The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1901-05-22
THE CIRCUS HABIT.
INDIANS HAVE THE Widest CRAzL
FOR THE TENTED SHOWS.

Go to the Greatest Lengths tn See
the Performance, and Third Place
Is Held by ChIBnmcn.
You may talk about your city circus
goers," said the old circus man. "but
the Indian, the wild, untutored red man
of the plains, has got them all beaten
to death. There's no circus goer In the
world like the North American aborig-
inc. lie will travel farther endure
more priyations and skimp himself
harder to get the price of admission
than any other human being In the
world. What's more, | believe he real
Iy enjoys the circus better than the ne
gro, though he doesn't make any fuss
over 1t.
"The negro, as every circus man
knows, will sell the family cook stove
to get money to see the elephant, but
the Indian Will barter off his papoose,
ITS squaw or even his most cherished
possession, his horse to get a ticket,
After the negro comes the Chlnaman.
y he MeXlcans, too, are not Slow in re-
spending 10 the toot of the calliepe. The
LATEST greaser on the Texas border,
who never paid debt In his life, bobs
up promptly on circus day with his 50
cents. though nobody knows where he
got IT, But the Indian is the greatest
circus fiend of all.
I'm the west our circus Is known
among the Indians as the heap big
brothers show II Is the only circus
that attracts the red man. aud he waits
for Its yearly appearance as confidently
as he awaits the return of spring. In
Missoula, Mon, one Of our regular
stands, fully one half of the audience Is
made up of Indians, They come from
as far as 200 miles on horseback and
even oil foot. starting on their long
journey days before the circus date and
arriving promptly on the morning of
the day of exhibition.
ION circus day it Is u ease of every
man for himself with the Indians. The
lord of the tepee brings enough trlnkets
In the shape of mOccaslns and bows
and arrows to pcddle around town and
in this way gets money for his own ad.
mission ticket. His squaw brings viii.
low baskets and has to hustle for her
| own ticket. They generally come In
couples astrlde of pony, and If the
market Is oyercrowdcd with Indian rel
les they will sell the nag.
when the show trains arrive In
these western towns early In the morn
Ing 200 and 300 tents have already been
pitched by the Indians, some of which
have arrived the night before. Their
little colony Is almost as interesting rs
the circus itself. 1t ~ n verltable ba-
zaar of relies and papoose exhibitions
While the old squaws are getting
breakfast the children are playing
| games and the chiefs are taking their
| ltnlckknacks to the market. They are
| the first ones after the doors Of the big
tents are opened to land on the blue
panks. They fiji good part of the
arena, and they never move during the
| entire performance. Applause Is I'M
known to them. They make rs little
show of enthusiasm as their brothers
In wood In front of the white mans ci-
gar stores. II the trick elephant were
to climb the center pole, they would no
doubt enjoy the performance, but they
would make no more show of surprise
than If they were nodded from clay. II
the performing mule were to walk out
on the hlppodrome track and make n
concert announcement In the Indian
tongue, they would only grunt.
after the show Is over the chiefs
proceed to fiji their skins with the
white mans tirewater and the squaws
with the papooses wait on the lumber
! piles TIL the gray streaks begin to
sprout over the hills when the I'M
| steady train winds out of town over the
| trail.
| along the Pacific coast the China
men are among the firm friends of the
| circus people. Like the Indians, they
are good patrons of this particular
show. In San Francisco at least 10000
| Cinnamon saw the circus one season.
| Some Of them came In coaches drawn
| by handsome horses, and they sat In
| boxes. Mongollan merchants worth
| their millions gave matinee parties, the
| men wearing richly embroidered gowns
| and the women clad In costly silk cut
not I'm the form Of dresses but rs
man wears his broadcloth. At one
matinee given In the California city
5000 Chinese and fully 1000 Japs at
tended. The remaining few Of the
spectators were Americans. The Chi
naman Is as administrative as the
Indian. He expresses his appreciation
| of the performance by attending time
| after time.
probably the strangest mixture of
people that ever attended a circus was
found beneath the tent of our show one
day at Tucson, A. r.. when Indians.
MeXicans, greasers, Japs, negroes, Chi
namen and few American cowboys
| fairly packed the big canvas arena aud
| sat promiscuously mixed over the blue
seats. Though the Cinnamon and ln-
| dams are undemonstratiye, the COW
| punchers, Mcxicans and negroes made
as much noise that day as was ever
made at frontier massacre. The cow
boys yelpod like Il pack OF coyotes
when Nine Noble rode the buekins
horse, the Mexicans yelped Mt every
act, and the negroes laughed nj the
| clowns till the earth shook. That night
the cowboys and greasers turned the
town Into n shooting gallery, emptyins
| their reviewers at the stars and mani
Testing their sorrow at the departure Of
the circus 10y licking up all the refresh
ments In the town.-Clevelaud Plain
Dealer,