The Wichita daily eagle., 1904-05-08
SNKECHARMER'S REVENGE


ing her pet snake, Clara. The madame 5
akes, you may as well understand. were
Mge but entirely harmless reptiles of a
oingy brown color. In order to enable
them to play their parts as boa constric-
tors in the kid show" which is circus
for sideshow, it was necessary that their
dull coats be transformer TO gorgeous
yellow and black and every other day
the madame painted them. The madame
tried a great many different kinds of
paints, but she never could find any
thing that would wear longer than two
days.
Most of her snakes Travelled by them
selves in the animal car but Clara was
q great pet, and madame always insisted
that the big snake should be allowed to
ride in the car with her and the rest OF
US. In the freak car, which had org
tnally started out in life as a plain box
car, the sleeping berths were simply long
shelves running the whole length of the
car, one on either side. The only divi-
sions between the compartments on each
shelf were little partitions not more than
six inches in height. In front calico
curtain hung down on either side
Mime Diavallos berth was at one end
and mine at the other. on the same long
shelf Clara the pseudo boa constructor,
slept in the aisle at the foot Of her mis-
tress' berth
''On the night 1 started TO tell about
1 went to bed and to sleep early. leaving
the madame still sitting up and loving
ly painting yellow and black diamonds
on the skin of her amiable Clara. L
don't know how many hours later l was
awakened by a sufocating weight on
my chest l opened my eyes and there,
within a few inches of my face, was the
fiat head of Clara, the snake, lazily NOV
ing to and fro.
Poor Clara had got cold during the
hight and had crawled into my berth TO
warm herself / lay still and silen tfor
kjust a second, still half asleep. Then 1
gave a wild yell and convulsive heave of
my whole body Dear little Clara went
flying out into the aisle and landed on
the floor with thump.
Instantly the whole freak car was in
an awful uproar. Across the aisle RaZ-
mataz the last of the AZtecs and his |
wife put their heads out through the cur
tain and commenced to lajabber in |
German dialect Up on little shelf !
which had been built especially for him |
Toto, the cat-faced boy, began to hiss |
and spit And from the other end of the |!
car came a deep bass voice, demanding: /
whats the matter now?'
1.-The voice was the voice of Nine. Di- |
avallo, for one of her several roles as
displayed on the circus bills was that !
of Nine. Loisette. the Little Lady With /
the Voice of Thunder
=" I just kicked your snake out Of ,
my berth. That's what's the matter" 1
yelled back, for 1 was younger and less
discreet than | am now.
"a You did, did you? sounder the voice
of thunder, and then followed an awful
scene. Something huge and terrifying
s tarted to crawl and Chamber along the
s lelf toward the end in which / slept,
3 nd off the shelf and into the aisle jump
ell Circassan beauties. aIbno boys,
dwarfs and giants all shreking in fear
and anguish I thought a lot more of
the madame's snakes had got loose and
started to get out of the way myself.
But was too slow. Before l could get
up a heavy slipper hit me on the head
and that deep bass voice roared, You
will abuse poor, dear little Clara, will
vou?'
1T was the madame herself. She seem
II to be slightly put out about something.
She beat me on the head for about five
minutes with her slipper without giving
ne chance to answer her question.
which she repeated with each blow.
'I forgot TO say that two of the mad
lme's other roles were those of the Lady
With the Bibbest Feet in the World and
he eBautiful Female Hercules. So you
,an see what chance l had.
when the Female Hercules had got
through she quit. Then l and the freaks !
Il was not freak, please remember ,
luieted down and tried to get little ,
leep before we pulled into Merrill. Wis, ,
which was the next place we showed at. I
I'm the morning, strangely enough, 7
ime. Diavallo still seemed to be slight :
y peevish toward me. That was awk- ,
ward. because in the big show the ma :
anne and ] doubled up and did a brother
nd sister act in the air Il was the {
nadame's job TO hang by her knees from =
ne trapese and mine to swing by my {
nees from another. Then, when the
lngmaster cracked his whip was sup '
2
Y through the air like a bird. and catch I
he madame by the wrists with my hands. q
lille the freaks who doubled in brass in I,
ne band played their loudest and every c
ody else made as much noies as pos /
ble. O
II say the situation was awkward be- I
ause the ringmaster was dreadfully in y
I'VE with Nine. Diavallo. and l fully
ealized that by cracking his whip at
le wrong moment he could make il eX- a
'emely awkward for me. And even that I
asn't the worst. You see. the rlngmas- b
r was a perfect artist with his long u
hip. AS l had occasion to know. he L
,uld stand directly under a performer a
no was hanging by his toes from t
apese. and. giving an apparently casual d
zap of his whip. cut a hole right through a
e tights of the man hanging overhead
ld on through the hide of the afore- -
id.
II feared that Nine Diavallo would :.
m her lover that she had a crouch :.
yainst me and that he would avenge =
er when it came my turn to hang sus-
ended IN the air directly over him. l was
ot disappointed. h
Never shall l forget that afternoon in +
errill. Nine. Diavallo and l had two a
rms, both in the air. One was billed as A
he Leap for Life the other as The h
ide to Safety The one / have last -
entioned came first. L was up there,
irty feet above hanging by my ears
by some other portion of my anatomy
have forgotten exactly what-when
e ringmaSter took his place directly un-
T me. Then he looked over at the re-