Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1900-04-18
VOICE OF THE SbLI|OPE
Will BE ABROAD IN THE LAND
TOMORROW HERALDING THE
COMING OF THE CIRCUS.
R1NGLING BROS. WILL OPEN
Thefr Season with Afternoon and
Night Exhibition ON the Old Fair
Grounds-Rehearsals Are i'm Pro-
gress Daily-Everything in Excel
lent Shape for the Opening-Some
of the Novel Features.

The gladstone voice of the steam
calliope will be heard in the land to-
morrow when at 10 o'clock the big
| street parade of the Ringing Bros.
| circus leaves the show grounds on its
tour of the city.
In the afternoon the thousands of
Wheeling people who have been wait
| ing impatiently for the opening of this
the greatest of all shows will be given
an opportunity of witnessing a per-
Torrance never before equaled by any
show.
Last night another dress rehearsal
was held and every act went as
smoothly as could be desired if the
great tent were filled.
The Ringing brothers have, without
exception, the largest menagerie ever
brought together, many of their ami
mails being the only ones of their kind
ever exhibited in this country. Two
wart hogs, which until last winter,
roamed at will through African jung
les, will display their ugliness to the
public for the first time Thursday.
Black Drill, a monster Balloon, will
be one of the stars of the animal tent.
Drill is really too intelligent to be
classed with his tribe, yet hardly adj
| vanced enough to be admitted as a cit
izen. Because of his superiority he
has a conspicuous place at n end
of the tent. An immense herd of ele-
| plants, horses without number, edu-
Gated pigs, a benign looking hippopot-
| anus, a barrel of monkeys, two tiny
leopard cubs, kangaroos, strange birds
| and a host of other creatures now
have their places at the canvas city,
| and everyone of them from the os-
trich to the laughing hyena looks as
clipper as a sparrow.
A newspaper man, who was piloted
through the animal tent yesterday by
one of the keepers, saw enough and
heard enough to write a natural his
tory, could he but remember it all.
Jack, a big lion with soft eyes and
| yellow whiskers, dimes on the fat of
the land and as a result, the keeper
says, he suffers occasionally with
| govt. He is always good natured, ex-
cept when hungry, at which times he
begins an impatient growl in G minor
which would smother the noise of a
mountain avalanche. Armed with a
bone left over from his last meal he
beats a tattoo on the floor of his cage
until fed so regularly, three times a
day, does this pounding occur that
the canvass men and other workers
around the show reckon time by it, as
sailors do the bells. on ship board.
The keeper declared yesterday that
animals had their distinctive individ-
ualities just as human beings do.
Take our lions for instance" said
he, some of them are eccentric, some
of even temperature and others even
cranks on some subjects. This is also
the case with other animals. Why,
we have a performing tiger that is
actually superstitious. If he sees a
cross-eyed man in town he refuses to
go in the parade.
THAT big elephant at the other end
of the tent is afraid of a mouse, but
enjoys getting out in a lightning
storm. The hippopotamus has a way
of making a peculiar noise and every
time it does know it is going to rain.
1t has never made a mistake yet"
Tomorrow morning at s o'clock the
downtown ticket Office will be opened
at Banner Co.'S piano store. Reserv-
ed seats and admissions can be bought
there all day at exactly the same
price as on the show grounds.