The Norfolk weekly news-journal., 1907-09-13
CIRCUS PLEASED 10000.
NORTH NEBRASKA ENJOYED
BARNUM g. BAILEY SHOW.
is MUCH THE SAME OLD SHOW

The Mammoth Tent Was Packed C
the Limit With Spectators Who Hac
Come From Al Parts Of North Ne
braska and Gregory County.
Just the same old circus.
A big show, the worlds biggest
but still back of 1t all the same joyful
old circus that is OF perpetual youth
Fifteen years ago Norfolk saw Bar.
mum G. Bailey's circus and liked IL.
Tuesday Norfolk Joined by thousands
of her north Nebraska neighbors look
ed at the circus again and applauded
the acts with the same ola enthusiasm
of the early nineties. For the show
is good, big and good and captivating.
Ten thousand of north Nebraska
people packed the big circus tent at
the afternoon performance. They
completely filled the big tent, a tent
so large that one half the circus world
and spectators never quite know what
the other half is doing.
There was the new circus and the
old in the tented auditorium. After
all was over 1t was the same old cir
cus-but with dash of the modern
craze of sensatlonalsm. 1t was the
new circus that featured the dip of
death" the new circus that leaned to-
wards the big, daring, mechanical acts.
But 1t was the same good old show
that sent the people home satisfied,
the same old clowns camoring for
recognition, the same old performers
swinging through the days labor but
smiling at applause, the same sleek
horses, the same old menagerie and
best of all the same old happy circus
crowd of north Nebraska neighbors.
Features of the Show
The last feature on the circus pro-
gram was the first feature of the show.
This was the dip of DEATH" in which
an automobile carrying a young wo-
man rolls down a steep incline, Is
thrown in a sOmersault through mid
air and lands, upside down, on a
crescent shaped receiving track which
carries the machine back to earth and
safety. This automobile somersault
is a scientific affair and would be as
wonderful without the young woman
in the seat as with her. In fact, al
though the circus man announced that
her salary was big, the feat is so scien-
tiiic as to render it really without APP
parent peril. 1t is interesting be-
cause it is new and has a sensational
ring that satisfies.
The ski sailing was an interesting
innovation. Capt. Hendrickson made
the long steep glide and the midair
flight and gave a half-breathless mo-
ment to the 10000 spectators.
The clowns, plenty of them. were
there with grotesque situations and
several new stunts. The VOrlops were
an interesting feature with eight whirl-
wind dancers. There were number
of new and genuinely clever acts on
the high wire. Josie De Mott, said to
be the only somersault equestrienne
in the world, drew applause. The
Grunatho sisters gave a few minutes
of fascinating aerial work. Minnie
Johnson and Louise DeMott drew well
earned applause with charming cart
acts, driving handsome roadsters in
difficult feats. The Viennese troupe
did a number of splendid aerial turns
from trapeze.
1t would take-does take, in fact
lures of the big circus. There are
Japanese performers and bareback
riders and trained animals and hip
podrome races-just the same estab-
lished acts that have been with the
circus for the past score of years. Each
has a new touch of life to make it
modern, but each dates back, just the
same, to the circus of twenty years
ago. And last of all, after the big
show was all done and over, there
was the concert, the funny after
show-a Csc show other places but
all thrown in in Norfolk today for a
dime, ten cents"
North Nebraska went to the circus
Tuesday Practically 5000 people
came into Norfolk on the morning and
noon trains for the circus. More than
1000 more from Stanton, Wayne,
Pierce and Madison counties drove in
carriages to this city during the day.
Seven thousand visitors for circus
day is a very conservative estimate Of
the crowds from away that thronged
Norfolk streets during the day, crowd
ed the Norfolk avenue stores and gave
Barnum & Bailey a crowd as big as
the circus. Seven thousand is not the
estimate that an onlooker would make.
AS each crowded train pulled into
Norfolk the travellers disputed the con.
ductor's figures as ridiculously small.
Where did the circus spectators
come from?
The first train from the west
brought five hundred north Nebraska