HANDY CIRCUS FAMILY - HANDY CIRCUS TROUPE

Thomas Frost, Circus Life and Circus Celebrities, London: Chatto and Windus, 1881.

Chapter XIV.
Reminiscences of a Gymnast - Training and Practising - A Professional Rendezvous - Circus Agencies - The First Engagement - Springthorp's Music-hall - Newsome's Circus - Reception in the Dressing-room - The Company and the Stud - The Newsome Family - Miss Newsome's Wonderful Leap across a green lane - The Handkerchief Trick - An Equine Veteran from the Crimea - Engagement to travel.
THE picture of Circus life and manners which I have endeavoured to portray would not be complete without a narrative of the professional experiences of the performers engaged in circuses. I shall next, therefore, present the reminiscences of a gymnast, as I heard them related a few years ago by one who has since retired from the avocation; and I shall endeavour to do so, as nearly as may be possible, in his own words.
'I was not born and bred a circus man, as most of them are - Alf Burgess, for instance, who was born, as I may say, in the saw-dust, and brought up on the back of a horse. Neither was my partner. He was a clerk in the advertising department of a London evening newspaper, and I was an apprentice in a London printing-office, and not quite out of my time, when we went in for gymnastics at the Alhambra gymnasium. My partner was practising the flying trapeze, and was just beginning to do his flights with confidence, when that poor fellow fell, and broke his back, at the Canterbury, and the proprietors of the London music-halls set their faces against the flying trapeze, and would not engage gymnasts for it. In consequence of that, he had to drop the flying trapeze, and practise for the fixed trapeze; and, as the single trapeze doesn't draw, he began to look out for a partner, to do it double. Price was looking out for a partner at the same time, but, as he was more advanced in his training than Fred was, and was not disposed to wait till he was proficient, he took Joe Welsh, - Alhambra Joe, as he used to be called, - and Fred had to look out for somebody else.
'The partnership of the Brothers Price, as they called themselves, did not last long; for Price dropped in for a slice of luck, in the shape of a thumping legacy, - twenty thousand pounds, I have heard, - and then he turned up the profession, and Joe Welsh went in for the long flight. In the mean time, I had made up my mind to follow Fred's example, and to be his partner; and, besides fixing up the ropes for the flying rings in my grandmother's orchard at Norwood, for practice on Sundays, we took our fakements nearly every evening to the "ruins," as they were called, in Victoria Street. Do you know where I mean?'
I did know the place, and remembered that it conveyed the idea that a Metropolitan Improvement Commission's notions of street improvements consisted in demolishing some three or four hundred houses, and creating a wilderness of unfinished houses, yawning chasms, and heaps of rubbish. The place remained in that condition for several years, and was the rendezvous and free gymnasium of most of the gymnasts, acrobats, rope-dancers, and other professors of muscular sensationalism in the metropolis.
'Well, we fixed our fakements up in the "ruins," and when the evenings began to get dark we had candles. A lot of us used to be there - Frank Berrington, and Costello, and Jemmy Lee, and Joe Welsh, and Bill George, and ever so many more. There used to be all kinds of gymnastic exercises going on there; and there my partner and I went, night after night, until we could do a tidy slang on the trapeze, the rings, or the bar. Then we went to Roberts; he used to live in Compton Street then, and he and Maynard, in York Road, Lambeth, were agents for all the circuses and music-halls in the three kingdoms, and often had commissions from foreign establishments to engage artistes for them. They get engagements for you, and you pay them a commission of fifteen per cent. on the salary they get for you; so it is their interest to get you as good a screw as they can, and it is your interest to keep the commission paid regularly, because if you don't, you will have to look out for yourselves when you want another engagement. If you don't act honourable, and you try to get another engagement without the intervention of an agent, the circus or music-hall proprietor or manager says, engage my people through Roberts," or Maynard, as the case may be; and there you are - flummoxed!
Well, we went to Roberts, and had to wait our turn, while he did business with other fellows who were before us. We looked at the framed collections of photographs of gymnasts, acrobats, clowns, riders, jugglers, singers, and dancers which hung against the wall, and then we looked about us. There was Hassan, the Arab, a wiry-looking tawny man, black bearded and moustached, and wearing a scarlet fez, a blue zouave jacket, and baggy crimson breeches; and old Zamezou, with a broad-brimmed felt hat overshadowing his face, and his portly figure enveloped in the folds of a large blue cloak; and George Christoff, the rope-dancer, buttoned up in his over-coat, and looking rather blue, as if he had just stepped up from the chilly fog in the street; and Luke Berrington, looking quite the swell, as he always does; and one or two more that I didn't know, or can't remember. One by one, they dropped out, and others came in, till at last our turn came.
' "Well," says Roberts, who is a nice sort of fellow - a smart dark-complexioned man, with gold rings in his ears, "I want a couple of good gymnasts for Springthorp's, at Hull; but, you see, I don't know you: where have you been?"
'That was a floorer; but, before my partner could answer, a young fellow who had just come in, and who had seen us practising at the "ruins," and knew what we could do, says, "I know them; they have just come from the Cirque Imperiale."
' "Oh!" says Roberts, "if you have been at the Cirque Imperiale, you will do for Springthorp's. The engagement will be for six nights, commencing on Saturday next; and you will have five pounds."
'That was gorgeous, we thought. There was I, getting, as an apprentice, a pound a week, with three-and-thirty shillings, or six-and-thirty at the most, in perspective; and my partner, out of collar for months, and receiving the munificent salary of twelve bob a week when in: and we had jumped into fifty shillings a week each, for a nightly performance of ten minutes or a quarter of an hour! It is no wonder that we fell to work, building castles in the air, as soon as we got into the street. We should go to the Cirque Imperiale some day, though we had not been there yet, and then to Madrid or St Petersburg, and come back to England, and be engaged for the Alhambra at fifty pounds a week. From the lofty height to which we had soared before we reached the Haymarket we were brought to the ground by considerations of finance. We were both at low-water mark, and the denarlies had to be found for our tights and trunks, and our expenses down to Hull. We got over that little difficulty, however, and started for Hull with hearts as light as our purses.
'Do you know Springthorp's? You were never in Hull, perhaps; but, if you should ever happen to be there, and should lose yourself, as you are very likely to do, in the neighbourhood of the docks, and should wander into the dullest part of the town, towards Sculcoates, you will come upon a dreary-looking building, which was once a chapel, and afterwards a wax-work exhibition. That is Springthorp's; and there, in the dreariest, dingiest hall that was ever mocked with the name of a place of amusement, we gave our first performance. The Vokes family were performing there at the same time, and very agreeable people we found them. The six nights came to an end too soon, - before we had got used to seeing our name in the bills, in the largest type and the reddest ink. Then we came back to London, and presented ourselves again before our agent. We had given entire satisfaction at Springthorp's, he told us; but he couldn't offer us another engagement just then. He should put our name on his list, and, if anything should turn up, he would let us know.
