The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-22

of the circus people in the old days Gardner was there because his son haa run off and got married without ms knowledge and consent and he came tnefe to investigate. This son Of Dan Garolei was the same Bill Gardner who was lhe advertising agent fora the Barnum & Bailey show recently, and who died soon after the death of James Bailey, the Hll- lionaire circus owner.
 Dan Gardner had been out with com pany and had not received his salary, having the same experience as Hem- mings. Well we talked over our pros pects," said MT. Hemmings. T told Dan I was thinking of taking a trip back 10 England, but Dan said that as my fa- ther and mother both were dead, there was no reason why I should return 10 England, and l saw the wisdom of ms advice and stayed in America. Dan pro- posed that, on account of both Of us nav ing had the unpleasant experience Of not receiving our salaries on several ocea- sions. we frame up for ourselves. and this was the beginning of the partner ship between Gardner and Hemmings.
 ''There was a place in Philadelphia known as Camac's Woods. It was used as a pasture. We looked it over and thought it would be good place for show. We went to see the owner who had turned it into a sort of driving park. and made a proposition to him to give performances in the open for the purpose of attracting crowds to the place. We made a proposition to him to give per formances for $10O per day, furnishing five people, horses and all necessary prop critics. The man had a bar on the grounds and he recognized the fact that this was a very good proposition, so he closed tic deal with us The show was given by Gardner and his family, together with myself, making five people. An adVer- Using man was engaged and Tree eA- hibition at Camac's Woods, on the line of the old Tenth and Eleventh streets railway was advertised for the following Monday. Well, to make q long story short, we did phenomenal business. Cars were packed from the day in April when we opened, until the Fourth Of July, when we had 35,000 people on the grounds; but the Fourth was our Water loo. The volunteer fire companies were out there and they became involved In a fight. The papers came out next day with big headlines, The Riot at Camac's Woods This was the death l1nell of this place as a resort. After this we gave our exhibitions in various places around Philadelphia. We were at Gloucester for several weeks. We gave the first show ever held under canvas at Atlantic city This was in 1860, and this is where Bill
 
 vertisIng a show. He joined the show in Atlantic City and did his first advertls. ing for Gardner &s Hemmings. Our en- gagement in Atlantic City was disas- trous one. A big storm came Up and broke up the show. We then returned to Philadelphia"
 After this MT. Hemmings again went to Cuba. He remembers that at one per- formance in Cuba, during the visit of the Emperor Maximilian, which was q ben eft for the Spanish soldiers who took part in the Morocco war, the receipts were over 5000.
 While in Cuba on this last trip he was in correspondence with his old partner, Dan Gardner, and in the winter of 1S6l they opened at Gilmore's place, on Wal nut street, under the name of Gardner, Hemmings and Madlgan for a five weeks run MT. Hemmings remembers that one of their special features In this engage ment, was Blondin, the high-wire artist who walked over Niagara Falls. He proved to be a great card during this en- gagement. After the engagement In Philadelphia they went to Baltimore and played at the old Front Street theatre. It was about this time that the war broke out and that injured the circus bus mess and their tour, like those of other companies, met with disaster great many circus ana tneatflcal cOfDpanleS broke up on account of tfe war
 In the winter of 1862 they came back 10 Philadelphia and John O'Brien was made a silent partner. Desiring to get started making money as soon as possible, they conceived the Idea of putting on a circus in Washington on account of the large number of people congregated there be- cause of the war. A man by the name of Grove, who had theatre in Washing l fo oI nh to gotiations to put the shown on in Wash | ington on a percentage basis, and deal
 was closed with him.
 They had great difficulty in getting l their stuff to Washington. They could l hardly get 1t shipped. either by boat or
 by rail They opened in Washington,
 where the market is now, under a 120
 foot round top and did fine business
 under the name of Gardner & Hemmings. l After opening there. man by the name l of James Nixon started an opposition 1 circus in a building in the main square. | featuring Cubaus, the wonderful Span- 1 ish dancer. Desiring to get something | sensational to compete with the Spanish l dancer, we went to New York and ar- | ranged with Barnum to bring down the Albinos Tom Thumb and Commodore | Mutt Nixon had an advertising agent who was so lnjudicious fin his writing as
 to brand P. T. Barnum humbug | Barnum saw the paper containing the | slanderous article and came down to | Washington in high dudgeon. Bill Gard
 ner was our advertising man and Bar
 mum told him to find tho best newspaper
 man in town. Gardner did go, Barnum
 engaged him, and the result was that the | next day the newspapers were filled with
 articles atta clsing Nixon. which had the
 effect of putting a stop to his blackmail-
 ing methods
 After the Washington engagement they | played Alexandria, Va, for one week. l and then went en tour. They returned
 to Philadelphia the following winter and | opened at the Old National theatre. on
 Market street. They did a good business | all winter In 1863 they opened with hte
 Van Amburg show under the name of | Gardner & Hemmings. This gave them 1 twelve cages of animals, besides elephants
 and camels The show was advertised az
 inc Gardner & Hemmings Show and Van | Amburg Menagerie Although they paid the Van Amburg people a big percentage | they made money on the season.
 Tn 1865 the company was run as the
 Gardner, Hemmings & Cooper Show