The Portland daily press., 1897-10-28
TO MAKE BRITAIN STARE.
Gigantic Preparations for Barnum q Rail.
ey's Trip.
IN. Y. LonrnalA

| IN. Y. Journal.)
bour Dig ocean steamships were re :.
CURED 70 carry across to England only so
muoh OF the Barnum g Bailey show as
was to be used in the one winter season
OF o9-'9o. Now the entire show is going
over Ior 1t is to remain in Great Britain
TWO years, and possibly an additional
!ear or TWO on the Continent Conse-
quently, It's moving is one that may well
call the British LIONS attention. and fix
~ WIN amazed concern upon the doings
VI ohe American Eagle. Nearly all the
Thousand employees who are to be taken
over will be carried on passenger steam
| ers, and the last OF them will have taken
their departure on November 10. ''Tody"
Hamilton sails October 26. But of the
material of circus and menagerie there is
SO much that 1t loads to their utmost Ca
pacity i've Of the largest freight steamers
af1oat. These will be sent off as rapidly
as possible, the .last-scheduled for Nov.
12-taking the menagerie and horses.
making all the past summer. Reserve
cages and wagons at Bridgeport have
been cut down and rebuilt to exact di-
mansions fitting them for railway trans
portation in England, and like changes
have been steadily going on in adaptation
of the cages actually in use during the
tenting season. The English railway
tunnels and bridges are lower than ours,
which necessitates all this work At the
same time large. force of costumers have
been constantly employed making three
complete sets of new costumes Of the most
gorgeous and costly kind, for all the per-
formers, attendants. ushers and others
connected with the show. Even yet forty
seamstresses are engaged in this work.
And all this is in addition to the oos-
TUNES for twelve hundred persons, who
are to appear in the great spectacle of
"The Mahdi," which will be produced In
London. Those are now in process of
construction on the other side.
New harness and trappings for four hun
dred horses and vast quantity of new
paraphernalia, properties and appliances
for the ring performances are made and
ready for shipment. And another tre-
mendoas item in the list of new pro-
visions is the outfit of tens-twenty of
the None Of which will be the largest
ever seen anywhere. The Olympia, in
VIII ioh the show will appear in London,
is at least one-third larger than Madison
Gnnara Crar1ap ard hoo ate xQn f,n%
| long by so feet in depth. 1.-THE Mahdi"
being gotten up on scale suitable for
that gigantic stage, the tent in which the
| spectacle, with the rest of the show, will
be presented after the London season,
must necessarily be of size to accommo-
date it. So it is sos feet long by 21o feet
wide. No such tremendous structure of
canvas has ever been reared before. 1t
will not only have space along one side
for that huge stage, but will seat IA, COO
| persons, and present an arena large
| enough for the long line Of rings and
stages to which the patrons of the big
show are accustomed, and hippodrome
course surrounding them, on which three
chariots. with four horses harnessed
| abreast to each, may be driven side by
for that big tent, are made here. Then
there will be menagerie tent 1856 feet
long by 1876 feet wide two horse tents,
one 2S5x140 feet, the other 285xi40; "side
show" tent and "curiosities'' tent, each
l60x6O feet; cooking and dining tent,
1s0x95 fact; blacksmith tent, dressing
room tent, 15Ox60; wardrobe tent, bar
bers tent, public refreshments tent, &C..
twenty in Additionally canvas city.
The magical celebrity with which this city
springs into being, the overwhelming
magnitude Of ii when erected, and the
suddenness with which 1t is made to van
ish, will undoubtedly amaze the people
thing at all pToximating to 1t. And q
chow that travels by rail will be another
startling novelty for them.
The firm of William Henshaw Co., Of
Stoke-on- Trent. have constructed an en-
tire new railway outfit for the Barn um &
Bailey show, consisting of sixty splendid
cars, each from 81 to 80 feet long, and
these will be suited for use on any OF the
railways of Europe except those of Rus
STA, whore Ia different gauge is main
tanned as q precaution against the posi-
bility Of invasion by rail with the rolling
| stock of other countries. The building Of
these sixty cars and the erection of perm
anent winter quarters at Stoke-on- Trent
| where a series of buildings $40 feet Iona
gether cost Mr.. ]. A. Bailey little over
$40 600.
! All the printing for use in England has
been done by the Stobridge and Buffalo
Courier companies, and amounts to about
| $500, 000-so much of 1t at least as will he
| taken along now. Two or three times as
much more will be required by and by
MS the present. stock Is used, and all will
be obtained In this country Small house
bills, programmes and such comnarat,vo-
" unimportant work may be procured in
England, but such great colored posters
as this show employees could not be got
over there, and the display 1t makes Will
be as much surprise to English color
printers as to the general public
Taking into account the $l0O, 200 nee.
essary for expenditure in fitting up the
Olympia for the extraordinary REQUIRE
ments of "the big show the outlay for
printing, new costumes, trappings
| tents, cages, wagons cars, winter quart.
ers, etc., the Investment actually made
tn transferring this show to London-not
including whatever the cost Of the stu
pendous Mahdi" spectacle may be-