'The first offer came from a music-hall at Plymouth, but the screw was too low for the distance, unless we had had other engagements in the western towns to follow, and we didn't take it. The next chance was at the Hippodrome, in Paris, and we should have gone there, but another brace of gymnasts, whose terms were lower than ours, cut us out of it. As if to confirm the vulgar superstition about times, the third time was lucky. Newsome wanted a couple of good gymnasts for his circus, and offered the same terms we had had at Springthorp's, and for twelve nights. The distance was a drawback, for the circus was then at Greenock; but we both desired a circus engagement, and hoped that Newsome might be disposed to engage us to travel with him. So we accepted the offer, and, reaching Edinburgh by steamer to Granton, went on by rail to Greenock.
'We had never seen any other circus than Hengler's, except Astley's, and, as we did not expect to see a theatre, we expected to find a tent. To our surprise, we found a large wooden building, well and substantially built, though without any pretensions to elegance or beauty of architecture; and we were still more surprised when we went into the ring to fix up our trapeze. The boxes and balcony were as prettily painted and gilded as in any theatre, and the ring-fence was covered with red cloth, and a handsome chandelier hung from a canopy such as Charman had at the Amphi. in Holborn.
‘ “This is better than Hengler's by a lump," says my partner, as we looked about us. "Why, it must look like Astley's, when the chandelier and those gas jets all round the balcony are lighted."
'We did not see many of the company till we presented ourselves in the dressing-room on the first night of our engagement. As we walked in an old clown was applying the last touch of vermilion to his whitened face, and a younger one was balancing a feather on the tip of his nose. There were seven or eight fellows in tights and trunks, ready for the vaulting act, and two or three in the gilt-buttoned blue tunic and gold-striped trousers which constituted the uniform in which the male members of the company stood at the ring-doors when not engaged in their several performances in the ring. They all stared at us as we went in, and I heard one of them say, "Here are the star gymnasts from London!" One or two said. "good evening," and one gave us a glance Of inquiry as he pronounced our professional name.
‘ “That's us," returned my partner.
‘ “Haven't I seen your face before ?" said another, looking hard at him.
‘ “Very likely," said Fred. "Were you ever at the Circe Price, in Madrid?"
‘ “No," answered the other fellow, still looking hard at him.
‘ "Then it couldn't have been there," said my partner, without a muscle of his face moving, though I had to bite my lips to keep from laughing.
‘We found all of them very good fellows to pal with when we knew them. There was Webster Vernon the ring-master; Alf Burgess, the head vaulter and revolving globe performer, who had been all over the continent, and was supposed to have accumulated some coin; Coleman, the bareback rider, a brother, I believe, of the theatrical manager of that name, well known in the north; Charlie Ducrow, a direct descendant of the great successor of Astley, and emulating him in his rapid act on six horses; old Zamezou and his boys; the Brothers Ridley, also acrobats, and very good in their chair act and at hand-balancing - Joe Ridley's one-arm balance was the best I ever saw; Franks, the first clown, with a fund of dry, quiet humour that earned his salary, which was higher than any other man's in the company, except Burgess's; Joe Hogini, singing clown, and better at comic singing than at clowning, though he could do some clever balancing tricks; and old Adams, clown and property-man, whose wife was money-taker at the gallery entrance, and whose daughter took small parts in the ballets when required.
'If I mention the gentlemen before the ladies, which isn't manners, it is because I saw them first, and saw them oftenest. The ladies, as is often the case in a circus, were all members of the proprietor's family. Madame Newsome only appeared in the ring when her clever manege horse, Brunette, was introduced. Miss Adele was great in leaping acts, and has been repeatedly acknowledged by the leading gentlemen of the north country hunts to be the finest horsewoman across country in England. One of the wonderful stories related of her is, that a splendid black hunter which she was riding leaped, in the excitement of the chase, over two hedges, with a narrow lane between them, landing safely in the field beyond. Miss Emma did double acts with Burgess, who is as good a rider as he is a vaulter and a juggler on the globe. Miss Marie only appeared in ballets at that time, but she is famous now for her daring acts of horsemanship, without saddle or bridle, like Beatrice Chiarini, whom you may have seen at the Amphitheatre. But there was Lizzie Keys, a bold and graceful rider, who used to take her hoops and balloons beautifully; they called her the Little Wonder, and she was said to be only fourteen years of age, but she looked more like a diminutive girl of eighteen.
'There was a capital stud. Newsome selected his horses as they say Astley did, without caring much for the colour of them; they were not chosen for show, like the cream-coloured, and spotted, and piebald horses you see in circuses that do a parade, but every horse was a good one in the ring, and had been selected for docility and intelligence. There was Emperor, the handsome black horse which the governor, and sometimes Miss Adele, used to ride; he was worth a hundred guineas, at the very least, as a hunter, and was a clever trick horse besides. It was a treat to see that horse find, with his eyes bandaged, a handkerchief which was buried in the saw-dust; you might bury it as deep as you could, and be as careful as you liked to make the saw-dust look as if it had not been disturbed, but he would be sure to find it. He would step slowly round the ring till he came to the place, and then he would scrape the saw-dust away with his hoof, pick up the handkerchief with his teeth, and carry it to Newsome. One night Franks took the handkerchief out of the saw-dust, ran over to the other side of the ring, and buried it in another place, chuckling and gesticulating in assumed anticipation of the horse's discomfiture. The horse found it as easily as usual. In fact, I never knew him miss it but once; he then passed the place, but Newsome said, "En arriere," - circus horses are always spoken to in the ring in French, - and be stepped back directly, and found it. Then there was Brunette, a brown mare, the most docile and intelligent creature that ever went on hoofs; and Balaklava, a sear-covered veteran that had served in the Scots Greys, and had received his name from having been wounded in the charge of the heavy cavalry at the battle of Balaklava. Lizzie Keys used to ride him.
'From the company and the stud, I must return to ourselves. The twelve nights we were engaged for, like the six at Hull, came to an end too soon; and my partner spoke to Henry, the manager, about our travelling with the circus, as we had set our minds upon doing. Henry, who was a very gentlemanly fellow, said he would mention it to the governor; and Newsome called us to him.
' " I am afraid," said he, “you wouldn't be of much use to me. You have not been used to circus business, and you know nothing about it. The general routine of a circus is very different to a starring engagement, or a turn at a music-hall. You can't vault, or hold a banner or a balloon."
' " We should soon learn," said Fred.
‘ "Well, look here," said the governor, "it's as I said just now, you are not of much use to me at present; but you are good on the trapeze, and, on the understanding that you are to make yourselves useful in the general business as soon as you can, I will put you on the establishment, the engagement to be terminable at any time by a week's notice on either side."
‘ " I should like travelling with a circus, of all things," said Fred.
' "Of course, I couldn't give you the salary you have been having as stars," said the governor. "The best man in the company doesn't get much more than I have been giving each of you. But if two pounds a week for you and your partner will satisfy you, you may consider yourself engaged."
'Of course, we thanked him, and we accepted the offer, thinking that we should be worth more some day, and that it would be better to have two pounds a week regular than to have five pounds for a week or a fortnight only, and then be for several weeks without an engagement.'

http://www.circushistory.org/Frost/Frost14.htm

 

Thomas Frost, Circus Life and Circus Celebrities, London: Chatto and Windus, 1881.

