The independent. [volume] (Elizabeth City, N.C.) 1908-1936, 1923-10-19
SHRINE CIRCUS
ON one WHEEL
Police Develop a New Streak
Of Efficiency and Cut
Rest of Wheels Out

The widely advertised Shrine
Circus which opened in Eliz-
abcth City Tuesday night for
/ weeks stand is running
.Wobbly on one wheel. The
police put sticks in the rest OF
Tie wheels Wednesday after
noon Anl now the circus is
humping along hoping to get
to the end Of the week some
hOw.
! II seems that the local police au-
,tho"iti"s have Developed Il naw
knowledge Of law all of = sudden.
The Shrine CirCES ha, advertised
for weeks tu give away an auto
mobile tn tn" holder of lucky
number. contrary to all State laws
and no on" made :: move 10 stop
them. pnC of the rO,tcncSt carnival
a@grcgatinn$ that ever pitched its
ltrntS in PaS,lUotank Suuattcd on the
Fair iii last week and ran every
kind ut gambling device from crap
Ia shell and pea. NOhody stopped
them. The police walked about the
grounds. sworn 10 keep the peace.
hut with no authority To lay holds
Gn gambler.
But they lii In on the ShrincrS'
froiic Wednesday afternoon and III
Stcntorian tones proclaimed, NO
, wheels of chance shall turn to-
night :" And when they cut the
paddle wheels ont of the Shrine Cir
'cuS there wasn't much of y circus
left. The vaudeville show that is
supposed Ia furnish the main amrlSe
sorry show. tu say the lCaSt-ab0ut
~ m,urh Uf Il show ~ one coU!d cN.
rrrt for the price Of admission. 4
dime.
Tn" nearest thing To Il circus
"Wednesday night, with all the
wheels shut down, waS IN rlterCa-
ton between Shr,ucr Jack Munlcn
ana Night Officer Wimslov. Off
Ger WinSlpw showed up at the main
entrance and started inside the
Itcnt. Mr. MWlcn was OF the ,icnr
ami demanded tu see his ticket.
"Wr'rc not running a free show,
said Mr.. Mundcn.
I'm here To search your t"lt,
said the officer.
"Eou'll show me Your search war
rant before You search anything
here"
on" word followed another and
both men put up sort OF an imlta-
tiun of wanting To fight. But good
,naturcd Shriu"rs intc!N"nCd. the
officer WAS admitted. and NJ" Mum
den WAS shown Il place 10 spit.
The ShrincrS are very much en-
harra>>Cd as Il result of police III
reference. They went into a deal
with th" circus company to put on
4 show her with Il lot of games Of
chance. such aS usually accompany
such things. for the mo""y they
thought the affair would rricaSs for
charitablc purposes. 1t WAS agreed
among other things that part of the
profits should 20 To the Woman'E
club. the ShriucrS Keeping only Il
part of the profits for their own
Charity work. The ShrincrS didn't
know they were getting Into law
brrakin" proposition. In fact the
law has been broken so freely and
50 often 10y the riff-raff that comes
10 town. that everybody thought
that there wasn't Il piece of he law
left big enough 10 break.
Members of the Elizabeth city
shrine Club are highly inccnScd
over the action of the police. 1T
isn't like we wcr running this
thin" for the money we got ont
of it: we don't owe anybody . cent
and we are not asking any one for
nuythin". We staged this cirr'lS
for charity only. fifty per cent OF
the net proceeds to he devoted to
local charity. Maybe we didn't
mrI;r enough fuss about that. But
MaSonS and Shrincrs are not Ill the
habit of blowing about their char-
itv. for instance. ShrinrrS don't
blow about the fact that they put
out Il million dollars every year for
the relief of crippled children In
America. And they don't blow about
thc fact that they spend thousands
of dollars annually for the care OF
nrphanS and for the education OF
worthy boys and girls who might
othrrwiSr be denied educational OPP
nortuniricS. The city authorities
knew what we were putting OH
when they first granted us pcrmiS-
sion to hold the Shrine Circus. 1t
i also we'll known that similar at
fairs have been put on i'll leading
towns all over Virginia and North
CuroIina without Shrincrs beng
branded as lot of skins ana %.llih-
lcrs. A similar circus in Durham
recently cleared over $4,000 for
charitable purposes i'll that town.
# would be interesting to Know
how much is being spent for charity
by these opposed to this particular
Shrine cnterpriScs:'