
i small store. Here the great American show
| man Of future years made his irst success,
especially after taking the agency for a year
| OF lottery chartered by the state for build
ing the Groton monument, opposite New
| London. When the lottery charter expired,
| Mr.. Barnum built large store in Bethel,
but bad debts made this venture failure
Mr.. Barnum next appeared as an editor. Al,
ter his marriage In 1923, he established and
edited weekly newspaper entitled 1.-The
Herald Of Freedom" and for the free ex
preston OF his opinions he was imp isoned
| 60 days for libel In 1884 he removed to
New York. his property having become
much reduced. he soon after visited Phila-
delphia, and saw there on exhibition col
ored slave woman named Joyce Heth. This
woman was advertised as the nurse Of
George Washington. and the interest In her
| create was to be increased by the acc0mpa-
| nying statement that she was 161 years old.
| Her owner exhibited an ancient, time-worn
bill Of sale, dated 1727. Mr.. Barnum bought
| her for $1,000, advertised her extensively, and
his receipts soon reached $500 week
Within a year Joyce Hrth died. and post
| mortem examination showed that the Nir-
gtnia planter had added about 50 year tC
her age.
Having thus acquired taste for the show
business, Mr.. Barnu.n travelled through th'
South with small shows, which were gener
| ally unsuccessful. In 184l, although with
out a dollar Of his own, he purchased Scud
der's American Museum. and by adding nov
u
able to pay for it the first year. and In 1S4S
be had added to 1t two other extensive col
| lections, besides several minor ones. In
1912. Mr.. Barnum made another great dis
covery. 1t was then that he first heard that
there was living In Bridgeport, CT. dimin-
utivo person. This was Charles ). Stratton,
who soon became known to the world as
General Tom Thumb. He was exhibited
| with great success, under Mr.. Barnum's
management, both in this country and in
| Europe.
The next success which added to the grow
ing fame OF the great American Snowman
was his engagement of Jenny Lind, ths
Swedish singer. In 1849, after long negotia
whlcl Jenny Lind was to sing $50 nights II
at $1,000 a night. A concert company wal
formed to support her. Only 90 concerts
were. given, but the gross receipts Of thu
tour In nine months, In 1850 and 1851, wer,
s712.16i. upon which Mr.. Barnum made
large profit.
In 1855, Mr. Barnum retired to an orienta
| villa, which he had built at Bridgeport ii
1846. He expended large sums In improving
that city, built up the city of East Bridge
port, made miles Of streets and planted
thousands of trees. He encouraged manu-
facturers to remove TO this new city, which
YVES afterwards united with Bridgeport liz
1856 Z, Mr.. Barnum met another reverse o.
fortune. In order to induce large manu-
featuring concern to locate In his new city
he endorsed their notes for nearly 1000 900
The company soon after went to pieces, aRC
nothing was left Of Mr.. Barnum's largs
earnings except the fortune settled upon hi:
wife. With characteristic energy, he wen
to work to retrieve what had been lost. H'
went to England again with Tom Thumb
and lectuIed with success in London and ot
or English cities. returning In 1857. Wit
his wife's assistance he was then able /
overcome his financial misfortunes, and h
once more took charge OF the old museum o
the corner Of Broadway and Ann stree
conducting 1t with success until 1t wa
burned on July Is, 1865. Another museuI
which he soon after established was ais
burned.
In 1871, MIR. Barnum organized the grea
} travelling show and menagerie to which tn
Imitation of the Roman hippodrome races
given as a part Of the Performance, gave tn
after year since then. "P. 4. Barnum's Grea
Y | est Show on Earth" has travelled thrOug
I this country, finding time also to visit Eu
) | rope, where its founder was lionized.
late years, Mr.. Barnum has had partners |
this enterprise.
D Mr.. Barnum was four times member Q
the Connecticut Legislature. He has ais
been mayor Of Bridgeport, to which city b
gave public park. His other benefactIOn
nave been large and numerous, among ther
being stone museum building presented
Tufts College. This building Is filed wit
1 specimens Of natural history. Mr.. Barnul
has delivered hundreds of lectures on ten
a / pOAduIo duu tuC pEdCbiCdl dudtEo VI lllo. u
= has published his Autobiography, "HuI
bugs of the World" and" Lion Jack" a stOl
The great Snowman visited Portland sever
y years ago.
I p. n. Crosby.
b Mr.. p. Fl. Crosby, who d led in Boston la
! Friday, was Portland boy. and was, uni
Q lately, employed in the brush manufactoI
q Of d. White & Sons. He took an active /
l. terest in military affairs. being for a time
. lieutenant Of the Sheridan Cadets. I
r leaves widow and two children. The bul
!, al took place Tuesday, from the residence
!. Mrs. Godfrey Massey on Fox street, in tt
city.
J. r. Cowan.
New YORK, April Id. +. Cowan, a w
= known newspaper man, died yesterday |
ternoon in Brooklyn, after a painful illne
IS OF heart trouble. A large portion Of his Ii
= | was sDent In the sarviea NJ tha Navy Va