Mexico weekly ledger., 1904-10-27
An Incident in the Circus Career Of
Jimmy Robinson Which Illus
trste the Powers Of Ad-
vertising.

man, an old time "tumblerf OF merit
Robinson presented an act that made
bis name q household word with the
circus going public and incidentally
got for him then weekly stipen d
that would make a bank president
feel much like the office boy when the
salarys were compared. 1t was the
wonderful agility and daredevilisl.-
ness Of Robinson that made him the
drawing card and the show managers
knew that good lot of paper featur-
ing Jimmy Robinson would fill a top
even In the hoop.pole region Of Indi-
ana.
"Robinson's career In the show bus-
iness was a remarkable one and 1t was
not all sweets without the bitter
either. His acts, though, have never
been improved even to the present
dag and probably never will, glut-
ton for work and at all times willing,
be was favorably liked not only by the
management but by his fellow show
people as well.
"Yet 1t was the enterprise of the
versatile press agent that saved Rob-
inson his reputation and a nice little
bunch Of velvet as well, ,''and Spencer's
face assumed an air of enjoyment as
bis mind wandered back to bis days in
the saw dust ring.
I'm 1870 Robinson's reputation had
encircled the civilized world,e into
the wilds of Arkansas. and bis money
making powers we're at their height.
Previous to this Robinson had merely
worked for salary that seemed stu
pendous and had accumulated a neat
bunch of the good that holds the
groceryman at bay. During the win
ter there was launched the James
Robinson Combined Railroad Shows
With our friend Jimmy as the distinct
feature, ringmaster, head tu mbler and
lion tanner, In fact the makeup Of the
show consisted Of the stars ring hors-
es and a lion cage with two Of the raw
enous beasts inside. Associated with
Robinson were Abe Henderson and
Andy Springer, the latter a most able
advance man.
1.-THE personal Of this monster at
traction included baby show under
the management OF Ham Norman and
Johnny Hamilton, a baud Of twelve
pieces under the leadership Of Mike
Sexton, cage wagon which answered
the purpose of band wagon and also
ENGAGED two lions, the extent of the
shows menagerle and In which ap-
peared the subject Of this anecdote as
the lion tanner during the parade. In
short the show was expected to make
a hit merely through the famous
horsemanship OF Robinson.
"The show opened the season in
Newport, Ky.,and was routed through
the good show towns of Ohio and In
diana. Business was only fair but all
connected expected better attendance
as the season wore on. This however
was not the case and the management
was getting quite sore when an incl
dent occurred that shows adversely may
be turned into good fortune.
Sexton, the band leader possessed
an awful fear Of animals and no op-
portunity was ever passed by bis show
friends Of twitting him on this sub
jeet. 1t reached a climax when jes.
ter made known TO him that the lion
cage top was In bad condition and at
any time 1t was apt to precipitate the
entire band into the den OF beasts.
This was to much for Sexton and
straightway handed 10 his resignation
and In leaving took several other OF
the solo horn blowers.
"Thelr leayetaking was an awful
blow TO the show and Advance Agent
Springer was Immediately notified Of
the predicament.
"This was the adversely that did
not adverse. Peanut butchers, cooks
and walters with horns that would
| not blow were given the uniforms anc
substituted for the missing 'knighu
of the wind
"Springer with the versatility thai
made him his reputation atonce wrot'
q horrible account OF an imaginar,
collapse of the cage roof, depicting th'
angry beasts tearing the band boy
limb from limb, The enterprisinl
agent sent for show paper that de
scribed the awful scene in fiaminI
colors and the curiosity of the Ameri
can public did the rest.
"After this paper was spread count
less thousands viewed the lions tina
had devoured the entire band and th
show began reaping the harvest OF
jester's joke.
"Great as was Robinson 1t remaine'
for that cage OF lions pictured to tn
public on glaring paper TO take fror
him the capabilities OF attracting tn
people and therefore filling the Golfer
Of the ticket wagon that all bis repr
tation had failed to do. Great is ad
vertising."