The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-08-15
"HEY RUBEw IN PORTO RICO.
Adventures of Circus Among Our
New Wards.
From the New York Sun.

From the New York Sun.
The Tony Lowande circus got into
port yesterday on the steamship Ponce.
from Porto Rico, with the talent all
battered up and the elephant fidgety,
and with a story of a fight in the
mountains that didn't need any tink-
ering by the press agent.
Tony has a press agent, even IL the
circus does hail from Mexico, and the
agent has a real Broadway touch. For
instance, when the show first struck
the United States island of Porto Rico
and pitched tents at San Juan, the
press agent let it be known all over
the island that the young daughter of
Gov. Hunt OF Porto Rico had fed the
lions with her own hands.
But when the show struck Coamo, on
the great military road, where 1t goes
over the mountain, the press agent
didn't have time to pipe anything. He
had to fight shoulder to shoulder with
the lion tanner to save the show.
This Expansion. process
Chills me through and through,
For I've been up against 1t hard
Since 1 met you.
That was what Tony hummed yes
terday as he came ashore from the
Ponce and greeted a friend on the pier
over in Brooklyn.
You see, the constitution followed
the flag all right" he explained. land
the circus followed the constitution.
That's where we made the mistake of
our lives. The circus was too soon.
1t should have waited politely and let
a few New York cops go down right
on the heels of the constitution, and
then after the cops had got used to
the climate and located all the side
doors, DIT would have been time for my
great, stupendous and dazzling outfit
to have ventured along the military
pike.
HWhy, I'd have given a weeks gate
receipts to have had a few of the
Broadway squad along when we struck
Coamo. But twas our own fault. We
billed the show as the great American
educational institution, and the ma
tives, who have got the Uttered
school -on-the hill notion hard and
fast, thought we had a free graft for
them and that my one-thousand-dol-
Iar-an-hour acrobats and fearless lion
tanners We're walking over their damn
old mountain for their health.
Three hundred people, men. won-
en- ana CnllQTGIl, CdlIlC ltiAO NOdliiO AAOAii
all the little mountain villages near by
to see the show, and the riot began
the minute we asked the first native
for so cents to go through the gate.
We explained, through the only living
Alaskan ice eater, who was born down
in Porto Rico and knew the language,
that that so cents entitled a spectator
to box seat, but that didn't seem
to mean anything to them, and the row
m for. fair
1.-The ticket taker, who sometimes
does a turn at eating glass, was down
and out on the first rush of the ma
tives, and he had the best chance in
the world to bite pieces out of that
mountain while our country's new
wards swarmed along his back and
over his head barefooted
1.-THE first part of the mob got
through the flap of the tent without
ripping anything, but the hole wasn't
big enough for all Ccamo to get in
at the same minute. They seemed to
be afraid they'd lose some education
if they didn't get in early, so they
tore out the sides of the tent and went
in all together.
Jose Jeffries of Curacao, my con-
tortionist wonder, and Rufino Busta-
mante, the lion tanner from Avenue A.
New York, got back to back and tried
to fight the crowd both ways. But
that didn't do much good. ! yelled
to Bustamente to make the lions roar,
and he yelled back
Can't Damn things are asleep"
They are the best lions in the |
world A lady could tame them. Why,
while we were I'm San Juan. Gov. |
Hunts daughter-but that's another |
story As / was saying, the lion |
wouldn't roar 10 scare the crowd, and |
when the elephant trumpted, the M |
tives yelled with delight and thought /
that their free education had begun /
for sure.
MY cakewalk musical mules i
couldn't stand the racket. broke away