The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-05-04
YES1ERDAY,S BIC CIRCUS.
Thousands of New Haveners Saw It.
 One of the Best iM Yenrs.

l SllOWGd GU llG SIOutluS Ol lllC WCol Clli of Elm street yesterday afternoon and l last evening" gave one of the best tent 1 shows ever seen in New Haven. The l menagerie, the equestrian exhibition,
 and the other features were fully up to I what had been advertised and the eX- { cellence of the show called forth fre- l quent applause from the thousands of
 spectators. The weather, which had
 been threatening all the morning yes- | terday. cleared up about the time the parade started at 10 o'clock.
 | The parade was big one and was 1 witnessed by thousands of people who | blocked the sidewalks along every street through which it passed. It was an uncommonly interesting pageant of l gorgeous wagons, open cages of anil
 mals herd of elephants, a herd of | camels, horsemen and horsewomen in l brightly colored trappings, allegorical wagons, fooling clowns and everything else that is usually expected of circus l parade. One of the features was a | mounted band, which was good one. 1 Another feature was a wagon of l chimes.
 About noon the crowds began to
 wend circuswards and the streets lead | ing to Hamilton park were crowded. l The menagere tent containing su- l perb collection of animals was filled with people for an hour or more before
 the circus opened.
 1 There was all the circus accompani-
 ment, including an army of peanut, popcorn and lemonade vendors and the l crowd entered into the spirit of the oc-
 casion and to properly observe it patron I ized the peanut stands generously. In | the crowd was a large sprinkling of
 elderly people, and with nearly every
 one was a child which had been in- veigled into going to the show in order 1 to furnish a good excuse for the older
 members of the family. It was anus
 ing to see the family men meet each
 other. Seeing an acquaintance coming
 one of these would take on disinterest-
 ed air and begin industriously pointing
 out to the child wiSh him the things to l be seen. Meeting, the two men would | begin framing excuses for being there and the children wanted to come" was the favorite. Excuses or none, however, every one seemed to enjoy it.
 | At the circus grounds novel sight was presented, acres of white canvas, horde of circus followers, hundreds of | wagons, a large commissary department | in, full operation, all forming good sized village by itself. The greater part | of the crowd fingered a while in the | first tent to look at the animals of the menagerie. The menagerie of this show ipn nlI1 nh a "a Gnaaipc nf wild animals that have ever been made cap tive. There are tigers, lions, hyenas leopards, kangaroos bears of all kinds
 and in fact representatives of all the
 inhabitants of the jungles, the forests the ice fields, and the plains, One of the centers of attraction was the den of black tigers, said to be the only one carried by any circus The monkey cage was constantly surrounded by a crowd of children, delighted by the antics of the curious little 'simians. The opening number on the pro- gramme was brilliant introductory pageant, representing the inaugural cer- emonies of the grand fetes of ancient Olympus and closing with patriotic spectacle, '"The Last Days of the Gen. tury."
 When the circus proper opened at ? o'clock there were fully 5000 people in, the large tent In the amphitheater were three rings in which performances took place simultaneously, a comprehen- sive programme furnished gratis to the patrons, indicating what was going on in each ring Remarkably good music was furnished by the Ringing band, an aggregation of musicians probably never surpassed in excellence by any circus band, and including some of the. best bandmen in the country.
 Another feature of the show worthy of mention is the large corps of clowns, who in their horseplay furnished a deal of merriment The antics of one of these. a fine rider, with donkey kept the crowd convulsed with laughter, while the clowns burlesque of Sousas band was a side splitter.
 So excellent were all the performers that it would be almost impossible to single out any particular ones as espec- ially deserving of mention, but among the acts which caught the audience was the remarkable exhibition of trained horses by John O'Brien, the famous trained. He had 61 horses and pom ies, and put them through tricks which to the uninitiated it would seem impos- sible for a horse to learn. Then there was Lockhart's troupe of trained ee- plants, which with almost human in telligence, obeyed every command of their trainer and did some marvellous tricks, of which one of the best was the playing by the elephant band on horns, hand organs and drums. A din- ing scene in which two elephants took part, was very funny. The two bulky creatures seated at a table ate sand wiches, drank wine and milk, and rang a bell for more food.
 The trapeze performances were all good and especially commendable was the work of Miss Millie Tournone, Miss Minnie Fisher, the DaComa family.
 Another large crowd which filled the tent, witnessed the show last night.
 FATHER LEO'S CRAVE.
 A committee of the Ninth regiment, Connecticut Volunteers, consisting of Captain Lawrence O'Brien of New Ha