The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1904-04-18
FACTS ABOUT THE BIG SHOW
Thirty Performances in the Air at
Once.


The Barnum & Ba3ey Greatest Show
on Earth which is soon to visit this Eicin-
ity, win arrive here on 96 big railroad
cars, each of which is so feet long. There
viii be five trains of about 19 cars each.
Some of the cars are known as fiat cars
and upon these are placed the baggage
wagons and cages containing the very
val ble and extensive collection of wild
beasts. Other cars will contain the an
imals in leash, such as elephants, llamas,
suanacos. zebras, camels. zebus, and
some 500 head of tine-bred horses Other
cars again are used as sleeping places for
the army of performers of all kinds, and
still others again carry the enormously
large canvas pavilions, plant for lighting
purposes and other vast material COM
prised in the great and wonderful insti-
tuition. The first of these trains to arrive
viii be the one containing the tenrs anc
the draughf horses, when Immediately
after it reaches the city the h0xses win
be quickly taken out of the stock cars
and attached to wagons flied with the
canvas pavilions, and whisked OF to the
grounds upon which the show is to exhib-
it its marvellous treasures of earth, air
and sea. While the canvas tents are in
process of erection the other three trains
are arriving. From the sleeping cars
the performers make their way to the
several hotels in town for breakfast, the
rest of the material, consisting of the an
imals, cages, chariots, etc, is being haul
ed to the grounds and placed beneath the
tents which by this time are about erect
ed. and when everything is on the ground,
breakfast is ready in the 'scook-tent,"
whereupon all those other than perform
ers having finished their part of the labor
proceed to that place and partaks of their
breakfast also.
BY this time everything should be in
readiness, for it must be understood that
with the extraordinary celebrity and
quickness of movement of this show,
the huge canvas tents never take a
longer time to erect on the grosind than
two hours, and frequently it is perform
ed in much less time than that. When
this is considered it will appear a mar
velous exhibition of methods, for it must
be understood that there are a dozen
of these gigantic tents, once alone Of
which is nearly 900 feet long and seats
nearly 5000 people, and to every seat
is a foot rest, while the others range in
length from $50 feet to 70 feett.
The titanic show has exhibited all
over the world. To exhibit its Noah's
Ark of costly animals and grand collec-
tion of living human freaks and curiosi-
ties requires one tent $50 feet long,
while to display the 100 acts on its pro-
gramme of performances demands three
equestrian rings, two stages, huge race
track, and aerial conclave. 1t is in
this latter tent that one gets an idea of
the immensity Of the whole, for one can
see as many as thirty aerialists in the
air at the same moment doing perilous
feats, while the three rings and two
stages at another priod are occupied by
hosts Of champions in every conceivable
kind of exploit Men, women and ami
mails are seen in very tornado of per-
formances, to follow which sets the
brain of the visitor in a whirl.
The whole affair will be heer on Mon
day, May 2, at the Reservoir Grounds,
Summit, Central and Manhattan ave
nues.