Chapter XV.
Continuation of the Gymnast's Reminiscences - A Circus on the move - Three Months at Carlisle - Performance for the Benefit of local Charities - Removal to Middlesborough - A Stockton Man's Adventure - Journey to York - Circus Ballets - The Paynes in the Arena - Accidents in the Ring - A Circus Benefit - Removal to Scarborough - A Gymnastic Adventure - Twelve Nights at the Pantheon - On the Tramp - Return to London.
‘THE circus was near the end of its stay at Greenock when we engaged for "general utility," and we were not sorry to leave the banks of the Clyde for a more genial climate. It rained more or less, generally more, all the time we were there, and I can quite believe the boy who assured an English tourist that it didn't always rain in Scotland, adding, "whiles it snaws." There was a frigate lying in the Clyde at the time, and whenever the crew practised gunnery down came the rain in torrents. I don't know how that phenomenon is to be accounted for; but it is a fact that there was a change from a drizzle to a down-pour whenever the big guns were fired. And then the Sundays - not a drop of beer! But what do you think the thirsty folks do? There are a great many people thirsty on Sundays in Scotland, and especially in Greenock and Glasgow; for they try to drink enough on Saturday night to last them till Monday, and that plan doesn't work satisfactorily. They go to a place called Gourock, where they can get as much ale or whiskey as they can pay for. That is how something like the Permissive Bill works in Scotland.
'On the last night of our stay in Greenock, as soon as we had doffed the circus uniform, and the audience had departed, we took down our trapeze, and proceeded to the railway station. A special train had been engaged for the removal to Carlisle of all the company, the band, the stud, and the properties, Newsome paying for all. Having to make the journey by night, we did not see much of the scenery we passed through; but we had a good time, as the Yankees say, talking joking, laughing, and singing all the way. We found at Carlisle as good a building as we had left at Greenock, and, having fixed up our trapeze, and taken a lodging, we walked round the city to see the lions, which are rather tame ones.
While we were at Carlisle, Hubert Mears was starring with us for a short time, doing the flying trapeze, and doing it, too, as well as ever I have seen it done. After him, we had Sadi Jalma, "the serpent of the desert," for a time, and very serpent-like his contortions are; he can wriggle in and out the rounds of a ladder or a chair like an eel. He is like the acrobats that I once heard a couple of small boys holding a discussion about, one maintaining that they had no bones, and the other that their bones were made of gutta percha. He calls himself a Persian prince, but I don't believe he is any relation to the Shah. He may be a Persian, for there are Arab, Hindoo, Chinese, and Japanese acrobats and jugglers knocking about over England, as well as Frenchmen, Germans, and Italians; but nationalities are as often assumed as names, and he may be no more a Persian than I am a Spaniard.
'It is a praiseworthy custom of Newsome, to devote one night's receipts to the charities of every town which he visits. It would require more time than he has to spare to make the inquiries and calculations that would be necessary before a stranger could distribute the money among the several institutions, so as to effect the greatest amount of good; and it is placed for that purpose at the disposal of the Mayor. The amount of money which he has thus given for the relief of the sick, the infirm, and the indigent during the time his circus has been travelling would have been a fortune in itself, if he had put it into his own pocket. He divides the year between four towns, and in one year he gave two hundred pounds to the charities of Preston, and forty pounds to the Seamen's Orphans' Asylum at Liverpool, besides what he gave to the similar institutions of the other towns which he visited that year.
'Our next move was to Middlesborough, where a very laughable incident occurred. A party of us ferried over to Stockton one day, and went into a public-house there for refreshment. Circus men are always courted and sought after, as soldiers are in a place where they are only occasionally seen; and, as soon as we were recognised by the Stockton men in the room as belonging to the circus, there was a great disposition shown to treat us, and to get into conversation with us. Well, a short time afterwards, one of those men came over to Middlesborough, to see the circus again, and, after the performance, he went into a public-house where he recognized Sam Sault, a gymnast from Manchester, who had lately joined us, and insisted upon treating him. Sam had no objection to be treated, and the Stockton man was elated with the opportunity of showing that he was acquainted with a circus man. So one glass followed another until the Stockton man became, all at once, helplessly drunk. Sam, who retained the use of his limbs, and some glimmering of reason, good-naturedly took his drunken friend to his lodging to save him from being turned out of the public-house, and then locked up by the police. He had no sooner reached his lodgings, and helped the drunken man up the stairs, however, than he felt a doubt as to the safety of his purse; and, on immediately thrusting his hand into his pocket, he found that it was gone. He reflected as well as he was able, and came to the conclusion that he must have left it on the parlour table at the public-house. Depositing his helpless companion upon the sofa, he ran down-stairs, and rushed off to the tavern, where, by great good fortune, he found his purse on the chair on which he had been sitting, where he had placed it, it seems, when he thought he had returned it to his pocket.
‘While he was at the public-house Joe Ridley and I, and my partner, who lodged in the same house with Sam Sault, returned to our lodging, and found the drunken man asleep on the sofa, smelling horribly of gin and tobacco smoke, and snoring like a fat hog. We looked at the fellow in surprise, wondering who he was, and how he came to be there. Neither of us recognized him as any one we had seen before. Then the question was raised, - What should we do with him. "Throw him out of the window," says Joe Ridley. "Take him down into the yard and pump on him," says Fred. "No, let us paint his face," says I. So I got some carmine, and Fred got some burnt cork, and we each painted him to our own fancy till he looked like an Ojibbeway in his war-paint. By that time Sam Sault got back from the public-house, and found us laughing heartily at the queer figure cut by the recumbent Stocktonian.
' "Oh, if he is a friend of yours, we'll wipe it off," says I, when Sam had explained how the man came to be there.
' "Oh, let it be," says Sam, "and let him be where he is; we'll turn him out in the morning, without his knowing what a beauty you have made him, and that will serve him right for giving me so much trouble."
'So the fellow was left snoring on the sofa till morning, when, it appears, he woke before we were about, and, finding himself in a strange place, walked down-stairs, and quitted the house. We never saw him again, but we often laughed as we thought of the figure the man must have cut as he stalked into Stockton, and how he must have been laughed at by his mates and the people he met on his way.
