Arizona republican., 1911-04-09
4 PANDEMON|UM OF
 IMPAIRMENT AND FUN
SAW SELLS FLOTC SHOWS IN PHOENIX YES-
 TERDAY.
Two Hours of Laughs and Thrills Un-
 der a Sea of Canvas.

Thousands of faces looked cut over the arena of the big Sells Floto tent yesterday, watching with amusement the antics of the clowns: with tense interest the feats of the trapeZe ar lists flying through the air over hori- Zontal bar and dropping like comets into ready nets below; with admiration the marches and graceful steps exc cuted by the well-trained horses. The big show proved to be the kind that invokes popularity by going straight to the spectator with a brilliant and spec tacular series of amusing and interest ing features, not one of which could be seen without either a thrill or a laugh
 The night show was a repetition of the afternoon performance when the grounds were damned with people whose only fear was that they might be unable to obtain seats in the tent In the afternoon they surged over the ground in the sunlight, and in the evening by the light of a hundred flickering gasoline torches, and it would be difficult to say which was the more picturesque. The barkerss'
 
 throng of admirers before them drawn to silent worship by their resistless eloquence. The red lemonade stands were crowded with thirsty pleasure seekers, and enough peanuts were sold to fill a goOd-sized wagon. Money went from every pocket into the treasury of the show company and no one has said the investors in the fund of amuse- ment offered by the big show failed to receive full value for their money.
 Every department of the show was crowded throughout the entire per formance, except in the evening, when, after the show in the big tent was well underway the Spielers deserted their stands before the side shows, and the wagons began to haul away the canvas, poles. and general parapher- nalia. The tall Ethiopian wended his way from his conspicuous platform in the side show tent to a seat in the auditorium where the main show was going on, and the other members of the side show, either found their way to the circus, or removed themselves from the ground. By nine o'clock every man and woman on the grounds
 
 the vacant tents and getting ready for the move. was in the circus with eyes fastened on the two rings, where beau tiful horses pranced and curvetted at the command of their riders. or lost in wonder at the agility and skill of the athletes who seemed to guage to an inch, or a fraction of an inch the dis tance between bars of their aerial con- trivances.
 Like the other shows of it's kind the managers of the Sells Floto made no attempt to center the attention of their crowd on any one act. but in each one of the two big rings act after act was put on and taken off, while what de- sire anyone might have had to devote particular attention to any one feature was effectually ruined by the antics of a brigade of clowns as funny as ever stepped in the ring of a circus. Dur ing the performance of the trained ele- phants. scene of the utmost interest and novelty, clown was bitten in the rear by a rubber snake, and rushed around the rings, calling for help and rescue. while the snake clung on be hind for dear life, which it could scarcely help doing since it had been fastened to the clowns petticoats. An alarm of fire disturbed another DOT ton of the show, and a fire engine tore around the circus to find the scene of the conflagration, for all the world as though engaged in serious business. In a miniature house the clowns were making their escape from q red fire light behind them, and scene as ridiculous and farcical as could be imagined was presented.
 It will be generally admitted by all who saw the show last night and yes terday afternoon that the horses were the most attractive feature of all the acts. No one knows how many splen- did animals have been gathered to- gether in Sells FlOto, but there were horses in both rings and in the race track around the amphitheater, and every few minutes the horses were | changed as different acts were called | for. The three horses that played the l leading part in the bareback riding ! were trained to a point which seemed | almost unbelievable to the spectators, | who marveiled again and again at the | dOcility with which they continued to | gallop around the ring as though not | aware of the riders leaps from their | back to the ground. and from the | ground to their backs again, turning | and standing now for | ward and now back. The horses train | ed for the bareback riding of a big l circus such as Sells FlOto are the | most valuable animals of the stable. | unless a trick animal is excepted, and | their understanding of the commands | of the ring master. and their seeming | to endanger the lives of | their riders by deviating in the slight |