Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1896-10-21
SOMETHING OF A HUMBUG.

of today began to show decentralization
with the first appearance of the billposter
remained "good" for a full month in
hopes of trying to coax their daddies out
of so cents by show day, and broke their
arms and legs for weeks afterward trying
to initiate the daring feats performed with
apparent ease by the circus riders, Old
John Robinson had the reputation in this
section of being at the head Of one of the
best shows travelling.
The advent of bill posters some weeks
ago advertising John Robinson and
Franklin Bros.' shows, aroused the same
old feeling so we'll known t0 all. The
poster papers helped spread the news and
the newspapers also assisted. But in this
special cases it is not improbable that the
big show could have been advertised
without either of these agencies. For
don't all the members of the older gene
ration remember Old John Robinson, and
have they not told the boys and girls
growing up about him? His name has
ever been a guarantee Of great enter
tainment, and when his show was here
last in 1889, it was fully up to the standard.
Then, when the word went out that add
ed to their big show there was another
that of Franklin Bros.-equally as large,
is it surprising that the news scraped the
whole country as with fine tooth comb ?
At any rate, the people came. They
came from the north, the south, the east
and the west, on the trains, in buggies and
carriages, on horseback and on foot. They
came in such numbers that the Oldest in
habitant does not remember to have ever
before seen such a large crowd In the
town. 1t is not often that big show like
this comes through this section, and all
the show-going population was determin-
ed to take advantage Of the opportunity
to see it.
The show came. The tents were put up.
They were not quite 80 large or numer-
Gus as the advertisement on the show bills
led the people to expect; but they were so
much larger and more numerous than
any other show had ever pitched here be-
fore, that there was little cause to notice
the discrepancy. Next came the pa
rade. 1t was also a big thing. There
were only two elephants, where the ad-
vertisement called for whole herd.
There was no horseless carriage, as adver-
tised but there was a steam piano, one
big band and part of another, and
numerous cages of wild animals. Some
were closed and others were open. In
many respects the parade was disap-
pointing but still, as compared with 9TH
or parades, it was big thing, and the
people still had no cause to suspect that
they were about to be duped.
Next came the performance. The big
tent was packed with people. Just how
many were there is difficult to estimate.
1t is not likely that the number was less
than 1000. Here was noticed another
discrepancy. On the showbills and in
the newspapers, the circus people had
advertised three rings. There were only
two. 1t pretty soon developed that there
was really no use for more than one.
There was some very good riding, on fat,
sluggish horses. and some very difficult
feats were performed on an aerial trapeze.
The clowns got off the usual stereotyped
Jokes that were in vogue when John
Robinson first went into the show busi-