‘From Middlesborough we went to York, where the circus stood on St George's Field, an open space between the castle and the Ouse. About that time, Webster Vernon left the company, and was succeeded as ring-master by a gentleman named Vivian, who was quite new to the profession, and whose adoption of it added another to the changes which he had already known, though he was still quite a young man. He had been a lawyer's clerk, then a photographic colourist, and afterwards an actor; and was a quiet, gentlemanly fellow, unlike the majority of circus men, who are generally a fast, slangy set. He had married early, and his wife, who was an actress, had an engagement in London - a frequent cause of temporary separation among those whose business it is to amuse the public, whether their lines lie in circuses, theatres, or music-halls. Joe Ridley's wife was in London, and Sam Sault had left his better half in Manchester. Franks, and Adams, and old Zamezou, and Jem Ridley, and the head groom had their wives with them; but two of the five were connected with the circus, Adams's wife taking money at the gallery entrance, and the groom's riding in entrees.
'How did we do ballets? Well, they were ballets d' action, such as used to be done at the music-halls by the Lauri family, and more lately by Fred Evans and troupe. The Paynes starred in them at one time, but generally they were done by the regular members of the company, usually by Alf Burgess, and Funny Franks, and Joe Hogini, with Adele Newsome in the leading lady's part, the subordinate characters being taken by Marie Newsome and Jane Adams, and my partner and I, and Charley Ducrow.
'Who starred with us at this time, besides the Paynes? Well, there was Hassan, the Arab, who did vaulting and balancing feats, and his wife, who danced on the tight rope. He vaulted one night over a line of mounted dragoons from Fulwood barracks, turning a somersault over their heads and drawn sabres. Didn't we have accidents in the ring sometimes? Well, none of a very serious character, and nearly all that happened in twelve months might be counted on the fingers of one hand. Coleman slipped off the bare back of a horse one night, and cut his hand with a sword. Burgess had a finger cut one night in catching the knives for his juggling act, which used to be thrown to him from the ring-doors while he was on the globe, and keeping it in motion with his feet. Adele Newsome was thrown one night, and pitched amongst the spectators, but received no injuries beyond a bruise or two. Lizzie Keys slipped off the pad one night, but came down comfortably on the sawdust, and wasn't hurt at all. Fred fell from the trapeze once, and that was very near being the most serious accident of all. He fell head foremost, and was taken up insensible by the fellows at the ring-doors, and carried into the dressing-room. We thought his neck was broken, but Sam Sault, who had seen such accidents before, pulled his head right, and, when his senses came back to him, it did not appear that he was much the worse for the fall after all. Then my turn came. One night, when the performances were to commence with a vaulting act, I went to the circus so much more than half tight that I was advised on all sides to stand out of it, and Henry, the manager, very kindly said that I should be excused; but, with the obstinacy of men in that condition, and their usual belief that they are sober enough for anything, I persisted in going into the ring with the rest. What happened was just what might have been expected, and everybody but myself feared. Instead of clearing the horses I touched one of them, and, in consequence, instead of dropping on my feet, I was thrown upon my back; and that accident, with a violent attack of inflammation of the lungs, laid me up for two or three weeks, during which I was treated with great liberality by Newsome, and received many kindnesses from more than one of the good people of York.
‘My partner and I had a benefit while we were in York, but we didn't make more than L3 by it. The way benefits are given in circuses is by admitting the tickets sold by the party whose benefit it is, and of course the number of tickets a circus man can sell among the inhabitants of a town where he was a stranger till the circus appeared, and where he has lived only two or three months, can't be very great. We were thankful for what we got, however, and had new trunks made on the strength of it - black velvet, spangled. Soon after this we removed to Scarborough, where I had a rather perilous adventure. I attempted to ascend the cliff, and found myself, when half way up, in an awkward position. I had reached a narrow ledge, above which the cliff rose almost perpendicularly, without any projection within reach that I could grasp with one hand, or plant so much as one toe upon. Descent was almost as impracticable as the completion of the ascent, for, besides the difficulty of having to feel for a footing with my feet while descending backward, a portion of the cliff, which I had been standing upon a few minutes before, had given way and plunged down to the beach. It seemed probable that the ledge I was standing upon might give way if I stood still much longer, and in that case I should go down after it. So I shouted "help!" as loud as I could, and in a few minutes I saw the shako-covered head of a volunteer projected over the edge of the precipice, and heard him call out, "A man over the cliff!" His corps was encamped on the cliff, and in a few minutes I was an object of interest to a large number of spectators, whom his alarm had attracted to the edge of the cliff. Presently a rope was lowered to me, and held fast by men above, while I went up it, hand over hand, as I did every night in the circus, when we ascended to the trapeze.
'When we had been in Scarborough about a month, my partner and I had a disagreement, and I left the circus, and procured an engagement for twelve nights at the Pantheon music-hall. That completed, "the world was all before me, where to choose!" I thought there might be a chance of obtaining an engagement at one or other of the music-halls at Leeds and Bradford, and I visited both towns; but without meeting with success. By the time I arrived at the conclusion that I must return to London I was pretty nigh hard up. I counted my coin the morning I left Leeds, and found that I had little more than enough to enable me to reach Hull, where I expected to receive a remittance from "the old house at home!” I had a long and weary walk to Selby, where I sat down beside the river, to await the arrival of the steamer that runs between Hull and York. Once more I counted my money, and had the satisfaction of ascertaining that I had just one penny above the fare from Selby to Hull. I shoved my fingers into each corner of every pocket, but the search did not result in the discovery of a single copper more. It was something to have that penny, though, for besides being thirsty, I was so fatigued that I needed some sort of stimulant.
‘ “I must have half a pint," I thought, and I went into the nearest public-house, and had it. Then I sat down again, and looked up the brown Ouse, where at last I saw the black hull and smoking funnel of the steamer. As soon as she came alongside the landing-place, I went aboard, and descended into the fore-cabin, where I lay down, and smoked my last bit of tobacco, after which I dozed till the steamer bumped against the pier at Hull. There I was all right, as far as my immediate wants were concerned. I dined, replenished my tobacco pouch, and strolled up to Springthorp's, to see if there was any chance there. There was no immediate opening, however, and on the following day I took a passage for London in one of the steamers running between the Humber and the Thames.'

