Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1899-01-19
AN OLD CIRCUS MANS STORY
He Tells How They Found a Place in
Which to Bury tho Great Giant.

Which to Bury tho Great Giant.
Il never told you the exact height
of the great giant-whats the use"
said the old circus man. "You wouldn't
believe 1t If l did; as I've said before
it would only make you disbelieve
what l do tell you about him, and
what's the use? But you can form
some sort of an idea about it if from
these things that I've told you and
from what I'm going TO tell you now
about his death and burial, because in
the course Of time lie died
I'VE were under canvas then, show
ing three times q day. and moving
ourselves, and we were tolerable busy,
and we really hadn't time to give at
tention as we ought to the burying of
what had been, after the great giraffe,
our very greatest attraction. The dig
ging of grave for him would have
been like digging the foundations for
several houses in row and would
have taken lots of time, and the mere
cost of the land would be considerable.
We'll, as usual the old mans horse
sense came to the rescue. In looking
around for forage when he struck the
town he had discovered the bed of an
abandoned canal, that they'd stopped
using when the railroad was built.
This old canal ran through the edge of
mans farm there, and the land was
no use to anybody. 1t didn pay to
plough it because it wasn't worth the
time and trouble ii would take to get
horses and plougns up and down the
bank, and it wasn't any good for any
thing; and the old man bought strip
of that land along there, n few acres
of II pnnnVl for n lnt FOR tha
giant, for next to nothing. So you see
there we were, with the land bought
and the grave dug at very small ex-
pense and practically in minute.
1--WE laid the giant down in the sec
ton of the canal we had bought, and
hauled earth from the rest Of the piece
to cover him up-the old man was wise
enough of course to buy land enough
to provide for that. When the mound
was rounded up in proper shape and
due proportions 1t made quite a ridge:
it was fiat country round there, and
you could see this ridge for quite
piece.
"Of course the old man put up
headstone, and it was much the biggest
| ever saw, and quite different from
any l ever saw-it was built of brick.
The old man hired all the men that
could work on it, and they put in
foundation ana built the headstone in
half day. 1t was something like the
side of brick house for general di-
mensions, only it was very much thick
er and tombstone-like In shape, and at
a little distance in the level country
the ridge with the great stone at one
end of 1t looked like what it was, the
grave of a mighty giant.
And so we left him secure in mem
ory, as we thought with the inscrip-
tion we had put on the headstone, but
a great storm came up before the NOR
tar had set and blew the headstone
down, and there it lay simply scat
tering pile of brick. But the mound
remained, as it still does; l saw it there
only year ago when passed through
that country. But with nothing to
mark it. exact knowledge of it gradual
ly faded, and even tradition had grown
indistinct, and the great mound had
come finally to be known simply as the
giants hill'