The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-06-11
FREAKS WE'LL PAID
LARGE SUMS ARE RECEIVED BY
SOME OF THE ABNORMAL
BEINGS
CARDS OF THE DIME MUSEUMS

CARDS OF THE DIME MUSEUMS
The Highest Priced Freaks Ever
shown in This Country Were the
TOcci Twins, Who Received
Nearly Thousand Dollars
Week-Two Wild Men of Borneo
and Big-FoOted Woman.
''What would you consider a good sal
airy for a first-class freak?' was asked re-
Gently of a number of persons, and In an
sWer one guessed Sc q week, one SIS, one
$50, and one, whose guess was thought by
the others to be out of reason, 500. This
is fair illustrator of the opinion of
those members of the public who have
any such opinion about the value of
really star freak, while, as a matter of
fact, the weekly salary of such an attrac-
ton ranges from $3.50 to 5000 week.
Equally vague are most persons ideas
about the lives of freaks outside Of the
museum. Who they are, where they
come from and where they go are ques-
tons about which most people never
bother themselves; yet some interesting
stories are found in the lives Of these peo-
ple-stories of a change from lives of the
most abject poverty to that of compare
tive wealth, and from objects of pity, and
in many cases. contumely, to a position In
! which they are able to dictate terms to
successful business men and to feel the
power that money always gives.
COME HIGH.
Freaks are the cards on which a wide
awake dime museum manager wins or
| loses. This is not because a great deal
of money is made from them, the contra :
ry being the case when the freak in ques-
ton has become standard attraction and
commands a large salary. In this case,
with the extra expenses in advertising
and proviCinS special surroundings the
cost of the attraction runs up to some
! thing ike 81 ,2CG week, and after this is
paid there is little left from the extra re,
! ceipts. But the public Is so skeptical of
| everything shown at a dime museum that.
! unless a number of these standard attrac-
lions is shown every year, the attendance
| will fall off,
1t is in the discovery and presentation
! of entirely new freaks that the money and
the glory lie, for when one of these is
| shown at a museum it not only greatly
| increases its reputation, but is a source Of
| large profit, for few freaks have at first
any idea of their value, and they can usu-
ally be engaged for comparatively small
salary. For this reason the manager of
one of the large museums will travel al
most any distance and go to almost any
amount of trouble to secure genuine
novelty in this line-the. more so as new
| freaks are becoming rarer and rarer every
| year.
Freaks are, as a rule, persons of a quiet
and retiring disposition which is proba-
bly, due to the fact that almost all Of
them come from country places This
| seems rather strange, the popular Idea
| being that life in the city is not SO whole
some as that in the country, and that the
! former ought to result in more distorted
forms IF life 1t is also true that nearly
all of them have gone back to the coun-
try, usually to the places from which
they came, where thay- enjoy the promi-
nence that their rise in life has given
| them among their old neighbors Many,
! after making a comfortable competence,
spend nearly all the time in these coun-
| try places, leaving them perhaps for oney
/ two or three weeks in the year as much
| to CRAFTY a desire to see aslittle of city
| life for a while as from any wish for gain.
Even for so short time as this, how
| ever, some of them will not leave their
homes, and none of them will do 80 at
all unless they get their own price.
THE WILD MEN OF BORNEO.
Perhaps the best known freaks in this
country are the wild men of Borneo who
We're brought here nearly fifty years ago
! In the interim between that time and the
present they have rolled up fortunes for
| several persons who have exhibited them,
| and lived to see most of them dead and
buried. AS nearly as can be ascertained
hay WAR hrnt1 cl, To ,fr,ro hon
| 1856 by Capt. Hammond, who found
| them on one of the small islands in the
| Pacific. He called then, the wild men Of
| Eorneo because every one was acquaint-
ed with Borneo as the largest island in
the world. Capt. Hammond died and they
/ were taken charge of by Henry Harvey
| OF Boston. After MS decease H. A. War
FER, of Waltham, Mass took them and he
has now become blind from age, so that
his son Ernest has to take them on the
road, although they still live with his
father In spite of their age the little
fellows are as cheerful and full of life
as when they first came to this country
Their eyes are bright their hair shows
no signs of gray, and the only signs Of
approaching old age are a slight deafness
and elimination of their enormous
strength. When they were in their prime
one of them could lift two good-sized
men with ease, although they stand only
three feet in height and weigh but forty
five pounds. Even now they are extreme
ly strong and active, but do not lift these
great weights, while their whole life is
much more quiet than it used to be.
When they were first brought out they
created tremendous sensation, and We're
shown all over the country at a salary
of $500 to $500 q week. At that salary
they had continuous engagements, run
ming two or three weeks IN one town and
then going directly to another engage
ment. Now, however, they have become
SO well known that they do not command
much of salary, and Mr.. Warner will
not take them on the road for a small
one.
They have a pleasant life at Mr.. War
ner's fine place, where they have the best
Of care and are given about everything
that they want. Their desires are few
and simple, and they seem to find the
most enjoyment in helping to take care
Of the place.
Although they seem so bright and quick
| they have never mastered the English
| language, but understand simple things
that Mr.. Warner says to them. In speak
| ing to strangers they converse almost en-
tirely by sign language, but they have a