http://www.circushistory.org/Frost/Frost15.htm

 

Thomas Frost, Circus Life and Circus Celebrities, London: Chatto and Windus, 1881.

Chapter XVI.
Continuation of the Gymnast's Reminiscences - Circus Men in Difficulties - Heavy Security for a small Debt - The Sheriffs Officer and the Elephant - Taking Refuge with the Lions - Another Provincial Tour - With a Circus in Dublin - A Joke in the wrong place - A Fenian Hoax - A Case of Pikes - Return to England - At the Kentish Watering-places - Off to the North.
‘SEVERAL weeks elapsed before I got another engagement. Two gymnasts can do so much more showy and sensational a performance than one can, that a single slang doesn't go near so well as a double one, and it is, in consequence, only those who produce something novel, such as Jean Price's long flight and Avolo's performance on two bars, who can procure single-handed engagements. Knowing this to be the case, I looked about for a new partner, and found that the Brothers Athos had separated, and that one of them was in just the same fix as myself. When we met, and talked the matter over, however, a difficulty arose in the fact that we had both worked as bearers, - that is, we had supported our respective partners in the double tricks, that require one man to bear the entire weight of the other, as in the drop, or when one, hanging by the hocks, holds a single trapeze for the other to do a trick or two upon beneath him. Our respective necessities might have urged us to overcome this difficulty if Christmas had not been approaching, at which season unemployed gymnasts and acrobats often obtain engagements at the theatres, as demons and sprites. Athos got an engagement to sprite at the East London, and I was left out in the cold.
'Newsome's circus bad moved, in the mean time, from Scarborough to Middlesborough, where some changes were made in the company. Burgess and two or three more left, and my late partner was among them. I heard afterwards one of the many stories that are current in circuses of the devices resorted to by circus men in difficulties to evade arrest. A friend of one of the parties who had ceased to belong to Newsome's company called at the house where he had lodged, and found that be had left, and that his landlady didn't know where he had gone to.
' "But I am sure to see him again," said she, “for he has left a large box, so heavy that I can't move it."
‘ “Then you can have good security for what he owes you," observed the friend. “I suppose he owes you something?”
‘ “Well, yes," rejoined the woman, "he does owe me something for board and lodging."
'Her lodger never returned, however, and his friend meeting him some time afterwards in York, alluded to the manner in which he had "mysteriously dried up," as his friend called it.
‘ “Ah, I was under a heavy cloud!" observed the defaulter. "What did the old lady say about me?"
"That she was sure to see you again, because you had left a heavy box in the room you occupied," replied his friend.
' "I should think it was heavy," said the other. Couldn't move it, could she?"
'His friend replied in the negative, and he laughed so heartily that he spilled some of the ale he was drinking.
‘ “What is the joke?" inquired his friend.
‘ “Why, you see, the box was once full of togs," replied the mysterious lodger, "but when I left Middlesborough such of them as were not adorning the person of this swell were hypothecated."
‘ “What is the meaning of that hard word?” inquired a third circus man who was present.
' "In the vulgar tongue, up the spout," replied the defaulter.
' "Then what made the box so heavy?" inquired his friend.
‘ “A score of bricks," suggested the third party.
‘ “Wrong, cully," said the Artful Dodger. “I couldn't have smuggled bricks into the room without being observed; but a big screw went through the bottom of the box, and held it fast to the floor."
'Another of the stories I have alluded to relates to a man that used to look after an elephant in a circus, and put him through his performance. He got pretty deeply in debt - the man I mean - in a midland town where the circus had been staying some time, and his creditor, not being able to obtain payment, and finding that the company were about to remove to another town, determined to arrest him.
'The cavalcade of horses, performing mules, camels, and other quadrupeds was just ready to start from the circus when the sheriffs officer appeared on the scene, and tapped his man on the shoulder. He was recognized at a glance, and the man ran into the stables, with the sheriffs officer after him. Running to the elephant, the debtor dived under its belly, and took up a safe position on the other side of the beast. The officer attempted a passage in the rear, but was cut off by a sudden movement of the elephant's hind quarters. Then he screwed up his courage for a dive under the animal's belly, but the, beast turned its head, and fetched him a slap with its trunk.
' "I'll have you, if I wait here all day," said he, as he drew back hastily.
' "You had better not wait till I unfasten this chain," says the elephant keeper, pretending to do what he threatened.
‘The officer growled, and went off to find the proprietor; but he didn't succeed, and when he returned to the stables, his man was gone. That was as good a dodge as the lion-tamer's, who, when the officers went to the circus to arrest him, took refuge in the cage containing the lions. They looked through the grating, and saw him in the midst of a group of lions and lionesses. They were philosophic enough to console themselves with the reflection that their man would come out when he wanted his dinner; but they had not waited long when the lions began to roar.
' "The lions are getting hungry," says the keeper. "If he lets them out of the cage, you will have to run."
'The officers exchanged frightened glances, and were out of the show in two minutes.
'To return to my story; my late partner found himself in much the same fix as myself, and this discovery paved the way for a mutual friend to bridge over the gulf that had kept us apart. As soon as we had agreed to work together again, we got a twelve nights' engagement at the Prince of Wales concert-hall at Wolverhampton. We found the other professionals engaged there very good people to pal with, and spent Christmas Day with the comic singer and his wife, two niggers also being of the party, and bringing their banjo and bones to promote its hilarity. While we were in Wolverhampton, we arranged for twelve nights, to follow, at the London Museum music-hall at Birmingham, which has received its name from the cases of stuffed birds and small animals of all kinds, which cover all the wall space of the front of the bar and the passage leading to the hall. After our twelve nights there, we were engaged for six nights longer; and then we went down to Oldham, for a twelve nights' engagement at the Cooperative Hall. For all these engagements, and for all we made afterwards, the terms we obtained were four pounds ten a week.
‘Our next engagement was with a circus in Dublin, to which city we crossed from Liverpool. The company and stud of this concern were very different in strength and quality to Newsome's, and they were doing very poor business. It is very seldom that a circus proprietor ventures upon the experiment of an Irish tour, which more rarely pays, both because of the poverty of the people, and the difficulty which all caterers for their amusement find in avoiding grounds for manifestations of national antipathies between English and Irish. Of this we had an instance on the first night of our engagement. I dare say you have heard Sam Collins or Harry Baker, or some other Irish comique, interlard a song with a spoken flourish about the Irish, something after this fashion: - "Who was it made the French run at Waterloo? The Irish! Who won all the battles in the Crimea? The Irish! Who put down the rebellion in India? The Irish! Who mans your men of war and recruits your army The Irish! Who builds all your houses and churches? The Irish! Who builds your prisons and your workhouses? The Irish! And who fills them? The Irish!" In England this is laughed at, even by the Irish themselves; but in Ireland nothing of the kind is tolerated. One of the clowns delivered himself of this stuff in the ring, and was warmly applauded until the anticlimax was reached, when such a howl burst forth as I shouldn't have thought the human voice could utter. The fellows in the gallery jumped up, and raved, stamped, gesticulated, as if they were Ojibbeways performing a war-dance; and everybody expected that the seats would be pulled up, and flung into the ring, as had been done in another circus, under something similar circumstances, some time before. But the storm was hushed as suddenly as it arose. It happened fortunately that our performance was next in the programme, and that, knowing how popular everything American was in Ireland, we had provided for its musical accompaniment a fantasia on American national airs, such as “Yankee Doodle," "Hail, Columbia!" and "The star-spangled banner." The band struck up this music as the offending clown ran out of the ring, expecting to have a bottle flung at his head, and the howlers in the gallery hearing it, and seeing pink stars on our white trunks, thought we were Yankees. The effect of our appearance, and of the music, was like pouring oil on the waves. The howling ceased, and harmony was restored as suddenly as it had been interrupted.
'This was the time, you must know, when the Fenian plot was in everybody's mouth, and when the wildest rumours were in circulation of an intended rising in Ireland, and the coming of Americans, or rather Americanized Irishmen, to support it. One day, while we were in Dublin, a superintendent of constabulary received an anonymous letter, informing him that a case of pikes had been buried at a spot near the Liffey, which was so particularly described that the men who were sent to search for it had no difficulty in finding it. When they had dug a pretty deep hole, they found a deal box, which was raised to the surface, and carted off to a police-station, with an escort of constabulary. It was opened in the presence of the superintendent, and there were the pikes! - not such as Slievenamon bristled with in '48, but a couple of stale fishes.
'Before leaving Dublin, we arranged for a twelve nights' engagement at the Alexandra music-hall, at Ramsgate, which, as you perhaps know, is under the same management as the Raglan, in London. The Sisters Bullen, and Miss Lucette, and the Brothers Keeling were at the Alexandra at the same time; and, as music-hall professionals are, as a rule, disposed to fraternize with each other, we had a very pleasant time. From Ramsgate we went to Dover, for twelve nights at the Clarence music-hall, and then back to Ramsgate for another twelve nights at the Alexandra.
'Among the professionals engaged for the following week at the Clarence was a versatile lady bearing the name of Cora Woski, and the town, during the second week of our engagement, was placarded with the inquiry, "Have you seen Cora?" This soon became a common question in the streets, and at all places of public resort; and one of the company, entering the Clarence on the day the bills appeared, without having seen one of them, was equally surprised and confused at being greeted with the inquiry, "Have you seen Cora?" He was only slightly acquainted with the querist, and it happened that he was engaged to marry the only lady of that rather uncommon name whom he knew.
' "What do you know of Cora?" he demanded, his face reddening as he frowned upon the questioner.
‘ "Why, she is coming here," returned the amused querist, who saw at once the cause of the young fellow's confusion.
' "How do you know?" was the next question of the bewildered artiste.
""How do I know? Why, it's all over the town," was the reply.
'A nudge from a friend drew the other's attention from his tormentor for a moment, and, following the direction of his friend's glance, he saw upon the wall one of the placards bearing the question with which he had been greeted on entering the bar.
'Engagements now followed each other pretty close. Returning to London after our second engagement at Ramsgate, we were soon afterwards engaged for twelve nights at Macfarlane's music-hall, Dundee, and six nights, to follow, at a similar place of amusement at Arbroath, under the same management. We found the Gregories there, with their performing dogs; and there was a ballet, in which the pretty illusion of Parkes's silver rain was introduced. No other engagement awaited us in the north when we left Arbroath, and we returned to Dundee, and from thence to London.'

