Williston graphic. (Williston, Williams County, N.D.) 1895-1919, 1902-06-12
performing in the ring he'd be out

was one OF our own people, so close"
~ did he tag our trGil. We had plen-
ty Of descriptions of him too; a half
dozen town policemen had described
him the same way-short, stout, dark
hair and dropping black mustache.
We had at least three men who came
near that appearance, but incessant
watching had failed to even hint of
their guilt. Besides, they were all
acrobats, trainers or riders, and the
frauds were always committed about
the time we were busiest in the ring.
SWELL, one day Sim loitered so long
that it was nearly time for the
chariot race and he hadn't made his
appearance. l slipped out to the
dressing tent to see if he was there,
and sure enough, back of the little
canvas partition that he always kept
for his own and his wife's privacy
he was smearing his face with grease
paint in hurried preparation for his
entree. I helped him onto his mule
and was buttoning up the back of his
baggy pantaloons when a stranger
uuNhNu uAuOA Vic wall VI viz SSAAS
and laid his hand on my arm.
"'Where did that fellow go that
just came in here?' he asked me ex-
citedly. I told him that nobody had
come in, but he insisted that "a bunko
man had skixned DR.. Schneider out
of 5000 not fiv4 minutes ago. and that
he had seen the confidence man duck
into the dressing tent within the
minute. II
SWELL, sirs, poor Sim flew into q
rage. He was for jumping off his
mule then and there to help find the
long-looked-for swindler. l persuade
ed him to gallop out into the ring
by promising to do the searching my
self, and, aided by the officer, I
searched diligently. ..,. s
"We were doing a three-day stand
at that particular town, SO Sim and l
sat up half the night discussing the
scandalous doings of the bunko man,
who HAD now chung to our route for
two months. Sim was almost sick
with anger and the sense of his dis.
appointment. He scratched his bald,
shining head till it got red; he pulled
out his fat, cherubic cheeks till he
looked like an apoplectic, and then
he came as near swearing as ever
heard him. What made him so par
ticularly mad was the fact that the
confidence man always did his tricks
right by the tent wall, so that every
village paper that had made sensa.
ton of his swindles credited them to
IAN attache of the Rockwell-Simpson-
Price Circus" That fairly ate into
the sensitive soul of Sim.
SWELL, sirs, just to show you the
audacity of the fellow, the very next
afternoon at the matinee, or rather
just after it had begun, he attracted
crowd of men and boys to a clear
spot near the very dressing tent
which Sim had just left to enter tho
ring, and shell-gamed farmer out of
$40. When Sim heard that thought
he was going to faint. He made up
his mind to refrain from his work in
the ring until he had caught the ras-
cal, and, as I was beginning to real
ize the odium attaching to our names,
I reluctantly agreed that he should
not appear that night. He stayed
around the tent alIafternoon looking
distract, pale, and, for him, venomous-
~ disagreeable.
II think that night was one of the
best we ever had so far as the at
tendance was concerned. was
obliged, at Sims solicita ton, to an
nounce that .Dumpy Humpy' (his ring
name the famous clown would be un-
able to appear an account of a sud-
den indisposition. Sim was such
stickler for fair dealing he'd have re-
turned every dollar taken in if the
people had asked it. But it was
good-natured crowd and they stayed
for the show. We never had less
trouble. Every performer seemed to
be on his or her mettle and even the
trained animals did their tricks with
extraordinary success. Mile. Du Bar
nv was just at the climax of her
thrilling bareback act-the piece de
resistance of the whole show, when
I heard the familiar yell of 'Dumpy
Humpy,' the clown, as he galloped
furiously into the ring. In a fash
I realized that one of two things had
happened-either he had already
caught the bunko man or he was try
ing to surprise me with novelty of
his own invention. For, clinging to
the tail of his mule, came a stranger
in street attire, Juggling like a
demon as if to stop the beast. Every
thing happened SO quickly and so un-
expectedly that didn't have time to
think that Sim was running the effect
of his wife's act.
"The mule nearly collided with Mile.
Du Barry's charger just in front of
the reserved seats and the next thing
I knew the stranger had dragged the
clown down into the sawdust and was
choking him. Mademoiselle screamed
and galloped out of the ring. The
spectators laughed loud at what
eoorood n them tho cloxvn'S rroteSoua