The New York herald., 1921-06-15
Leapers of Yesterday.
A Partial Roll Call Of Great Pro-
fessiOnal Athletes of Other Times.

To THE NEW YORK HERALD: i am
much interested In the articles appear
ing in THE NEW YORK HERALD or the
old time shows under canvas. i knew
much Of them. grew UP as boy IN
a small place in Canada, Smiths FANS ;
lived with an uncle there who owned
much land, and about all the circuses
that came along pitched their tents on
his land. That meant In the renting
of the space required he accepted many
tickets in part payment. 1t meant
missed none Of the shows that came
along.
The first show I saw was called the
Circus Royal. One Of the acts was
free; ut about 12 80 o'clock a rope
walker would mount a rope on the
ground and with his balancing pole
walk up the rope TO the top of the big
tent pole. That must have been fifty
wears ago. The next show / can re-
member better. and / may say it was
one of the best old time shows. IL
was the @. F. Bailey show, not the
Bailey of the Barnum & Bailey. THIS
show wintered in Danbury, Conn. The
bareback rider with the show was Sig.
sebastien, a Frenchman. who was very
good.
Your correspondent writing OF the L.
b. Ientz show recalls John Robinson -
a rider. I have seen him as an owner
OF a show and as hired rider. He did
not wear tights as ] saw him; he
dressed as a gentleman rider and used
the high act on trained horses. Or
course his act was good, but not rel
ished by the farmer patrons, as acts
such as Sebastien's and later Charlie
F;sh's aid. Another old time show that
was good was w. w. Coles. 1t was
hotter than Forepaugh's or John Rob-
inson's.
Your Massachusetts man who speaks
of acrobats and their eixill tells Of Bob
St;ctuey and his wonderful leaping. /
never thought him so good The best
ever saw him do was with the Howe's
London show. When he was tho last
man down the runway two horses more
were added for his leap. There were
twcuty-one horses, but they did not
stand side by side. They were In two
lines. eleven and ten facing each other,
crowded neck and neck. He looked to
me 20 be more Of rugged strong man
than an athlete.
The most artistic and best Ieaping
athlete was NJ. G. Kelly, very tall.
slight man. He was with the Van
Amburg show. After they added the
tumbling part to their menagerio he
went over twelve horses that stood side
by side. On the third horse from the
springboard was man with a paper
hoop. Kelly went through the hoop and
before he landed turned a somersault
He was advertised as the worlds ,hain-
pion. really think no one equalled
him. About a month ago ] saw a no.
tice of his death. II was copied from
a Binghamton newspaper. He was 81.
The article said he was a world cham
pion. He did visit Europe and had ap-
peared before Queen Victoria and be-
fore royalty In Paris. where he did n
leap over twenty-eight horses standing
side by side.
Your Massachusetts, correspondent
speaks of some equcstriennes. including
Emma Dockrill. Was she the one who
marr,ed John Stetson7 He married n
woman circus rider. The best eaues-
triennes were the Sisters Meers. They
were English and upward Of twenty
years since we're the features with the
Barnum & Bailey show. 1 wrote n let
tor TO THE SUN six years ago concern
ing an athlete some doctor said had
done a triple somersault with the Bar
mum a Bailey circus. I asked where
this was was done. knew Dan O'Bien.