http://www.circushistory.org/Frost/Frost16.htm

 

Thomas Frost, Circus Life and Circus Celebrities, London: Chatto and Windus, 1881.

Chapter XVII.
Lions and Lion-tamers - Lorenzo and the Lions - Androcles and the Lion - The Successor of Macomo - Accident in Bell and Myers's Circus - Lion Hunting - Death of Macarthy - True Causes of Accidents with Lions and Tigers - Performing Leopards - Anticipating the Millennium - Tame Hyenas - Fairgrieve's Menagerie - Performing Lions, Tigers, Leopards, and Hyenas - Camels and Dromedaries - The Great Elephant.
SINCE the death of the negro, Macomo, the most successful performer with lions and other large members of the feline genus has been Lorenzo, who travelled with Fairgrieve's menagerie for several years preceding its dispersion in the summer of 1872. On the death of George Wombwell, in 1850, his collection, which had grown to an almost unmanageable extent during nearly half a century, was divided, according to his testamentary directions, into three parts. With one of these his widow continued to travel until 1866, when she retired from the business, and the menagerie was transferred to Fairgrieve, who had married her niece. Another third was bequeathed to Wombwell's niece, Mrs Edmonds, who travelled with it until the close of 1872, when it was announced for sale. Who had the remaining third I am unable to say; it was travelling for several years in the original name, as the menageries of Fairgrieve and Edmonds did long after Wombwell's decease, and is now owned by Mrs Day.
Fairgrieve's group of performing animals consisted of several lions and lionesses, a tigress, two or three leopards, and a hyena. Tigers are not, as a rule, liked so well by lion-tamers as lions; but Fairgrieve's tigress exhibited as much docility and intelligence as her performing companions. There was a famous lion, named Wallace, with which Lorenzo represented the story of Androcles, the slave, who, flying from the cruel tyranny of his Roman master, met in the forest in which he sought refuge a lion that had been lamed by a thorn. Observing the suffering of the beast, which made no hostile demonstrations, he ventured to approach it, and was allowed to extract the thorn from the elastic pad of its foot, the lion testifying its gratitude for the relief by rubbing its head against him. Some time afterwards, the fugitive was captured, and was doomed by his master to be exposed in the arena of the amphitheatre to a recently trapped lion. But, to the amazement of the spectators, the lion, instead of falling upon Androcles, and tearing him to pieces, seemed to recognize him, and, after rubbing its head against him, lay down at his feet. It was the lion front whose foot Androcles had extracted the thorn in the forest. The slave told the story and received his pardon and his liberty on the spot.
The successor of Macomo was an Irishman named Macarthy, who had previously travelled, in the same capacity, with Bell and Myers's circus; and in 1862, while performing with the lions belonging to that establishment, had his left arm so severely mangled by one of the beasts that he had to undergo amputation. This circumstance seems to have added to the eclat of the unfortunate man's performances, but he had neither the nerve of Crockett and Macomo, nor their resolution to abstain from stimulants. Whether from carelessness or nervousness, he often turned his back upon the animals, though he had been repeatedly cautioned that it was dangerous to do so; and to this circumstance, and his intemperate habits, the lion-taming fraternity attribute his terrible end.
It is to be observed that Macarthy lost his life, not in the course of the ordinary performances of lion-tamers, but while giving a sensational exhibition termed ‘lion-hunting,' which had been introduced by Macomo, and consists in chasing the animals about the cage, the performer being armed with a sword and pistols, and throwing into the mimic sport as much semblance of reality as may be possible. It will be obvious that this is a dangerous exhibition, and it should never be attempted with any but young animals. For ordinary performances, most lion-tamers prefer full-grown animals, as being better trained; but when lions become full-grown, they are not disposed to be driven and hustled about in this manner, and they are so excited by it that it cannot be repeatedly performed with the same animals.
Macarthy had been bitten on three occasions previously to the catastrophe at Bolton. The first time was in 1862, when he lost his left arm, as already related; the second while performing at Edinburgh in 1871, when one of the lions made a snap at his arm, but only slightly grazed it. The third occasion was only a few days before the accident which terminated his career and his life, when one of the lions bit him slightly on the wrist. The fatal struggle at Bolton was preceded by a trifling accident, which may perhaps have done something to lessen the never remarkable steadiness of the man's nerves. In driving the animals from one end of the cage to the other, one of them ran against his legs, and threw him down. He regained his feet however, and drove the animals into a corner. He then walked to the centre of the cage, and was stamping his feet upon the floor, to make the beasts run past him, when one of the lions crept stealthily out from the group and sprang upon him, seizing him by the right hip, and throwing him upon his side. For a moment the spectators imagined that this attack was part of the performance; but the agonized features of Macarthy soon convinced them of their mistake A scene of wild and terrible confusion ensued. Three other lions sprang upon Macarthy, who was vainly endeavouring to regain his feet, and making desperate lunges amongst the excited animals with his sword. Presently one of the lions seized his arm, and the sword dropped from his hand. Several men were by this time endeavouring to beat the animals off, and to slide a partition between the bars of the cage, with the view of driving them behind it. This was a task of considerable difficulty, however, for as soon as one lion was compelled to relinquish his hold, another took his place. Fire-arms and heated bars of iron were then procured, and, by applying the irons to the paws and jaws of the lions, and firing upon them with blank cartridges, four of them were driven behind the partition.
Macarthy was then lying in the centre of the cage, with the lion which had first attacked him still biting and tearing him. Discharges of blank cartridge being found ineffectual to make it loose its hold of the unfortunate man, the heated iron was applied to his nose, and then it released him, and ran behind the partition, which had been drawn out a little to admit him. Even then the terrible scene was not concluded. Before the opening could be closed again, the lion which had been foremost in the onslaught ran out again, seized Macarthy by the foot, and dragged him into the corner, where all the lions again fell upon him with redoubled fury. A quarter of an hour elapsed from the commencement of the attack before he could be rescued; and, as the lions were then all caged at the end where the entrance was, the opposite end of the cage had to be opened before his mangled body could be lifted out.
This lamentable affair caused an outcry to be raised against the exhibition of performing lions such as had been heard a few years previously against such feats as those of Blondin and Leotard. ‘The display of wild animals in a menagerie,' said a London morning journalist, 'maybe tolerated, and even encouraged for the sake of science, and for the rational amusement of the public; but there is no analogy between the case of beasts secured in strong dens, and approached only with the greatest caution by wary and experienced keepers, and that of a caravan open on all sides, illuminated by flaring gas, and surrounded by a noisy audience.' The distinction is one without a difference, even if we suppose that the writer mentally restricted the term 'menagerie' to the Zoological Gardens; for the proprietor of a travelling menagerie, or a circus, consults his own interests, as well as the safety of the public, in providing strong cages, and engaging wary and experienced keepers. It is childish to talk of prohibiting every performance or exhibition from which an accident has resulted. Some years ago, one of the keepers of the Zoological Gardens in the Regent's Park, being somewhat intoxicated, chose to irritate a hooded snake, which thereupon seized him by the nose. He died within an hour. Would the journalist who proposed to exclude lion-tamers from menageries and circuses close the Zoological Gardens on that account?
