Arizona state miner., 1925-05-09

Hence she prospered amazingly. Final
ly she decided to make q permanent
home for her exhibition, now tremen.
dously enlarged, in London and she
found headquarters at the Portman
rooms, Baker street, In 1888. 1t was
not until 1884 that the exhibition was
transferred to the handsome red-brick
building on Marylebone road, which
has just been destroyed.
The secret of Nine. Tussaud's sue
cess was that she always kept her
collection up to date.
The chamber Of Horrors" which
was long one of the most popular fea-
lures of the exhibition. was really the
basis of Nine. Tussaud's original col
lection. Much had been heard in Eng
land Of the horrors of 1.-THE Terror"
and Nine. Tussaud could supply first.
hand information. She could construct
wax models Of famous scenes and also
she had the actual death masks OF
many of the leading victims.
AS she added to her collection Of
living celebrities, so the original col
lection of Revolution relics became
sort of side show, though she eventu-
ally decided to increase this by taking
in models and relics of famous British
criminals and groups depicting their
crimes and execution.
Morbiu Interest.
At that period there was a strong
morbid interest in crime, and model
of the latest murderer, with, perhaps,
the actual rope wherewith he ex-
plated his crime on the scaffold, al
ways was an attraction. Nine. Tus-
saud was commercial enough to ap-
preciate this, but she always aimed
10 make her exhibition artistic and
something more than a chronology Of
horrors for the morbid-minded.
She died in 1850, at the age Of
ninety, leaving two sons, Francis and
Joseph, who carried on the exhibition
and enlarged it continually along the
lines laid down by the founder. The
present director Is her great-grand-
son. John Theodore Tussaud. Almost
up to the day of her death the little
Frenchwoman used to sit at the pay
desk and take the money Of her pa
irons, and one of the best models in
the building just destroyed by fire
was that of the founder of the exhibit
ton, seated at her pay desk, attired
in the quaint black bonnet and early
Victorian costume. So lifelike was 1t
that many visitors took 1t for the liv-
ing original.
Another of the most lifelike Of the
models at the exhibition was that of
an ordinary policeman in uniform,
which stood in a doorway, apparently
for the purpose of offering advice to
visitors. So human did the eff1gy ap-
pear that 1t was standing joke for
the wiseacre at Nine. Tussaud's to dl.
rect an unsuspecting country cousin
to TASK the policeman" Countless
visitors have fallen into the trap and
accosted the waxen policeman In the
orthodox manner, while countless
swarms of know-alls stood by to
chuckle over the questioner's discom-
future.
During the fire there were many hu.
morous incidents, as the ever-increas-
ing crowds of Londoners, despite their
customary amused contempt for the
"waxworks," all had their favorite fig.
ures which they wanted rescued.
Don't forget the policeman" (refer.
ring to the figure mentioned above).
as a constant instruction given to
the overworked firemen, and to the
Joy of everybody the policeman" was
saved, little the worse for wear
The chamber of Horrors" being in
downstairs compartment, came off
best-"The devil looks after his own"
as a grimed fireman said.
John Theodore Tussaud, present d.
rector of the company operating the
exhibition. who was one of the first
summoned to the scene OF the fire,
spent agOnized days roofing among the
ruins and could find no words to ex.
press his grief. "It is terrible. A ma
tional calamity" he said.-New York
World.