The evening times., 1895-12-21
REFUGE1NT THE BEAR'sCAGE.
Circus Man who Was Pursued by Ne
yroes He Had Deceived.
New York Sun

.Iwas out with the red wagons from 1870
until 1890" said a old circus man., and
during that time Travelled over all the dii-
ferent circuits in the South and west.
There was one trip we made that Will
never forget. and somewhere In the South
there mu ST be a few hundred negroes still
alive who will never forget IL either
1T was back in '76 and we were running
what is known as steamboat circus Tnat
is, we loaded all our paraphernaiia on
steamboat and steamed down the Missls-
sippi River. stopping at small Towns, VII
lages. bamlets, and even little settlements
OF four and five houses. In fact. we would
make a landing at any point where there
seemed to be any chance of fair audience,
and what money the show didn't get the
shell and card men who accompanied us
were sure to rope in.
We had IL man with US named Mack,
Aleck Mack. He was an old gold hunter
and circus man, and knew the business from
A to z. He could tumble, ride bareback, do
a comic turn, swing on i trapezc or work
the cards or shells like an expert, and, in
fact, was an extraordinary man in every
way and n useful man for circus as you
can imagine. 1t was down in Louisiana, at
place called Bayou La rouche, that Mack
worked the game which made tnat trip
memorable. It's wild country al through
there, or was then, and one rarely runs
the most superstitiuos class of colCred peo-
pie at that. I never could make out where
they all came from, but just as soon as we'd
make Il landing they'd come flocking out
of the woods, three and four on Il sigeul
mule and dozens on foot
THE show had been doing poorly for
some weeks, and we We're short OF money,
when Mack suggested Il scheme which he
said might bring N Il few hundred dollars
He got a chunk of iron ore out of the
ballast box ofthc boat, covered il carefully
with a bit of spotless canvas, and when
the negroes flocked about us at Bayou La
Fourche. circulated report among them
that we had marvellous loadStone aboard.
1T had come down from the heavens
In the midst of a terrific storm a week
before, he said, and had been picked up by
the circus hands. Well, sir, you never
saw such an excited lot of colored people
in your life. A loadstone is full of luck
IN the mind of a Louisiana negro, and
nothing would do but what they must see
Mack's treasure. Well, We showed it to
them, and they examined IL with great
reverence, and snapped at his offer to sell
them bits of il for % and 80 cents,
according 10 size.
For two days we laid off at Bayou La
Fourche, while Mack chipped off bits of
the ore and sold it 10 the negroes and
when we finally packed up and left we had
about SoOo or the peoples money, which
they had exchanged for bits of the balla ST.
We Uever found out how the negroes dis
covered the swindle. bat they did. and a
lot OF them swore to have Mack's life
They followed the show for nearly two
weeks, and the only way that we could
insure Mack's safety was to put him in the
bear cage every time we landed. The bears
~wcre tame enough but entirely too friendly,
and they made life miserable for the poor
man while they had him in the cage. We
finally got out of the country and into