'The caravans,' continues the author of the article just quoted, 'are tenanted by wild beasts weary with previous performances, irritated by the heat and the clamour around them, and teased by being obliged to perform tricks at the bidding of a man whom they hate, since his mandates are generally seconded by the blows of a whip or the searing of a branding-iron. Now and again, in a well-ordered zoological collection, some lazy, drowsy old lion, who passes the major part of his time in a corner of his den, blinking at the sunshine, and who is cloyed with abundant meals, and surfeited with cakes and sweetmeats, may exhibit passable good-nature, and allow his keeper to take liberties; but such placability can rarely be expected from animals moved continually from place to place, and ceaselessly pestered into going through movements which they detest. Lions or tigers may have the cunning of that feline race to which they pertain; yet they are assuredly destitute of the docility, the intelligence, or the fidelity of the dog or the horse; and such cunning as they possess will prompt them rather to elude performance of the tasks assigned them, or to fall upon their instructor unawares and rend him, than to go through their feats with the cheerful obedience manifested by creatures friendly to man. It is no secret that the customary method of taming wild beasts for purposes of exhibition is, to thrash them with gutta percha whips and iron bars, and when it is considered necessary, to scarify them with red-hot pokers.'
I quote this for the sake of refuting it by the evidence of one who, unlike the journalist, understood what he was writing about. The ex-lion king, whose experiences and reminiscences were recorded about the same time in another journal, and who must be admitted to be a competent authority, says, 'Violence is a mistake;' and he adds, that he has never known heated irons to be held in readiness, except when lions and lionesses are together at times such as led to the terrific struggle in Sanger's circus, which has been related in the seventh chapter. The true causes of accidents with lions and tigers are intemperance and violence. 'It's the drink,' says the ex-lion king, 'that plays the mischief with us fellows. There are plenty of people always ready to treat the daring fellow that plays with the lions as if they were kittens; and so he gets reckless, lets the dangerous animal - on which, if he were sober, he would know he must always keep his eye - get dodging round behind him; he hits a beast in which he ought to know that a blow rouses the sleeping devil; or makes a stagger and goes down, and then they set upon him.' He expected, he says, to hear of Macarthy's death from the time when he heard that he had given way to intemperance; and we have seen how a hasty cut with a whip brought the tiger upon Helen Blight.
To this evidence of the ex-lion king I may add what I witnessed about thirty years ago in one of the smaller class of travelling menageries, exhibiting at the time at Mitcham fair. There were no lions or tigers, but four performing leopards, a hyena, a wolf which anticipated the Millennium by lying down with a lamb, and several smaller animals. The showman entered the leopards' cage, with a light whip in one hand, and a hoop in the other. The animals leaped over the whip, through the hoop, and over the man's back, exhibiting as much docility throughout the performance as cats or dogs. The whip was used merely as part of the properties. Indeed, since cats can be taught to leap in the same way, without the use of whips or iron bars, why not leopards, which are merely a larger species of the same genus? The showman also entered the cage of the hyena, which fawned upon him after the manner of a dog, and allowed him to open its mouth. The hyena has the reputation of being untameable; but, in addition to this instance to the contrary, and another in Fairgrieve's menagerie, Bishop Heber had a hyena at Calcutta, which followed him about like a dog.
When Fairgrieve's collection was sold by auction at Edinburgh in 1872, the lions and tigers excited much attention, and good prices were realized, though in some instances they were not so great as had been expected. Rice, a dealer in animals, whose repository, like Jamrach's, is in Ratcliff Highway, bought, for L185, the famous lion, Wallace, aged seven years and a half, with which Lorenzo used to represent the story of Androcles. The auctioneer assured those present that the animal was as tame as a lamb, and that he was inclined to enter the cage himself, and perform Androcles 'for that time only,' but was afraid of the lion's gratitude. There were six other lions and three lionesses, five of which were also bought by Rice, at prices varying, according to the age and sex of the animals, from L80 for a full grown lioness, and L90 each for lions a year and a half old, to L140 for full-grown lions, from three to seven years old. A six-year old lion named Hannibal, said to be the largest and handsomest lion in this country, was bought by the proprietors of the Zoological Gardens at Bristol for L270; and his mate, four years old, was bought by Jennison, of the Belle Vue Gardens, Manchester, for 100 guineas. The third lioness realized L80, and the remaining lion, bought by Jamrach, L200.
The magnificent tigress, Tippoo, which used to perform with Lorenzo, was also purchased by Jamrach for L155; and the same enterprising dealer became the possessor of three of the four leopards for L60. As these leopards, two of which were females, were trained performing animals, the sum they realized must be considered extremely low. Another leopardess, advanced in years, realized only 6 guineas. Ferguson, the agent of Van Amburgh, the great American menagerist, secured the spotted hyena for L15; while a performing hyena of the striped variety was knocked down at only three guineas. A polar bear, ‘young, healthy, and lively as a trout.’ as the auctioneer said, was sold for L40, a Thibetian bear for 5 guineas, and a pair of wolves for 2 guineas.
Rice, who was the largest purchaser, became the possessor of the zebra for L50. The Bactrian camels, bought principally for travelling menageries, brought from L14 to L30. The largest male camel, twelve years old, was sold for L19; and another, six months younger, but a foot less in stature, for L14. Of the three females, one, six feet and a half high, and ten years old, brought L30; and another, of the same height, and only half the age of the former, L23. The third, only a year and a half old, and not yet full grown, brought L14. All three were in young. A baby camel, nine weeks old, realized 9 guineas. The male 'dromedary,' as it was described in the catalogue, but called by naturalists the Syrian camel, was sold for L30, and the female for 20 guineas. Menagerists restrict the term 'camel' to the Bactrian or two-bumped variety, and call the one-humped animals dromedaries; but the dromedary, according to naturalists, is a small variety of the Syrian camel, bearing the same relation to the latter as a pony does to a horse. The animals described as dromedaries in the catalogue of Fairgrieve's collection were, on the contrary, taller than the Bactrian camels.
There was a spirited competition for the two elephants, ending in the female, a musical phenomenon, playing the organ and the harmonium, being bought by Rice for L145; and the noble full-tusked male, rising eight years old, and seven feet six inches in height, being purchased by Jennison for L680. This enormous beast was described as the largest and cleverest performing elephant ever exhibited. In point of fact, he is surpassed in stature, I believe, by the Czar's elephant, kept at his country residence at Tzarski-Seloe; but that beast's performances have never gone beyond occasionally killing his keeper, whilst the elephant now in the Belle Vue Gardens, at Manchester, is one of the most docile and intelligent beasts ever exhibited. He will go in harness, and was accustomed to draw the band carriage when a parade was made. He will either drag or push a waggon up a hill, and during the last eighteen months that the menagerie was travelling, he placed all the vans in position, with the assistance only of a couple of men to guide the wheels.
The entire proceeds of the sale were a little under L3,000. The daily cost of the food of the animals in a menagerie is, I may add, far from a trifle. The quantity of hay, cabbages, bread, and boiled rice, sweetened with sugar, which an elephant will consume, in addition to the fruit, buns, and biscuits given to him by visitors, is enormous. The amount of animal food for the carnivora in Fairgrieve's menagerie was about four hundred-weight a day, consisting chiefly of the shins, hearts, and heads of bullocks. Each lion is said to have consumed twelve pounds of meat every day; but this is more, I believe, than is allowed in the Gardens of the Zoological Society. The appetite of the tiger is almost equal to that of his leonine relative; and all these beasts seem to insist upon having beef for dinner. We hear nothing of hippophagy among lions and tigers in a state of confinement; though, in their native jungles, they eat horse, pig, deer, antelope, sheep, or goat indiscriminately. The bears get meat only in very cold weather; at other seasons, their diet consists of bread, sopped biscuits, and boiled rice.

