The sun., 1905-10-21

0uOsr Or OLD COvEY TUNED
pitE Ar TEArHERS COLLE6E.
rhs Barhcrs were the Rcai Thins ana some
NJ tho shows were Better Than Real
Mystery NJ Katrina -Fishiins the
Flame. shows Heavy Loss In Figures.

The ghost Of tho great dead Coney-
dead for the winter hung around the
Teachers College last night. and turned
white at the gills. Inside the Thompson
Memorial Building they were taking it's
name in vain. A lot OF Columbia girl
students did the taking. They called II
"Screamland," and the land was as good
"a it's word. The hall was packed. and
YOU could hardly hear the barkers over
the surge OF voices.
Just inside the entrance, with make
shift tom tom, a toy hatchet and feather
head dress howled the chief squaw OF the
IAN Good Indians, she Of the gold trimmed
spectacles. There Is predominance OF
sa,iaws in this tribe, II appeared, and
sprnkling OF spectacles.
Here you are! The Indian encampmentl
You don't think I'd holler II II wasn't the
real thing, do your" she screamed.
Inside the doorway. eight painted peda-
gopues TO be staiked In front OF camp
fire Of red tissue paper. They danced in a
row or a ring, spasmodically, when the bar
ker filed the hall Some Of the Indians had
long black locks that shone in the freight.
The audience didn't think they were real.
This wasn't the only native exhioltion.
There was Japanese tea garden rugged up
in another corner with girls in hmonos'
and very weak tea in cups. Across the
way, the Dutch village held forth. There
were Coney Island 'hot dogs and Coney
Island cider for sale at prices that even
Coney would balk at. The great money
maker of the evening hailed from the Dutch
village, by the name Of Katrina.
Have you seen Katrina? Inquire at the
Dutch Village" was posted all over the
building Most people inquired. A girl
in costume who giggled every time she took
In a cent let the stream Of people In behind
a screen and kept her own counsel. The
stream emerged by another route, nom
commital, Inside the screen they had seen
no doubt the high salaried Katrina, as
advertised.
Next door to the Dutch concern was
aFiphting the Flames" A barker In q fire
helmet that was Allied only by ingenious
hair dressing kept btg crowd waiting
Every once in 9 while the fire ashters
paraded with a length Of garden hose, a
tin drum and their contours entirely
swamped in the borrowed uniforms. In
side the booth the audience tried to cit in
kindergarten chairs. At intervals Of ten
minutes there was a sort Of heliotrope
flare behind the soenes Then the ladies
were requested to remove their hats by the
lady barker and factotum. A scramble
which no doubt resembled the beat OF hoofs,
a round on the tin drum and the curtain
slid back. There we're fourteen candles
set on a table and another ono swung per-
haps ten feet above the ground on a rope
ladder.
This last was the fire in the upper stories.
More scramble; enter the garden hose and
the borrowed helmets. Alarumsl The candles
are extinguished by means OF the garden
hose in the left hand and an atomizer in
the right. A fire lady saunters gallantly up
the rope ladder, disc ntangles her arms
from the uniform and extinguishes the fire
in the top story. Curtain.
IF YOU didn't get your moneys worth,
get your money back at the door, goes on
the lady barker-nobody takes back his
one cent piece. This way to the fire
fighters, the heroes Of Screamland!"
The Chamber Of Horrors was just op-
posite. The freaks were next door. Chin
Ling, the Chinese whistling dwarf, who
whistled earnestly between gggles, and the
dancing dervish in pantaloons, who wanted
to know when they were going to give
her a chance to see the rest of Scream
land were doing business at the old stand.
Across the pike a stentorian lady barker
invited everybody into the maze. The
cloth Inside there were tableaux-
"Prince Charming" and Little Red Riding
Hood" They closed their eyes whenever
they saw you coming. The Bumps was
a canvas slide that sagged over the cross
pieces and emptied elderly pedagogues
out on sofa cushion at the floor
Everywhere were the barkers. In be-
tween were pedlers in costume wheedling
the visitors into buying peanuts or candy.
The masked dancers from the Dance Hall
sold checks on the floor, unlicensed. There
was more than once Whit Of the genuine
old Coney.
Say, said pedler to reporter. 1huy q
flower and write up the pretty girls who
sold it to you" 1t was real Coney.
It was all for the benefit of the students
executive committee Of Teachers College.
The spinsters in spectacles and the lady
barkers, together with the girls, were mostly
Columbia pedagogues-to-be.