The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1894-03-01
HOW FREAKS ARE MADE.
THE BREEDING OF, MONSTRoSl-
TIES FOR MUSEUMS.
An Ingenious Frenchman Found Profit
able Trade In Buying and Selling All
Sorts of Queer and Hybrid Animals
Human Nature.

With all the queer doings and say
lngs that are credited to the Bowery,
it is doubtful If that noted thorough
fare, or indeed any part of any city
can produce a more remarkable in
stitution than one recently in opera
ton in Washington. There is no
recognized name for the business in
which the ingenious Frenchman who
conducts it was engaged, but it
might be very properly termed a
*'freak factory"
There is a certain morbid tendency
| in all human nature to gloat over all
sorts of monstrosities and deformi-
ties, if not with enjoyment, at least
| with an understandable curiosity that
is satiated at every opportunity,
even though the more refined part of
the individual nature revolts at the
sight after the first wonder is salts
! fed. This it is that keeps the cof-
fers of the dime museums full on the
| strength of advertisements of the
| bearded women, or the big-footed
boy, Or the wild man of the woods,
who is only some unfortunate aud
misshapen idiot.
| Freaks OF all sorts are gold to the
museum, man. and the more grotesque
the better. If it is only a kitten
with the tail of a rat, we'll and good :;
but if he, with some degree of truth,
can advertise man with a snakes
head and eagle wings and preheu-
sile tail, he is that much the better
off in prospect.
| So it happens that showmen of the
dime museum sort are always on the
| lookout for freaks and buy them at q
good round figure. Dealers of ami
| mails of all sorts are not averse to
turning a dollar Or two by buying in
any sort of monster they may happen
to run across, but it remained for
this enterprising Washington man to
conceive the idea Of starting up a
factory where such monstrosities
could be grown to order, so to speak.
q: Sabille is his name, and for some
time past he has kept bird store
nea" the Washington Circle, where
parrots, birds and Java sparrows
twittered and jabbered under the
caves of the picturesque little cot
tage, and guinea pigs and rabbits d.
vided the honors of the front yard
with fuzzy little terrier dog and an
occasional 'possum or raccoon.
| The establishment is altogether a
queer one,, from its swarthy owner
and mis- family of toddling children
down to the fan tailed Chinese gold
fish that fill a series of glass jars and
tanks inside the house: The inner
rooms are lined with hutches OF
pigeons and fancy chickens, and a
South American monkey has the free
dom of the place when the weather
is cold enough to have the doors
| closed.
Sable talks a very small amount
of poor English, but chatters volu.
bly, in French. He says that the first
freak he handled came accidentally
into his possession from street boys,
who had it for sale. It was alto
gether nondescri pit animal. with the
head of a cat and the body of rab
bit, while it's tail was long aud bare
like that Of a rat or an oDossum. L
attracted considerable attention. and
Sabille finally sold it, presumably te
the agent of a dime museum.
Then it struck him to try breeding
freaks himself. which he did fol-
some time, the most remarkable be-
ing a ny brid dog and monkey. mos
grotesque looking animal, which at
tracted almost as much attention a:
. the at-tailed rabbit. The birt
dealer regarded his trade as one O
the most natural and innocent in the
world, and with the tolcrably goot
stock of animals he had on hant
! there is no telling what remarkable
{ results his experiments might hav,
led to, the last acquisition to hi
[ stock being big Western gophe
upon which he was going to expert
, ment when one of his customer
| ! called his attention to the fact tina
his trade was one that was liable t.
get him into serious trouble with tn
authorities.
This frightened him into reform
, and when called upon by Washing
ton Post reporter for an ;ntervie,
regarding his peculiar business h
, protested fervently that he ha
abandoned it entirely. and hence
forth intended to confne himse]
strictly to the legitimate part OF hi
trade, handling only such freaks a
chance might throw into his hands
. ! He added that if there were any YER
urgent orders for monstrosities h
might be able to supply them on hi
, annual trip to Berlin, where tn
: freak breeding business was prac
ticed to a large extent. and wher
, monstrosities of all sorts were ker
a on sale constantly.
Whit. Blood.