The islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1891-1899, 1895-11-28
POINTS ON FREAKS.
SOME BORN TO THE PROFESSION,
OTHERS THRUST UPON 1T.


Giving You an Odd Number of Limbs or
Hirsute Adornments Where They Ought
Not to Be. You Must Achieve Notoriety.
"Apy one who has remarked the
preearious element in human nature,
which makes every one eager to see
what the other has seen, will not mar
vel at the success which notoriety has
attained in the show business, said
the manager of popular museum.
"Notoriety, no matter how and where
obtained, is just SO much stock IN
trade, and people in our line OF work
are willing to pay any price for it. 10
make no account of the money value OF
the advertisement, they are delighted
to know that they are being talked
about and speculated about, and to see
their names in the newspapers. You
see how high that dome isl" he contin-
ued, pointing to the arched space far
above the ropes and bars stretched
across for acrobatic performances.
"Well, a man came in here, offered to
jump from it's highest point down to
the floor so as to make a name for him
self. 1t would have been certain death,
you know, to attempt it, but he said he
had practiced jumping, knew how to
manage and would escape injury. He
begged to be allowed to make the jump
and was much cast down at our refusal
''That man only expected to jump
once. After having performed the feat
he felt that he would be curiosity
worth money to see.
Anyway, we business people see
that the public crave amusement of this
kind, and we are delighted to crafty
them.
cat the time of the white Cap agi-
tation, when there was SO much talk in
the papers about their outrages, a man
offered to exhibit himself as tarred
and feathered victim just returned from
the west, and we let him do it. More
over, the public encouraged him to do
it, for they cane in f1ccl,s to see him.
The tattooed woman who was paid 500
a day was tattooed right here in New
York, but the work was ma1velously
we'll done, and the fairy tale about her,
as told by the Snowman, only height
ened the crowds interest and harmed
nobody. She was represented i'll the
story as having been stranded on one of
the Sandwich islands, shipwrecked,
with her husband, who was put to death.
Her life was spared, but she was put to
torture, having these extraordinary char
acters tattooed all over her body. There
were from 500 to 700 people at each
one of the 81 daily performances at
which that tattooed woman was exhib-
tied, and all were pleased at the show,
for which they paid 10 cents.
"Do many of these freaks, remark
able for various reasons, get fine sala-
| ries?"
Indeed they do. We paid a certain
midget 800 week. Her father and
the family travelled with her, and got
rich out of it. Then that wonderful
| Oregon horse with the trailing name
and tail was paid 5000 week for sew.
eral months The two headed negro
+
I could mention any number of cele-
brated freaks who have profted finan.
cially.
Each day we get letters from al
over the country-all over the world
Offering us freaks Of nature. This one
sends a photograph of sheep having g
! fifth leg and hoof growing out of his
shoulder. This one sends cow with g
| horn projecting from her back. Here is
/ letter from handless man i'll West
Virginia. He writes with his toes and
writes very good letter.
That box of photographs unearthed
from little used recesscs to refresh the
Snowman s mind What galaxy, not
of beauty, but of the bizarre and the
I grotesque! Bearded women taken in
decollete gowns, their masculine faces
in revolving contrast to the feminine
neck and arms; men without legs OF
arms; tremendously fat men, and men
so thin that they were photographed
prone upon couch, limp and helpless
men who had starved themselves in Or
der to live. The strong woman is there,
and her remarkable sister, with veri-
table horses name growing upon her
back.
"That was clever scheme this fell
low DEVISED" said the Snowman, ad-
justlng his glasses so as to view like
ness. HE represented himself as hay
ing a gunshot wound through and
through the body, and then he fixed up
an optical delusion apparatus which
made it appear that people could look
straight through him. We displayed a
colored photograph at the back, and the
people could see that picture on the
other side of the man. You have no
idea what furore there was about it..
That was down on the Bowery. Every
body wanted to look through the man
with the gunshot wound. Then, finding
that the man was such bowling sue
cess woman fixed herself up as having
been speared through the body with her
husbands bayonet, the victim of cruel
ty and brutality. We fixed it for the
crowd to look through her, and she was
no end of success. She stood there
surrounded by red curtains with pa
thetic, rapt look on her face, and the
people couldn't get enough of looking
through her at the bouquet of flowers
displayed at her back.
people will delight in signs and
wonders as long as the world endures, !"
added the Snowman, "and just so long
will scientists and magicians cater to
their desires. In Paris there is an in
stitution where infants are made into
freaks as Systematically as -four is made
into bread. Those in charge are skillful
physicians, it is said, who know just
h0x fhn 1,r