The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1910-07-29
The Ringlings are Coming

o. you, Willie Smallboy, Ringing
Brothers's circus is to exhibit in
Owosso, Monday, Aug. 1.
Elephants? You bet; forty of them
and all anxious to meet the kids,
providing they come literally sup
piled with peanuts. And there will
be 10S cages and dens of rare wild
jungle creatures; 1880 men, women
and children from every civilized
country in the world; ESQ horses in
silver-mounted harness; hundreds of
hand-carved, gold-finished wheeling
structures and enough other eye
bulging wonders to fill S5 double
length railroad cars. Anyhow the
biggest cirucs on earth is coming.
In the big program of 125 num-
bers are concerned 375 performers.
There is the Saxon trio from Ger
many, who do everything from Jug
Cling human beings to supporting
two-ton bridge while an automobile
is driven over carrying six persons.
One member of this trio lies upon
his back and elevates with his feet
and legs heavy plank on which are
seated eleven men. At the same
time he also lifts 250-pound bar
bell and two men.
Then as a thriller, Ernest Clark
from England sails from one trap
eze to another, turning as he flies,
complete triple somersault. This ac-
complishment not molly marks the
first time in history that human
has turned triple somersault, but
is, without question the greatest act
of dare ever presented.
Among the great animal acts are
three herds of elephants that talk
over the telephone;a school of ed
ucated horses from the Circus Schu-
man, Berlin, Germany, that smoke
pipes, waltzes on their hind legs, skip
the rope and roll one another about
in huge beer barrels.
Another novelty is Darwin, the
missing link. He lives in a minia-
ture house with, electric lights, bay
| windows and pictures on the wall.
He wears pants, coat, vest and boots.
|
fork. He smokes cigarettes and
can give Johnny Littleboy cards and
spades in the art of riding a bicycle.
Speaking of the operating expense
of the Ringing enterprise repre-
sentative said:
Were the meals served by Ring
ling Brothers to their army of en-
ployes figured at SO cents each, the
amount would aggregate that of the
presidents salary for a period of
eight years. In one short circus sea-
son sixty-eight tons of bread is eaten,
while the milk proposition is of a
quantity that would float the largest
battleship.
During the road season 1900 car
loads of hay is fed to the horses, be-
sides the great quantity of oats and
corn. To furnish the billing matter
which is posted in advance of the
show necessitates continuous
grind, winter and summer, of Amer
ica's largest show printing establish
ment. Besides this tremendous out
put, a printing firm in Chicago is
under contract to print ton upon ton
of soft natter such as dates, her.
aids and cloth banners.
Besides the great army of per-
formers and working men with the
show there are 200 men who travel
far In advance. BY this vanguard is
used 2,T00 barrels Of fiour,in the
form of paste. Then there ii to be
considered the amounts of Cash ex-
pended for transporting S5 railroad
cars over the United States and Can
ada, the amount paid the telegraph
companies for telegraphic service
and a thousand other items that nc
short pencil can figure.
"An average of last seasons run.
ming expense recorded the enormous
sum of $500 every day in the week
while the show was on the road"