Omaha daily bee., 1906-08-19
SEEING LIFE WITH A CIRCUS
Humsn Mature as Revealed By the
shSw, the Snowman and
His Help.

Il never would nave believed It II I
naont seen It with my own eyes!'
George Z. Hale, former nre cnlef OF Kan
eos Ii,y. was the center Of a group Of
eager listeners, he mas been out with a
Dig circus for a month aud frcm present
Indications he has brought home enough
20 tax about to last min ten years IL
might be explained that Mr. Hale was
with the circus partly In fun and partly
to look after mis- FIRE hghting show, wnica
was an issue with the big troupe" lie
saw life with a circus as the spectator
never sees 1t. and the surprises that
Jostled him every day have taught him
new gestures and rapid form Of speech D.
i thought 1 knew men and how 10
handle them" the chief was saying. until
fell in with this crowd. Why, the peO-
pie around circus are so entirely differ
ent from other human beings that they
are race to themselves. The roustabouts
are the toughest, most irresponsible lot
OF beings ever saw, and II takes a mas-
ter mind to handle them.
One great big tough came up to the
proprietor of the circus while l was with
him one day and said with vicious swag-
ger: Say. youse de main squeeze, ain't
youse? Well. l want what's comm 10
me- You do do your says the boss. and
several of his TRUSTEES began to assemble.
Yea do. do L. says the tough, looking
mighty powerful and mean. How long
have you been with usT inquiries the boss.
Three days says Mr.. Bully. and l want
all that's comm to be-. Here. then,' says
the boss, and let's him have one under the
jaw that sends him squealing to the cor
ner Before he could get up the TRUSTEES
let him have all they could spare of their
precious muscles and by the time he was
able to get up and stagger to his feet
crowd had gathered and was inQuiring:
What's the matter? What's the matters?
The boss, as cool as cucumber. says;
oh, nothing much. We just caught a
pickpocket who has been following the
| show And as the victim by this time
had started to run and this was In .
country town, the crowd took after him,
| yelling Stop thief Pickpocketr The poor
| fellow was still in jail when we left town
| and guess he'll be careful next time how
| he asks for his money from circus man.
"one day while we were in a small
| town up In Minnesota the rumor reached
the show that the desperate farmers, had
| come to this very town a week before
and teased away ninety of Ringling's men
and hauled them away to the harvest
fields. / went to Lemen about It, very
| much disturbed. He only laughed Ring
| iings sucker. He don't know how to
handle men, We couldn't spare any
| says l. we won't lose any, says he I'm
worried 1 says. Leave II to me. says
ne. Well. sure enough, an hour later
fourteen Of the hands marched In on
Lemen and says We're going to quit and
we want our money. What you going
to do? says Lemen. Going to the har-
vest fields, says the spokesman; we can
La
US s12 month. All right. says Lemen
and hands them their money. i got ex-
cited when they were gone and / told
Lemen what 1 thought OF a gutter like
him. Never mind says Lemen. They'll
be on our train when we pull out to-
night ~
WELL he went to the nearest telephone
and called up the chief Of police. and that
gentleman drove up in a hurry. Chief
says Lemen, this town has always been
good to show that 1 could not
think OF doing you n mean trick. So I
want to warn you about some men who
are loose here. brought them In, and
that is what makes me feel guilty. had
intended taking them out. But they quit
me just now. and suppose they mean
to stay here for time. felt In duty
bound = warn you SO you could be on
your guard Where be they?' asks the
police chief Strengthening out his whiskers
and munchins his cud. They Just went
into that saloon on the corner. There's
fourteen of them and they are mighty
desperate men. I may as we'll tell you,
chief he goes on. that when the circus
season opens most of the jails and work.
houses are overhowing and the city
authorities have to have some way of
making room for the new criminals. So
take as many Of them of their hands as
we can For instance. in that bunch that
means to stay here. there are nine second
story workers, two highwaymen and 1
think of them is a murderer
THE chief shouted a thank ye from
the buggy he hastily drove away and
within an hour he had organized a we'll
armed posse and had with its aid arrested
every last one OF the would-be harvesters.
They had spent all their money in the
saloon, of course, and were utterly help
less. SO they sent for Lemen and begged
him to take them back. They offered to
work a month for nothing IL he would
only get them out OF the hole they were
in. Not or your life says Lemen. and
walks back to the show grounds. Aren't
you going to get them outT asked Lemen
in great fear that the show was going to
be tied up oh. yes. I'll get them out all
right, he says, but not until the show is
loaded and the train is ready to start.
never take chances with a bunch like that
I guess they'll be satisfied with circus
life after they've had few more hours
in jail And sure enough, when he got
them out and put them on the train that
night they were as meek as lambs and the
town policeman was Lemen's friend for
life."-Kansas City Star.
Discrimination.
Papa" said Johnny after they had left