Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1905-09-07
BIG ringing SHOW
CAPTURES The CITY
Mammoth Aggregation That
Never Fails to Satisfy
Everybody Is Here
STREET PARADE BIG FEATURE
Thousands Of People Witness the Cor
seous Pageant, Despite the Threat
enina Weather-Larse Crowd, Wit
nesses Afternoon Performance at
FinkIe's Park-some of the Many
Features.

Finkles Park-Some of the Many
| Features.
| 1t sounded like the battle on the
| Yalu. Three miles of circus wagons
runbling over paved streets, have a
melody all their own. Not even an ar
| tillery engagement has the soul-stir-
ring quality of this crash and rattle of
heavy wheels. The streets were lined
| with people when the Ringing Broth
ers' parade marched In heavy dignity
| through the city's center. 1t is not an
exaggeration to say that the Ringing
parade is the greatest of its sort.
Those who profess to know say that
the circus itself is the greatest ever.
| AS to the parade. opinion is unani-
nous. 1t dwarfed all others that have
| ever been seen here. and was good
index Of the pleasures to De found
under the white tents later on.
/ Unload Without Incident.
| The circus unloaded on Third ave-
nue. this morning without accident or
incident, and by $40 O'clock the last
wagon had been taken from the cars.
The usual curious crowd was on hand
4 but was not as large as customary,
owing to the threatening weather. AS
! early as o'clock the crowd began to
gather at the union station. The first
circus train arrived over the Central
/ from Mason City at o'clock and the
other sections arrived about an hour
apart, the last pulling in at 1885.
Discipline of an Army.
The Ringing circus is as absolutely
disciplined as an army This Is the
boast of the management, and it is
borne out by the appearance of the
men, women and animals. The 675
horses were fat and sleek prancing
with spirit, their eyes bright and coats
glowing. The 1880 men, women and
children in the parade rode with mill
| tary uprightness Their heads Were
up, their shoulders back, their uni
forms and dresses neat ano well fit
ting and each gave evidence Of the
supervision exercised in every depart
ment. There were fifty dens of ami
mails, stanch affairs of steel and heavy
/ USdIIlS, Iudlly OpCll lLdI liC Jul poloiC
audience might see the manner Of
strange beasts within. Every lion and
tiger was as fat and healthy as is pos
sible for wild animal to be in captiv-
| ity.
| OF the forty elephants owned by the
Ringlings, and which. by the way. are
more than half of the entire number
in the United States, barely more than
- n,r,i,e y,
length of the parade the others We're
held at the Finkle park grounds.
Music was furnished by every sort Of
instrument. There were bands in pro-
| fusion, which dealt in harmony rather
| than in the usual circus misconstruc-
| ton of music. There was the clown
band, which ogled the show girls and
| footed merrily out of tune. to the de-
! light of the small boy. OF course
| there was calliope, huge, glistening
| in red and gold. which warbled sweet
sounds quite audible miles away. The
great tableau floats were an especial
feature. Typical of all nations the
members of the attractive groups were
costumed with fidelity to their native
lands.
The Afternoon Performance.
The opening performance in the big
| tent began at 2 o'clock, but the doors
were open an hour earlier. in order
that visitors have ample time to In
spect the immense menagerie, which
contains numerous animal attractions,
including pair Of stately giraffes, the
only living survivors of their kind; a
herd of forty elephants, more than half
| of all in the United States, and the
only rhinoceros in captivity. The pre-
| Torrance includes hundreds of new
and novel acts, enlisting the services Of
375 high class artists fifty clowns and
| hundreds of auxiliaries, and the gor-
geous spectacle of the "Field of the
Cloth Of Cold" In which 1900 c1laract-
ers appear.
The presentation of the "Field CT
| the Cloth of Gold'' was magnificent
and it would be almost an injustice to
attempt to describe it. The number
taking part in the production was i'm
mense, reaching considerably over a
thousand; the costumes were the rich
est ever seen in any theater, and the
knights in arrnor gave stern reality
to all. The dancing girls were the
center of attraction, more than 800 in
number, and the several ballets by the
combined troupe was each time greet
ed with applause. The general effect
was dazzling and will be remembered
by all who witnessed it as long az they
live.
The spectacle of the "Field of the
Cloth Of Gold" was hardly finished
before there was something doing in
all the rings and for over two hours
there was not dull moment. Features
followed each other in rapid success
sion, any one of which would have
made a whole entertainment in itself
The bareback riding was of sensa-
tional order and the most graceful ana
expert equestriennes made this part of
the program delightful. Trapeze ar
lists of the highest order did feats
never before attempted in this city,
some of which were really of a hair
raising order.
Of course the clowns cut up their
funny antics in trying to initiate the
feats performed, and besides being
funny they proved themselves to be
athletes with great accomplishments
They kept the audience in good humor
turnout. There were two special
features that were a decided novelty,
L.