The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-08-31

In a former day the circus man was
looked upon as the victim of prodig1ous.
unremitting and fatal industry. Popular
belief attached to the figure Of dingy
brilliance on the circus wagon in the
wide-awake morning parade, the further
duty of putting I'D the tent in the morn
ing. feeding the lions and during the luil
in the afternoon selling lemonade, load
ing up at night and sleeping on the
cushfony and resilient couch made Of a
load of poles.
In former times that happened to DO
largely true It isn't now.
The circus man is worked no harder
than any other we'll paid laborer.. There
is a general manager of the Wallace
shows and under him executives and
under them bosses. Among them is a
boss canvasman. The boss canvasman
has in charge the men who put up the
tent and take it down. There is an over
seer for the menagerie, supervisor for
the horses, a man in charge of unload
ing, a boss of the kitchen and dining
room.
Yesterday morning when the Wallace
shows, with their long sixty-foot cars
arrived in Wichita every man belonging
to the great affair was comfortably in
bed. for all have berths. The men who
climbed out of bed early here were only
those who had the business of unload
tendence of one man, and his subordi-
mates are known as razor backs" Here
in parenthesis let that be explained. The
long slides by which wagons are taken
from cars, in the old days were placed
in position by putting a number Of these
men under one and having them raise
it, the overseer crying RAISE yer backs
from which their present designation.
Each driver in the Wallace shows has two
teams of horses to take care Of. Where
four pairs of horses are necessary to
draw a canvas wagon or a chariot the
driver has a helper. AS soon as the wag-
on has reached the ground the driver
is on hand with his horses and seeing
his number among the wagons hooks on
to it and starts for the grounds. He
makes two trips. He keeps his wagon in
shipshape, enters the parade and does
not figure in the huge performance again
until night, when he takes his wagons
bdCh " Inc u dilA- llihdSSlJ III N',"O
does not become bondage and on the
whole his task is easier than that Of
the teamster in regular lines. In the
meantime the boss canvasman has his
small army on the ground and is putting
up the canvas. The canvas up and in
place the duties Of this wheel within the
bigger wheels of theWallace circus cease
until night The executive in charge Of
the menagerie Is next in action. He,
with assistants, watches the animals
with solicitude, and as elephants are be
coming yearly more scarce, 1t IS his
bounden duty to escort those fop-eared.
negligee-skinned beasts to and from the
train. His task, while a responsible one,
is not consumptive of nerve force or ad-
ipose tissue.
There is a circus physician, who is
leisurely gentleman always hopeful that
he will not be called upon; a veterinary;
a. financial man who handles the money,
the cash of the day being carried over to
meet the bills of the next; a press agent
full Of big words and always aglow with
enthusiasm for his show. And then all
the performers.
Under the precise mechanism Of a cir
Gus organized like Walace's, each man
has his place, and he is not overworked.
Their eyes soon become blind to the
faunt and fiirt of flag and pennant and
their ears deaf to the rattle and bang and
clatter of a town stirred out of its
quietude Each knows his part, knows it
perfectly, is keyed to begin it, satisfied
when he has completed it. No one is
overworked, because every cam and pis-
ton and eccentric, every valve and spring
and lever of this gigantic machine IS
each performing its function without
shrinking.
The thing which appeals to one most
strongly is the fact that behind it all and
through it all is the domination of one
executive mind which holds every part
of its Office and restricts and propels its
motion as strictly as chilled steel and
double bolts This mind is Mr.. Wallce
himself. Sixteen years ago he was run
ming a livery stable in Peru. Indiana A
struggling circus, vending It's uncertain
way overland, stranded in that town. He
had horses and helped them on their
way. Later they stranded again. The
affair was sold at auction Wallace
bought it in and put it in loft. Later
he secured another circus. Then he start
ed out. He had an overland circus,
weighing, hobbing affair that existed
from town 10 town. But there was an
executive mind hammering this little pro-
cession into shape. There was a master
hand saving the pennies. Year by year
the procession became longer; soon a few
cars were secured and the country roads
knew it no more. Soon, under a mind
that worked with it by day and night. it
was on the highway to success. Then
came the era of 60-foot cars. the era of
expensive beasts, fortunes tied up in the
rhinoceros and the giraffe. And so it
goes through the country. a perfectly
moving machine. the result, not of op-
portunity, luck, or fancying fortune. but
the product of a single mind, whose pas
sion It is and whose purpose It is to keep
it rolling in cumulative accretions until
it now stands in the world the biggest.
best show that ever whirled its glttering
heart of go1 and fire and tinsel before
the eyes of a fascinated public
RESlll 7 OF AMI 0EAI