Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-01-04
MONEY IN FREAKS.
Public Interest In Such Exhibitions
Is Lively and Exha ustless.


Is Lively and Exha ustless.
From the New York Tribune.
ANY one who has remarked the grega-
rious element in human nature. which
makes every one eager to sec what the
other has seen, will not marvel at the sue
cess which notoriety has attained in the
show business" said the manager of a pop
ular museum.
''Notoriety, no matter how and where OBJ
tained. Is just Sc much stock In trade. and
people in our line of work are willing to
pay any price for 1t. To make no account
of the money value of the advertisement,
they are delighted to know that they are
being talked about and speculated about.
ard to see their names in the newspapers.
You see how high that dome is?" he con-
tinued, pointing to the arched space far
above the ropes and bars stretched across
for acrobatic performances. well, man
est point down to the floor. 50 as to make
a name for himself. 1t would have been
certain death. you know, to attempt II, but
he said he 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. That was the motive that prompted
the woman bridge jumper the other day,
and now, whether she jumped or didn't,
she Is equally notorious, and people would
go much out of their way to see her.
Anyway, we business people see that
the people crave amusement Of this kind,
and We are delighted to crafty them.
AT the time OF the 'whitecap agitation,
when there was so much talk in the papers
about their outrages. a man offered to ex-
hibit himself as tarred and feathered VIC
tim just returned from the west, and We
let him do 1t. Moreover the public en-
couraged him to do 1t. for they came In
hocks to see him. The tattooed woman,
who was paid 800 q day, was tattooed
right here in New York. but the work was
marvelously well done, and the fairy tale
about her. as told by the Snowman, only
heightened the crowds interest and harmed
nobody. She was represented in the story
as having been stranded in 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 characters
from 800 to 100 people at each one of the
twenty-one performances at which that
tattooed woman was exhibited, and all
were pleased at the show, for which they
paid 10 cents"
do many of these freaks. remarkable
for various reasons, get fine salaries?'
Indeed they do. We paid a certain
midget 500 a week. Her father and the
family travelled with her and got rich out
of 1t. Then that wonderful Oregon horse,
with the trailing name and tail, was paid
800 week for several months. The two
headed negro girl or girls, has made for
tune and / could mention any number of
celebrated freaks who have prof1ted finan-
efally.
Each day we get letters from all over
the country-and all over the world-offer-
ing us freaks of nature. This one sends
photograph of a sheep having fifth leg
and hoofs growing out of its shoulder. This
one sends a COW with a horn projecting
from her back. Here is letter from q
handless man in West Virginia He writes
with his toes, and writes very good let
ter. He is gentleman, / judge, from the
tone of the letter and the picture. He Is
undecided whether to exhibit or not, which,
of course, means that he does not know
whether we will pay him enough Talent,
even genius, doesn't command the high
prices which these fortunately unfortunate
freaks can secure.
THAT was a clever scheme this fellow
devised" said the Snowman, adjusting his
glasses SO as to view a likeness. HE rep
resented himself as having a gunshot
wound through and through the body, and
then he fixed up optical illusion appa-
ratus which made 1t appear that people
could look straight through him. We dis
played a colored photograph at the back,
and the people could see that picture on
the other side of the man. You have no
That was down on the Bowery. Everybody
wanted to look through the man with the
gunshot wound. Then, finding that the
man was such bowling success. woman
fixed herself as having been speared
through the body with her husbands bay
onet, the victim Of cruelty and brutality.
We fixed 1t for the crowd to look through
her, and she was no end of q success. She
stood there. surrounded by red curtains,
with pathetic, wrapt look on her face,
and the people couldn't get enough of look
ing through her at the bouquet of flowers
displayed at her back