Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-09-05
CIRCUS DREW BIG CROWDS.
All Were Pleased With the Excellent
Performances.

1t is estimated that about thirteen thou
sand people witnessed the two perform
ances given by the Wallace circus at the
exhibition grounds at North Capitol and NJ
streets yesterday. The big tent in which
the performance is given seats over six
thousand, and at each performance the
doors We're ordered closed fully fifteen min
utes before the time scheduled for the show
to begin. Last night the ticket office was
opened at 10 o'clock, and by quarter to
S nearly seven thousand tickets had been
disposed Of a tremendous amount of work
in half hour. 1t took a big force of
policemen to keep the main entrance clear,
but the protection afforded was excellent
and those that had tickets had no difficulty
in making their way into the tents. The
less fortunate ones who came too late or
who were crowded away from the ticket
office could only stand outside and watch
their luckier brethren file past the ticket
takers into the realm of the elephant and
the monkey. There were fully four or five
times many people outside the big tents
at both performances as there were inside,
and had the seating capacity of the main
tent been sufficient, the Wallace circus
could easily have broken all records for
Washington.
But what is more to the point, the circus
deserved all this heavy patronage, and
hardly one out of the vast crowds that
visited the vicinity of North Capitol and M
except, of course. those who did not even
get into the animal tent. Everything in
the show is of the very best. The acrobats,
ground and lofty tumblers. the horizontal
bar experts. the bareback riders, contor-
tionists. Japanese equiltbrists. high and low
wire artists, and. in fact, all the performers
that had place on the program, were
above the average of tho ordinary circus,
and their feats led one to suppose that the
vaunted daily expense account Of the Wal
lace AGGREGATION O,..rH ~ q
Added to the human talent. the educated
horses, dogs and doves and ,naIy unique
features introduced in the way Of races
and the antics of d superior corps OF ciu,v;.s
filled out a show that can trut!:fulIy be
designated as one Of ths best that has boeri
served up to the citizens Of the national
capital for many years.
The show began with The customary par
AIDE, followed by some very clever living
pictures in the way of groups impersonat-
ing famous bits OF sculpture, number of
the effects being of high order of merit
and inducing enthusiastic applause. Fol-
lowing this came a number of acroba tic
turns among which the Livngstones, one
of the cleverest teams on the horizontal
bars seen in this city; the Stirk family of
bicycle riders; Eddie Pinard, the tramp BIZ
cycilst; Mile. Norda French and her SEN
sational rolling ball; the five Vartex sisters
on the Ferris wheel Miss Inez Palmer,
strong woman, and Miss Emma Donovan,
| flying rings deserve special mention. Nine
Nelson gave an e&nlpltlon with trained
| dogs and doves that attracted considerable
attention, while there were numerous other
| turns, each one meritorious In its way.
| The Nelson family. however. made the
| greatest hit, and they deserved the en-
thuSiaStic applause that greeted their an
pearance and followed them from the stage.
| They nine in number, from Nelson him
| self down to a little girl hardly five or six
years old, but who is an accomplished aero
bat, as is every member of the family.
| They performed some Embarrassing feats
| with the children, juggling them the Chi
nese performers did their barrels with the
feet. until it seemed as though the young
| sters were utterly devoid of feeling or
bones. Their act is a wonderful one.
The performance wound up with the Gus
| tomary hppodrome races. which We're run
| in a spirited manner and served to bring
| the show to a close in a burst of enthusi-
| asm- Following the regular performance, a
| concert was given. which induced many In
] the vast audience to remain.