The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1901-06-28

1fM - ~ DAA
He replied; why. you know that
man well. lie travelled with YOU two
seasons. Come inside and talk with
him."
1 followed him. and no sooner were
we In the cage than the terrible wild
man" held out his hand 10 me and
said, slow do you do, Mr.. Coup" The
voice was strangely familiar. scru-
tinized the fellows features and rcc-
ognixed in him a Russian who had
been exhibited in our sideshow as a
"hairy man" lie had allowed his
skin TO be dyed yellow and his whis-
kers and hair black. and for a consid.
GRAFTON Of about four times his usual
salary, was now posing as n wild man.
lie afterwards went west and contin.
ued this mode Of exhibition for sew.
erai months. until he was played out
in that capacity. whereupon a few
warm baths enabled him TO resume his
former employment as 'Ivanoyitch.
the hairy man"
Another celebrated fake which met
with success in the east was the dog.
faced man." The Englishman before
spoken of engaged n variety perform.
er who was an adept at initiating the
barking of dogs. The la had in
his possession an old photograph OF
"Jo-jo, the dog-faced boy" and was
resolved to place a good imitation OF
this freak before the American pub,
lie. He accordingly had made a very
expensive wig, which completely GOV.
cred the head. face and shoulders.
Dressing the man in the garb of a
Russian peasant, he advertised him
as "Nicolia jacob, the Russian dog.
faced man" So good was the dis.
guise that they exhibited an entire
week at a Jersey City museum. de-
ceiving even the astute proprietor.
Next they went TO Boston. where they
played TO the most phenomenal bust
ness on record. The proprietor OF the
museum had a very clever cartoonist
in his employ, and as the Englishman
and his dog-faced friend walked from
the station to the museum they saw
nothing but pictures of dog-faced
men. In front of the museum, in a
large cage. was one OF the f~iercest
wildcats they had ever seen, labeled,
The pet of the dog-faced man"
They played, as | have said, to a
phenomenal business. For two weeks
thousands of persons daily struggled
for the privilege Of paying ten cents
to see this amusing fake. At the end
of hat time one of the employees be-
trayed the secret TO a reporter and
the attraction was rendered valucless.
Strange to relate. the success Of this
fake was the means of bringing
from Europe the original dog-faced
boy. "~Jo-jo." who for several years
drew a good salary at the various
dime museums. but never created so
much excitement by virtue of his gen
uineness as the fake did.
Still another "fake" that not only
drew but positively deceived the
whole New York press, was the "Da-
honey Giant About 1ss2 a tall spec.
imen of the African race walked into
sn eastern museum looking for work.
He v..R actually over seven feet in
height, sisi had never been on exhi.
bition. knc~sisg that his value as a
negro giant would he but little, the
proprietors resolved e, Introduce him
as a monster wild African. After con
sulting Rev. j. G.. Woods iIlrA rated
history of the uncivilized races. il
was determined to make n Dahomey
OF the tall North Carolinian. A the |
costumer was set To work TO
make him n picturesque garb. A
spurious cablegram was issued. pur- |
porting TO be from Farini. of London. |
that the Dahomcy giant had
sailed with his interpreter from Lon.
don and would arrive in Boston on or
about n certain date.
The man. with his interpreter. was |
then taken by train to Boston. from
city they. in due time. wired
the museum proprietor of their ar
That telegram was answered
by another telling them to take the
first Fall River boat for New York
The press was then notified. and
the representatives of five New York
papers were actually sent to the pie.
- A'H'"ih- HiDiHluH W interview 4
the distinguished stranger from Da-
honey. The man had been well
schooled, and pretending not to
know a word of the English language,
could not, of course. ver with
the reporters. But his interpreter
managed TO fill them up very rom.
fortably. At all events. long and in
tercsting accounts of the .snuff-col.
pred giant from Dahomey" appeared
most of the dailies, and for several
weeks this Dahomey was the stellar
at that particular dime
The advent of summer and
It's consequent circus season closing
city museums, the Dahomey
joined out" with a side show i'm
which. for successive seasons. he
posed as a Dahomey giant. a Maori
New Zealand. an Australian
aborigine and a Kaffir. This mans
success was the initiative for a score
81 other negroes, who posed as repre-
.sentatives of any foreign races the
'ide show proprietor wished to ex-
hibit.
The spread Of the dime museum