The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-01-17
RICE TELLS CIRCUS SECRETS.
TIE IRISH STRONG MAN AND HIS
CANNON BALLS OF INFLATED
RUBBER
The Fake Bear That DranIS-sho,vs
Are Troubled with HoOdOos-A
Red-Hcaded Girl in the Company
Always Brings Luck, However.


There are tricks in all trades. and I
suppose the circus business is included in
the category, said Dan Rice, the veteran
clown and Snowman. In all my career l
guarded against impostures and fraud of
all kinds, well knowing that l had a rep
| utation to maintain, but in spite of all
my strenuous efforts. my agents would
| occasionally trick me and succeed In clev-
erly humbugging the American public
which, as all showmen know loves to be
humbugged. One instance of the kind in
particular occurs to my mind.
1t was while playing the eastern states
in the early sos that l picked up Bin Tur-
ner who, l am safe in saying, was the
| shrewdest Snowman 1 ever saw. but he
was interruptions and as ingenious as he
was INSCRIPTIONS. Bill was a likely
| looking young Yankee, smart and active
and quickly rose from one position to an
other until he became assistant manager
of my circus. AT Newburyport, Mass
signor Gustivo the Italian Samson other
wise Bill Smith OF BENEFITS Mills. New
| Jersey who had been astonishing circus
goers by his prodigious feats of strength,
got angry at something and deserted the
show.
That put me in a serious predicament
for be had been widely advertised, and
had no one to take his place. 1t was at
| that juncture that Bill Turner appeared
and sought an interview with me at my
hotel which ended in my engaging at 500
a week Don Sebastian, the Spanish man
OF iron, whose speciality was toying with
| large cannon balls
Turner was engaged at a moderate sal
airy as attendant upon Don Sebastian
who was as bright a looking Irishman as
ever saw. The engagement began al an
afternoon performance, when it took four
men to carry Sebastians chest, contain
ing four cannon balls, into the ring. The
ringmaster announced the performance
| of a few feats of strength and endurance
by the strongest man in the world who
handled cannon balls of 800 pounds
| weight as easily as a lady could handle
| balls of yarn. Sebastian picked up the
balls from the chest and laid them with
| a deep, duh thud upon the platform.
| Then he placed a ball upon each Shout
| der, where he balanced 1t. while he light
ly tossed a third to the top of the tent
and gracefully caught it in its descent.
The audience went wild over his per-
| Torrance, and manifested their enthusi-
astic appreciation in a tremendous out
burst of applause as he ran lightly from
| 1
his success.
Don Sebastian proved to be one of the
| strong drawing cards of my circus for
| several weeks when to my surprise /
one day noticed that when he laid the
balls upon the platform the sound of
| their fall did not ring out until sus-
| piciously long time afterwards. l at once
realized that there was fraud concealed
in the strong mans performance; the
| therefore unriValed reputation of my cir
Gus was at stake, and so at once quietly
began an investigation, with the result
that the Spanish iron man was satisfac-
toriy proven to be a rank fraud.
The cannon balls proved to be made of
rubber and were inflated with air like
foot balls. The dull, deep thud which re-
sounded when the balls touched the plat
form were made with heavy hammer
in the hands of an accomplice behind the
| curtain. l felt outraged at the deception
and sorry for the duped public, and haul
ed Turner vigorously over the Goals,
while Don Sebastian was reduced in
rank and made a candy butcher
Had l known that Turner was a party
to the deception, said the old Snowman,
earnestly, l would have Immediately dis
| charged him. In view of subsequent
events l concluded that Turner was the
leader in the iron man fraud. Upon enter
ing a Kentucky town, after few days
absence from the show. / found one OF
our most extensively advertised attrac-
tions to be the Great Hooded Python of
the Amazon, thirty-eight feet in length.
The only specimen ever in captivity" 1t
| was further represented that so powerful
and venomous was this reptile, 1t was
necessary to keep the monster constantly
under the influence of opiates. Upon en-
| tering the circus found great crowd OF
people viewing the python, which was
coled in apparently deep sumber in
| glass enclosed cage. 1t was great, loath-
some reptile, eight inches through. Tur-
ner satisfactorily accounted for its pres
ence and it drew crowds until / accident
allv discovered that it was cleverly made
| Of linsey woolsey and stuffed with saw
dust
In calmly looking back now over the
wears / can plainly see that Bill Turner
lacked conscientious scruples, SAID the
veteran clown, with smile. There was
the inebriate bear, for instance. That
was his contriyance. 1t was somewhere
in the south that l learned such a crea-
I tlre was exhibited in Dan Rice's show
and lavishly advertised as "A great anil
mated temperance lecture, approved by
pulpit and press" saw the attraction.
IL was a black bear that at every per-
Torrance waddled into the ring and drank
whisky until thoroughly intoxicated
when II would ludicrously stagger back
to its cage. one day was Mortified to hear
the drunken bear burst out with tor
rent OF profanity WHICH was IpiiOWNd ny
the maudlin singing of Landlord, Fiji
the Flowing Bowl" while the disgusting
creature was led to a cage behind the cur
tain / humbly apoiogized to the audience
and said that there was no accounting for
the work of whisky
Without delay l went behind the cur
tain. stripped the bearskin from the In
sulting drunkard and gave Ben Dole,
canvasman, the worst licking Of his life
for his part IN the most outrageous fraud
ever perpetrated upon an unsuspectinG
and gullible public. And the matter didn't
end there, Tor the newspapers got hold OF
the affair and vigorously denounced me,
and that was the first stain ever cast upon
my character as a moral Snowman.
How did you settle with Bill Turner?
Col. Rice was asked.
Discharged him at once, was the reply.
He wandered to the west and became
missionary or something or other among
the Indians. IL took me some time TO re-
cover from the ill-effects OF the nebrate
bear episode, which was one of the best
paying attractions / ever had on the road.
IL was pity that TO me was attached the