The Dickinson press., 1891-03-28
A VERSATILE FREAK.
sisnor Carlo, Sometimes of Gotham,
Gives Away Professional Secrets.

Gives Away Professional Secrets.
A copper colored, long haired, smooth
faced young man walked into the Cen
tral police station and asked for lodging.
'You'rc welcome to all we have" said
Lieut.. Burns, "but if you'll tell us
whether you're black, white, brown or
red, shall see that you have the best
bed in the house."
The applicant scratched his head and
stood first on one foot and then the
other. Finally he drawled out, "Aiy
grandfather and grandmother on my
mothers side wero Indians. My fathers
father was Il Spaniard, and his mother
a Mexican. don't know what am"
Whats your business?' asked Lieut..
Burns
GIVE been i'll Barnum's band of brave,
bold, but bad Bedouins. I've played
Zulu, Kafir, Malay, Indian and 'Greas-
err swallowed the sword for six months,
eat fire, licked hot pokers with my
tongue, danced on hot Goals, chewed hot
steel, breathed out fire from my nose,
walked over razors, broke glass with my
feet and played the human ostrich"
"Well, what is your occupation2"
asked Lieut.. Burns.
"Fm a museum freak, a fakir, a sport
and Z. bum," said the copper colored
man.
elf you'll tell us how you work the
fakes you shall I'VE u feather bed" un-
blushtngly promised Patrolman O'Don-
nell.
"There amt no fake in the human
ostrich" said the freak. "The ostrich
eats glass, swallows knife blades, stones,
pieces of iron and everything else he can
get hold of. There amt no fake in that.
Cause why? Cause you don't get a
chance to mako u fake out of it, If you
could we'd fake it. 1t amt q trick to eat
a glass sandwich. just put thin piece
of glass between couple of pieces of
bread and when the bread goes down,
down goes the glass, too. People think
it's hard on the stomach, but that's only
imagination. saw fellow do it, and
did it ten minutes afterward. There
amt any trick in stepping on glass. You
watch the fellows that do it. First they
stir the glass up with stick to make
you think they're trying to get the sharp
pieces on top. They're just turning the
sharp points down. But a fellow must
have real dry feet or he can't do that. If
his feet sweat or are damp he'll get cut.
"Thc fire eating fake is nothing. If
you soak Your hands and feet in bor;lx
water three or four hours Il day for a
couple of weeks you'll bo able to stand a
pretty hot piece Of iron. We don't run
any risks, but mix q little paste and lots
of borax. We put u coat of this on our
hands, and when we pull q hot poker
across it there's lots of smoke, a sizzlo
and a bad smell. We don't hold the
poker very tight or very long, but people
think they smell burning flesh. We
cover the bottoms of our feet the same
way, and dance around on hot Goals and
iron for q few seconds. But if the paste
iswet your feet stick and you get burned
You can fill your mouth with borax, lay
lots of it on your tongue and lick red
hot poker. 1t makes little flame, and
when people see it they think you're
breathing out fire."
"But doesn't the glass you eat hurt
your stomach?''
"Not mine. The only trouble is that
you're liable to cut your tongue, and
you've got to be careful"
The freak was turned over to Turn
key Eustace, who was instructed to give
him good bed.
"Wlcre did you come from?' asked
Eustace.
"From New York;" said the freak.
"Foot Or rslili"
"Both."
"Where are you going from here?'
"fm going to get job as soon as l
can, and when I havo a couple of dol
lars I'll skin out"
whats your nalne?"
"f5jgnor Carlo"
elbow old are your
"Twenty. y."-Cleveland Leader.