El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-01-20
The Human Curio Gallery
A short story.

a II
= turned to anecdotes and the pen
4 y and ink artist. Mevel said:
yesterday I went to take in a cafe
on Boulevard de Strassburg frequented
by tho humble people Of that neigh
borhood- COncealing my sketchboOk, I
began to sketch all these would-be
soubrettes, melancholy clowns, and
dOWnhearted dancers.
Two strange creatures sat down
next to me. One was a fat dwarf and
the other had an enormous hooked
nose. The latter wore a dirty straw
hat, though we were IN the month OF
January. As they sat down was just
sketching a female dog trainer who
sat petting a greyhound. The fellow
with the big nose noticed it, leaned
over toward me. and in the most open
hearted manner, began to praise my
work.
Having thus informally introduced
himself he began TO tell me his his
tory. His name was Otto Pilnitz, and
he was Snowman whose specially was
human mOnstrOsities- Last year he
said he had possessed the most COM
plete gallery. Of monsters"
Pardon me, Monsieur PilnitZ cut
how did you lose your famous cOllec-
tion?" I asked the impressariO. Then he
told me what I shall tell you, though I
regret that 1 cannot give you an idea
Of the grOtesQue manners and POM
pOus way in which he related the
story to me.
Last summer, Monsieur he began.
I was at Ostend for the kermesse,
with my human phenomena 1 had a
tOque consisting Of a giant a beauti-
full young girl tatOOed all over her
body, an ossified man, a human skele-
ton and two dWarfS, man and VILE
An ideal collection, I tell you all mas
terpieces and, incredible though il
sounds, all these grotesque people
never quarrelled- Still everyone Il
them had a love affair even though
they were most happily mated My
giant Karl was always flirting with
the tattOOed beauty; the two dWarfs
were sincerely attached to each others
Dig Kate was deadly IN love with the
human skeleton; and the giant brother
and the Ossified man had distant
sweethearts with whom they kept up
a lively correspondence.
% The day before the fair opened a
new curi0 was engaged by me. II.
Trappe, who had a head like giant
toad and who was without arms
He used his feet as other people
use their arms
Il engaged the armIess wonder. but
it was not very long before / had
reason to regret il, for N Irappe was
a quarrelsOme, dissipated, degenerate
Partisan, VINO SOWed disorder and an
archy in my collection One night
when I reprOached him, he raised his
foot against me, and since that day,
-
and big Kate, none Of whom was able
to resist his charms Between per-
fOrmances my happy tent became q
battlefield, and N Trappe's feet always
carried off the victory
while he kicked his rivals all over
the place he cursed his own lot. He
said that his salary was too small to
exist on and claimed that the noise
OF the scenic railway made him sick.
He inSulted the spectators who came
to look at him 1 would gladly have
discharged this disrurber Of my peace,
but 1 was afraid, as he was great
attraction. 1t had become the fashion
for society people 10 have their pOr-
traits painted by the armless wonder.
who really was an artist with the
brush
suddenly his temper grew morose.
and from time to time he had spasms
OF insane fury I asked the others
how they accounted for these brain
storms and was told that N Trappe
had an unhappy love affair He was
madly IN love with girl. who often
visited my show IN company with vari-
Gus men, but he dared not declare his
hopeless love. He deteSted this mac
cessible woman and the handsome men
in her company, and at last he hated
every human being who was not as
deformed as himself.
Unfortunately he encourages sim
liar feelings in some OF my other cur
los While my giant. my skeleton and
my dWarIS rema1ne1 loyal, the tatOOed
girl, the brother and sister giant and
the OSsified man formed a revolution
airy party with the armless wonder
as its chief. They approved Of every
thing NJ. Trappc did and insulted peO-
pie who came to the show in the most
shocking manner. The language they
used in the presence Of young women
in the audience was of nature WSich
1 dare not repeat.
"One evening NJ Trappe was miss
ing, a little later. following a fren-
zied shout. he burst into the tent and
reared: Come, come quick See the
greatest attraction of the evening
Nature has abused me, now I have had
my revenge
His face was devilish in its express
sion; never have I seen a more deadly
hatred in a human face. As he said
the last words there was a crash. fol-
lowed by cries of horror. We all
rushed out.
"a crowd had gathered a little dis
tance off. I went closer and saw an
overturned car surrounded by bleeding.
mutilated human bodies It had left
the track Of the scenic railway and
fallen down. The news Of the sabotage
spread like Wildfire. 1t was III.
Trappe who had lOOsened a rail to have
the pleasure Of killing and manning
nearly two score OF happy young
people