Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1902-05-21
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The Great Fall Of
Dumpy humpy
by JOHN H BATTERY.


Observation-Disclosures t<szz
TALEB SIMPSON is an old man
now, and it is with something of
self-deprecation that he sometimes
spins yarn of the old days when he
was in the circus business with ST.
monides Patroclus Price. A hot
scotch and few friends nearly as old
as himself got him started the other
night, and he told one like this:
There amt any use going back to
the particulars of how 1 got in the
show business further than to say that
I sold up old Pap Rockwell's show for
a feed bill he owed me, tried the game
for three performances, and made so
much money that l turned the store
over to my brother and set out for
a professional circus man. Rockwell
cut out and left as soon as he'd intro
duced me to his general manager-Sim
Price. Besides being manager of the
show Sim was the clown, and, by the
way, to this day I think he was the
funniest clown that ever wore grease
paint. He was a bit sore when he
found out that I had seized the show,
swore mat he was ready to pay up
all the old bills and assume the pro-
prietorship himself. But I'd had q
taste of the game-I was young then
and Sims talk convinced me that 1
had hit on good thing, so resolved
to freeze on. Sim got real mad then
and sent me his resignation. I
couldn't afford to lose him, for all the
paper we had was splashed all over
with his pictures. I agreed at last to
take him into partnership. We had
lot of new posters struck off, reading:
''Rockwell-Simpson.Price Great Triple
Mastodon Circus, Menagerie and Hip
podrome," and with that high-sound-
ing title we left indianapolis one Sat-
urday night and struck into the back
woods for ten weeks of one-day
stands. Those were the days when
circuses travelled by wagon only and
we weren't two hours on the road be-
fore I was blessing my stars that Sim
had come along.
HE knew more about the show bust
ness than l ever learned or could
learn, and no dilemma was too diff
cult for him to wriggle out of. Then
he was good and eleva ting influence
with the sc people we carried. found
out that he'd been educated for the
ministry and had even conducted
church in some interior town of Aus
tralia. His morals were above re-
proach, and his wife-Mlle. Du Barry,
the equestrienne and bareback rider
was the bright, particular star of the
troupe. They were really an edifying
couple, seemed to have plenty of
money, Travelled in private carriage,
and in every way added-if such a
thing is possible-to what I mi ght call
the tone of the outfit. Of course the
whole business was small compared
with these big modern, three-ring cir
cuses, but it was quite model in it's
way. and I was pretty we'll through
my first season of it before I found
my self-respect in any danger. But
that will come later.
Gas I said, besides being an excel
lent clown, a good manager and reg
ular martinez for discipline, Mr.. Price
Il never called him Sim in those days
was always ready with the cash to
help us out of tight place. I used
to wonder at his success in holding
onto his money, but as his wife made
a big salary, as salaries went, and as
his earnings as clown almost equaled
my two-thirds of the profits, it wasn't
so unaccountable that he should al
ways have ready money. His wife was
perfectly devoted to him, and no doubt
they pooled their savings.
"The only serious trouble we had
at first was in keeping our troupe to-
gether. Sim was everlastingly firing
somebody-mostly for drunkenness I
admit, but always for something. ]
thought he was too exacting with the
men, but in spite of all could say
he wouldn't tolerate any kind of loose
ness of speech, habits or manners.
"Well, we were down in West Vir-
GINA somewhere doing one-day
stand when the town marshal dropped
in on Sim and me while we were at
supper after the show. He said that
one of our people had fim-fammed
number of the townsfolk right in the
shadow of our main tent Sim was
furious of course. I denied that anv
of our people could practice such
fraud, but Price solemnly declared
that he'd investigate the whole troupe
for himself. And sure enough that
49, ho
he rounded up the whole company.
read an awful lecture about the mar
shal's complaint and said that if he
ever caught any of his employees en-
gagged in any fraudulent games or even
in any games of chance he's spend his
last dollar prosecuting the culprit.
We knew all of our fellows pretty we'll
then, and I, for one, didn't believe that
any of them were crooked. But Price
was suspicious. He used to stink
around half the time sporting the
men, but try as he might he couldn't
get any proof against them. He did
catch Griff WheIan playing casino
with a bartender one night, and
though Griff was first-rate elephant
man Sim discharged him without hest
tation. The worst of it was that every
town we made after that DEVELOPED
some kind of complaint about the
"circus crook" who had cheated some
body. Sometimes three-cards was the
game; sometimes the shell-game was
used, and again it was the flash-roll.
Price was frantic. He used to hang
around the dressingtent, peeking un-
der the canvas, and he got his wife to