The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-04-03
VARIED CAREER OF THE MAN IN MOTLEY Played Many Parts During Life
 in the Ring
HE WAS ONCE A SOLDIER
Man Who Has Made Thousands Laugh Tells Something About the - Life of a Circus Clown
 as He Is.
From the New York Times.

from one side of his mouth to the othe and began to pull off the yellow tight V Nhlch in the ring he wore underneath hi basgy trousers.
 "l suppt sc some men do start out witi the definite idea of being clowns in thu ring, but l can't say that was my inten ton at the start. I'm pretty old bo! at the business, though. You see it hap pened this way:
 Away back in the fifties Johnson X Mays circus came to my town. w. F Mellet, who was known as the queen jester, was the funny man of that show which was the conventional one-ring af fair of those times. The very same da. Sraulding's circus pitched its tents on vacant lot near by, and there was tn, making of the biggest sort of a circus fight. Dan Rice was the clown with th' Spaulding show, and what does he do bu tell a tot of kids they can come in at tn, n aiif ee without paying sou markee Well, Wallet heard of this and he cam, out on the lot where a lot of us fellows was watching our chances to sneak in un. Ger the tent.
 \ oung fellows, he says can any oi you trinble?
 :" Fletcher life says l.
 Ali right, he says. now any of you fellows that can do flip-hap can go into the show free. Come around when the doors open and we'll see what you can do.'
 Well along about 1 o'clock me and Homer Richardson, afterwards the fa- nous bareback rider and sam Rhine hardt, who later on made a big repnta- tion as a leaper, showed up at the main entrance, where Wallet was standing
 ' What can you do?' he asked.
 'I didn't answer but just turned a couple of flip-haps and a high somersault l had been practicing all morning, and the other boys did d few cartwheeis like wise. He passed lis in and gave us seats close up to the ring.
 Some Local Talent.
 '"Then. when the show was about hall over, he announced to the audience that he was going to introduce some loca talent. We had no tights but rolled ny our trousers and went ahead with our 1t tie stunts. The crowd cheered us. and when the show was oyer Wallet sad {, me: You stick to the business and you | make your mark Well, I've been r,ak- ing py mark ever slnce." And tho clowr proceeded to wipe oq the red and black
 
 T didn't see Wallet after that for If. teen years" he continued. In Phladel- phia in 1866, l was clowning with the Forepaugh show. 'rhe queens jester had been specially engaged to come from England Ne r1,t in the ring. and wher I walked up and told him who l was he broke down and with tears in his eyes told the story to the audience.
 Tn those days a clown could talk tc andtar1pa nd ha n lot different from what it is today. The fellow who sang Where Was Moses When the Light Went Out?' and the boys who could spring a funny gag were in de- mand With the three rings and the vast cities of canvas needed for the crowds of today the old style of clowning has gone out Wallet was the typical Shakes pearean clown. and his act was as diff ferent from the sort of thing that goes nowadays as farce is different from the problem plays. The six centre pole and three-ring business has crowded the jes- ter out
 The Other Side of the Picture.
 You often hear the old story-and it's been put into poetry 1 believe-about the clown grmacing and laughing in the ring while his baby was dying in the dressing tent. Well, there's another side to the clown business which is just as picturesque and not so sad.
 "A good many years ago I was playing with little one-ring circus down south. One afternoon just after the show was over. a man came back to the dress ing tent and asked if he could have a word with me. He explained that his { little nve-year-old boy was sick with i some sort of fever, and the case had been aggravated because the little eellow had heard that the circus was in town. Of course 1t would have been death to him to go out and the family doctor had set his foot down on any suggestion of ]. the kids running any such risk Well. the boy had fretted and worried so that they had about begun to give mp hope of his ever getting well. Now this man begged me to keep OH my clowns suit and go over to see the boy.
 It meant doing without my dinner, for there was mighty little time between the afternoon and night performances, but what could a fellow do? l never regret ted that visit. If you could have seen that little white face light up when l walked into the room it would have done you good. That kid simply chuckled and screamed with delight, and before l knew it his mother was kissing my hands and blessing me for saving her youngster. l had a good hot supper at the kids bed side, him a-feedine me with his spoon like l was a kid myself
 "Well. that boy is now a man. and one of the biggest merchants in his town. He has a family of young ones of his own now. and whenever I get to that town l don't live in the tent nor at a hotel. His home is my home.
 Fought for the Union.
 In 1S64-5 1 wore the blue, fighting for the Stars and Stripes. l was with the cavalry regiment which marched into Memphis and held the city against Gen Forests entrance. While we were located in Memphis l taught several of my com rades how to tumble and leap. and train ed several of the horses of the regiment We managed to slip through the gray coats lines and picked up enough lumber to build rude shed. Here we gave a show every night, doing patrol duty in daytime.
 the surrender and gave our show while the white flags were still tiuttering above the cannons. The provost marshal ob- jected and I went out to General Grants headquarters to appeal to him. I saw Gen. Morgan l.. Smith. the commander of the post and made my plea to him.
 " Go ahead he said, and I'll bring Gen. Grant over to see the show.
 Well, that night we charged a dollar a head, and ten thousand soldiers saw us do our stunts. Gen. Grant was the guest of the night.
 There's this much to be said about clowning." continued the man of motley, "t's about the most independent part of the circus business. In show of the first class it's taken for granted right from the start that we understand our busi- ness, and while other performers are un- der the iron of the equestrian director. ,. nj pA-