Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1911-05-18

eight elephant kids back to Bridge
port. We can't AXE another chance
like that said he.
II stayed in Bridgeport with those,
eight kids, in retirement, for six weeks.
before l thought they were sufficiently,
quiet to let them again join n q
greatest show
The happiest minute"" said Phi!
Denver Darling, looking thoughtful
beneath his clowns makeup. IT
don't need to think long; know 1t
Just as we'll as though 1t happened,
at the last performance.
my father was a butcher, n ne
wanted me to follow in his footsteps
But 1 preferred to cut up in a circus
rather h in butchers shops. So l
ran away from home and Joined q
travelling circus.
"Ill never forget when our circus
went back to play my home town,
When l came int the ring / saw my
father and mother brother INC
sister down i'm the front row.
II managed to pull off q little stunt
in front of them, and | got that whole
section of the tent laughing, laughing
good and hard. Best OF all. my family
laughed with them.
THAT was the happiest minute OF
my life-1 knew I'd made good.
when the crowd laughed, I threw
them back a laugh. Then up spoke
mother: Why. that's Phil And all h
family said. Why, l guess you're
right
How did they Know me?"
The clown put two fingers in his
mouth and raised his upper lip. 1--we
solid gold teeth cleaned.
Il had them before l ran away"
We all know the Siegrist-silbon
troupe of aerial artists. They include;
the only aerialists who can do the
triple somersault from a flying bar to
what is known in circus talk to CATCH
This meal a man Who hangs by his
legs and grasps by the wrist the SOM,
ersault acrobat. This stunt, which
many have tried to accomplish, is,
seconds and inches. Eddie Silbon does
the swing through the air and Eddie
Polo does the catching.
But Nv said more of that than I
meant to. The most exciting minute, L
think, that I can remember. was out
in Texarkana. Before the show began
we saw a dark cloud on the horizon
and when you see that in Texas it's a
good sign to look out. The equestrian
director who is ringmaster for our part
/, of the performance asked Will YOU
take a chance on your perfOrmance?'
Well. we never like to disappoint an
audience. and said All right, we'll go
ahead"
HURRY it up said the equestrian
director. We had put through part Of
our performance. and l was hanging
by my feet waiting for Silbon to swing
when that black loud materialized,
above us. 1t lifted a corner of the tent
and began to rip it into shreds. The
audience knew what was happening
and ran. The elephants began to
trumpet and the other animals to give
their various cries of fear,
"SilDOn. however. had started his
swing and was making his triple SOM
ersault through the air. That tornado
simply lifted the whole tent, the main
pole n our apparatus, and shifted 1t
over at least eight inches. BY luck,
and. perhaps. by great effort. I man-
aged to catch Silbon.
"The minute I had his wrists and
before l had swung him back to his
trapeze he yelled, Hold places!'
You see. when a wind strikes a
tent, or we see other danger coming,
the women in our trouble. of whom
and two ~others-drop into the net first
and the men after them. You can't all
drop into the net at once. You've got
to take your turn.
But the wind had so shifted our APP
paratus that any one dropping would
take q chance Of falling outside the
net. This was not on account Of dis.
ktance. but because all the trapezes
were swaying violently.
"Silbon landed back on his trapeze,
and for six or seven minutes We all
over Then we dropped down bv the
ropes to the ground, and I can tell you
we were a mighty thankful lot"