The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-06-17
HEAP BIG IN.JJ'N AT CIRCUS.
Reh Men Lead In Love or Sawdust Ring
Negroes and Chinese Next.

DO you know that the red skinned,
wild and untutored Indian beats the city
circus goer all to pieces for loyalty and
enthusiasm?" says a veteran canvasman
in the st. Louis Republic. He will put UP
with all kinds OF hagdships to get the price,
IA travel or walk for days TO reach the
place.
Every circus man knows that the negro
would sell the roof over his head to get
money to see the elephant. but the Indian
will barter his papoose, his squaw, or even
his most cherished possession-his horse
to get a ticket.
After the negro comes the Chinaman.
The snowy things about the circus hit the
yellow skinned laundryman right where
he lives. He will look up all hia relatives,
line them up in a single file and then march
out to the show lots as happy as a kid on
Christmas morning.
"The Mexican, too, is a warm baby when
he hears the toot Of the o~alliope. The
LATEST Greaser on the Texas border who
never paid a bet in his life will show up on
circus day with so cents in his hand, though
nobody knows where he got it. But the
Indian is the greatest fiend Of them all.
an some places. like Missoula. Mon,
fully one-half Of the circus audience is
made up of Indians. They come from as
far as 200 miles on horseback, and ever
on foot. starting on their long journey
days before the circus date and arriving
promptly on the morning OF the day Of
exhibition.
"On circus days it is a case Of every
man for himself with the Indians. The
lord Of the tepee brings enough trinkets
to peddle around town, and in this way
he gets enough money for his own adj
mission ticket.
THE souaw brings little baskets and has
to hustle for her own ticket. They generally
come in couples astride a pony, and II the
market is overcrowded with Indian relics,
they will sell the nag.
After the show is over the chiefs pro-
coed to fill their skins with the white mans
fire water, and the squaws with the papooses
wait on the lumber piles or sand heaps until
the gray streaks begin to spread over the
bills. and then the unsteady stream winds
out Of town over the trail homeward. The
Indians buy the best seats, too. You will
find most Of them on the reserved side, and
they buy these extra priced places even for
the youngsters.
'Along the Pacific Coast the Cinnamon
make the circus coming an event. They
turn out Of their holes, decked in their best
bib and tucker and quit business as il it had
no interest for them. In San Francisco
fully 5000 Cinnamon saw one circus last
season. III wager that half as manv passed
the door Of the big top in Portland, Ore.
They are not mean, but buy pop corn or
lemonade "a we'll as the best seats. Some
Of them came in coaches draw by handsome
horses. Chinese merchants gave matinee
parties, the men wearing richly embroidered
gowns. the women clad in costly silks At
one matinee given in a California town there
were 5000 Cinnamon and 1000 Japs.
the. cotton fields are deserted. Every negro
within a radius Of 100 miles has TO see the
performance IL he sells his shirt to do 1t.
White folks usually go at night time and the
negroes in the daytime.
and Alabama the big tent looks as though 1t
were in mourning. Here and there a white
face looms up,
"The clowns are their favorites. Strange
to say, too, in view Of the bad name the
things he likes, he never tries to ring in any
OF his family on tho under IL clause. II
his children are a day over IL he pays with
out q murmur, and it Is often no small drain
on his finances, for he sometimes heads a
procession Of youngsters the length OF a city
THE Mormons are great circus eoers.
Entire families will trave | for 100 and 200
miles to see the circus In their country.
They come in wagons over mountain and
valley, and camp out until the show comes.
Sometimes they are a day or even three days
ahead. The hill cabins are empty, 80 are
the mining boarding houses.
when a show goes through the Quebec
Province the factories close down. They
might rs we'll. The English side Of the audi
ence loiters about the menagerie until the
last call, and shows the most satisfaction
Then the dancing features Of the spectaoles
Of the vaudeville part Of the programme are
on.
"Prim New England takes to the circus
like q duck to a millpond, The Harvard
boys like the girl bareback riders and the
trapeze artists. They get along well with
the clowns, too, provided the clown has good
average sense and falls in with them without
delaying the show. or course, the Harvard
crimson is worn by the girls without too
much display.
I'm middle Pennsylvania, where money
looks like gold and is kept as long as life, tho
CIRCUS does really good work. II gets these
pious, close listed people away from the
hard line Of daily routine, and sends their
blood racing to narts OF their systems that
had been nuInb for moons