The Norfolk weekly news-journal., 1905-06-16
CIRCUS HAS GONE AGAIN
WHITE CITY OF CANVAS MELTS
DURING THE NIGHT.
MAMMOTH CROWDS SAW 1T HERE
More Than Ten Thousand People
Watched the Afternoon Perform.
anee-The Money Left in Norfolk
for Provisions Was Considerable.
IRON Wednesdays Dn'lv.,


The big circus day has come and
gone and the Forepaugh-Sells Broth.
ers combination OF the worlds great
est has vanished away from Norfolk
like the thin air. In the blackened
hours of the night time the big white
canvas city, which had sprung mp
like a mushroom early in the day,
melted away from the 0lney pasture
and by midnight had started speed
ing, on four big yellow trains, toward
Sioux City. Norfolk and Omaha were
the only two Nebraska cities in which
the circus appeared, and the circus
made good.
Two big crowds - the afternoon
crowd a mammoth throng of people
who literally packed to overnowing
the big canvas until many were
obliged to stand during the perform.
ance-greeted the exhibitions of the
circus. Asked as to the size of the
crowd, one Of the circus men stated
to The News that there were ten
thousand people in the tent. Another,
it is said, asked citizen how large
a population there is in Norfolk
When informed that it is a city of
about 5000 he is reported as having
said that I'VE have sold three times
that many tickets here"
But the circus was worth the going
of miles to see-just as thousands
did go miles to see it. The drill eX.
hibition of the Zuaves alone was
worth the price of admission, as
were many of the other individual
features. The trained seals made a
strong hit, as did much of the aerial
work and the elephantine dancing.
The drilling Zuaves were the best
drilled lot of men ever seen in the
west and it is safe to assert that there
are no better drillers in the same
quantity of work, in the world. Ma
neuvering through the most intricate
of movements with the precision and
evenness of clock work, these men,
ever on the trot instead of the regr-
lation American step, formed a spec
tacle that was wonderful to a degree.
Every step was made in unison, every
gun pounded hte floor at the identical
instant, every arm went up or down
in the very same breath and at the
same angle. and more than this they
kept it up constantly and vigorously
until the spectators wondered why
they didn't drop exhausted.
The Trained Seals.
The trained seals were another
startling, and even more wonderful,
feature 4 dozen big black seals,
trained like human beings. danced
about, played baseball with one an
other and never once missed a catch;
made merry music with base drum
and other instruments; tossed their
hats high in the air and caught them
on their heads; balanced huge
spheres on their noses like Japanese
jugglers and went through other
equally impossible antics.
The elephants made a hit with
their dancing a quadrille and the
high air artists did some stunts that
were new and spectacular. One fam
lily were especially clever on tight
wire, also. The horses were we'll
trained and beautiful and the pa
geant of the nations was attractive.
The crowd at night was rather
small owing to the fact of the threat
ening rain, and owing to the fact,
also, that almost everybody went in
the afternoon. Many people who had
1riUpn N hn of
ance had reached home before dusk |
and many who came from a distance
by rail, remained in the city over
night and took trains out of town dur
ing today. A special was run east on
the M. & o. line last night after the |
show.
Took in Some Money.
From the immensity of the crowds |
which bought tickets for the big show,
the side show and the concert, at |
both afternoon and evening perform
ances, it may be imagined that the
circus people gathered in some dol |
lars. When a few of their expense |
items are known, on the other hand |
it may be readily seen that they left |
some dollars in Norfolk.
The price of admission to the cir
Gus was so cents for adults and 25
cents for children; the reserved seats
were '25 cents extra; the sideshow
and concert were 10 cents each; lem
onade was 10 cents per glass. With
this variety, it is easily imagined that
nearly dollar, on an average, was
received from each spectator. When
the expense of transporting four big
trains over a railroad track is con-
sidered, together with the rental of
the cars, the paying of 1000 people,
some of them at high rates; the feed
ing of these people three times a day:
the feeding OF the animals their ad.
vertising and other incidentals-when
all of these things are considered it
may be seen that the running of a
cirCuS is not all nrofit aftar oil Tho