Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 1886-1927, 1904-09-08
SCENES AT THE CIRCUS THE LOCAL HAPPENINGS
How Some Visitors Spenta Night
In Medford.

Ringling's circus was attended at
Medford on Saturday by large crowd
of Southern Oregon people. The at
tendance, however, was not nearly so
large as it was last year at the same
place. The towns of the valley seemed
to contribute as many people but the
more remote districts did not pour
forth the population that they did at
the time of the previous exhibition.
Excursion tickets to the circus were
sold in this city to the number of lI6
and there was very large attendance
| from Ashland.
The morning train was over three
hours late and did not leave Grants
Pass until afte- o'clock in the after
noon. The pleasure seekers resigned
themselves to missing the parade, but
hoped they would be in time to see
the show. If the performance had be.
gun on time, all the visitors from
Grants Pass, Woodville, Gold Hill
and rolo would have been hopelessly
late, but the circus management had a
scent of the shekels en- route and the
performance was delayed until after
the train arrived.
The hour of arrival being so late, a
number of Grants Pass people stayed
over for the evening performance.
Others who attended the circus in the
afternoon were unable to get aboard
tbs evening train to return home on
account of lack of space. The cars
were crowded and iammed full to over
flowing .and those of the waiting
throng who did not fight their way on
board were compelled to remain.
Some of them were told by train men
to wait for the next section; there
would be plenty of room on that Af-
ter the train had gone they found that
they would not be allowed to ride on
the third section.
So those who spent the night in
Medford were many. The hotel ac-
commodations were greatly overtaxed
and the demand for sleeping room was
far in advance of the supply The
Ashland people went home on the
night train which left about O'Clock
a. m.
Medford's saloon row, ON the oppo-
site side of the street from the depot,
did an immense business. There was
little disorder on the streets, but the
interior Of the saloons were filed with
surging crowds Of men in all stages
and varieties of intoxication. The
doors were wide OPEN and the yells,
songs and profane and indecent expires.
sions Of the drunken men, were plain
" audible at the depot and all places
within a similar radius.
In the small hours of the night,
quiet began to reign. The hotel offices
were filled with IN en- sleeping on
chairs and on the floor. The depot
waiting room was n panorama Of slum.
berous attitude. Five men, horizontal
on the benches, occupied exactly half
of the seating space. The combined
length of the sleepers would have re-
quired still more space had they not
overlapped a trifle. Another young
man slept sitting bolt upright aud
snored yociferously, with funny little
kicks of his feet and facial contortions
which amused, almost to Mysteries,
those who, themselves unable to sleep,
were derisiyely watching the slum.
berers.
Toward morning the depot lamp
burned ont People who had been for.
tunate enough to find a place to sleep
began to come in to be in readiness for
the early train. In the darkness Of
the depot, the benches appeared unoc-
cupied except on exceedingly close
view, and the slumberers had many
narrow escapes from being severely
sat upon. One lady actually did sit
down upon a sleeping mans head, but
he did not wake. He merely squirmed
and twisted his neck until she slipped
off on the uncushioned portion of the
bench. He continued his peaceful
slumber.
The morning light revealed men
sleeping on lumber piles, on boxes, on
the depot steps and platforms, in
every variety of humorous attitude,
and squirming with the
cold 1t was a sight never to be for
gotten.