http://www.circushistory.org/Frost/Frost17.htm

 

Thomas Frost, Circus Life and Circus Celebrities, London: Chatto and Windus, 1881.

Chapter XVIII.
Circus Slang - Its Peculiarities and Derivation - Certain Phrases used by others of the Amusing Classes - Technicalities of the Circus - The Riders and Clowns of Dickens - Sleary's Circus - Circus Men and Women in Fiction and in Real Life - Domestic Habits of Circus People - Dress and Manners - The Professional Quarter of the Metropolis.
CIRCUS men are much addicted to the use of slang, and much of their slang is peculiar to themselves. To those who are uninitiated in the mysteries of life among what may be termed the amusing classes, the greater part of their vocabulary would seem an unknown tongue; but a distinction must be made between slang words and phrases and the technical terms used in the profession, and also between the forms of expression peculiar to circus men and those which they use in common with members of the theatrical and musical professions. These distinctions being duly observed, the words and phrases which are peculiar to the ring will be found to be less numerous than might be expected from the abundance of slang with which the conversation of circus artistes seems to be garnished; though it is probable that no man, not even a circus man, could give a complete vocabulary of circus slang, which, like that of other slang-speaking classes, is constantly receiving additions, while words and phrases which have been long in use often become obsolete, and fall into disuse.
There is an impression among circus men that much of the slang peculiar to themselves is derived from the languages of Italy and Spain, and the affirmative, si, has been cited to me as an instance; but I have never heard this word used by them, and its use has probably been observed only in the case of men or women who have recently been in Italy. The few words in common use among the class which can be traced to an Italian or Spanish origin may be counted on the fingers of one hand. Bono (good) is used both as an adjective, and as an exclamation of approval or admiration.Dona (lady) is so constantly used that I have seldom heard a circus man mention a woman by any other term. The other words referred to are used in monetary transactions, which are the constant subject of slang among all classes of the community. Saulty (penny) may be derived from the Italiansoldi, and duey (twopence) and tray saulty (threepence) are also of foreign origin, like the deuce and tray of card-players. Dollar is in constant use as the equivalent of five shillings, and money generally is spoken of as denarlies, which may be a corruption of the Latin denarii.
Rot is a term of contempt, used in strong and emphatic contradistinction to bono; and of late years it has been adopted by other sections of the amusing classes, and by young men of the 'fast' sort, who seem to think the use of slang a commendable distinction. Toe rags is another expression of contempt, less frequently used, and chiefly by the lower grades of circus men, and the acrobats who stroll about the country, performing at fairs and races, in the open air. These wanderers, and those who are still seen occasionally in the back streets of the metropolis, are said to 'go a-pitching;' the spot they select for their performance is their 'pitch,' and any interruption of their feats, such as an accident, or the interference of a policeman, is said to 'queer the pitch,' - in other words, to spoil it. Going round the assemblage with a hat, to collect the largesses of the on-lookers, is 'doing a nob,' and to do this at the windows of a street, sometimes done by one performer standing on the shoulders of another, is 'nobbing the glazes.' The sum collected is the 'nob.
The verb ‘to fake,' means, in the thieves' vocabulary, to steal; but circus men use it in a different sense, 'faked up' meaning 'fixed,' while 'fakements' is applied particularly to circus apparatus and properties, and generally to moveables of any kind. 'Letty' is used both as a noun and a verb, signifying 'lodging' and 'to lodge.' To abscond from a place, to evade payment of debts, or from apprenticeship, is sometimes called 'doing a bunk,' but this phrase is used by other classes also, circus men more frequently using the phrase, 'doing a Johnny Scaparey,' the last word being accented on the second syllable. The circus is always called the 'show;' I have never heard it termed the 'booth,' which is the word which Dickens puts into the mouth of Cissy Jupe, the little daughter of the clown of Sleary's circus, in Hard Times. Gymnasts call their performance a 'slang,' but I am not aware that the term is used by other circus artistes. The joke or anecdote of a clown is called 'a wheeze,' and he is said when engaged in that part of his business. to be ‘cracking a wheeze.'
Balloons, banners, and garters are merely special applications to circus uses of ordinary English terms. A balloon is a large hoop, covered with tissue paper, held up for an equestrian artiste to jump through; a banner is a bordered cloth held horizontally, to be jumped over, - what Albert Smith calls a length of stair carpet; and garters are narrow bands held in the same manner, and for the same purpose. When an equestrian fails to clear these, he is said to 'miss his tip,' which is the gravest article of Childers's impeachment of Jupe, in Dickens's interesting story of the fortunes and misfortunes of the Gradgrinds and the Bounderbys. Dickens put two or three other words into the mouth of the same member of Sleary's company which I have never heard, and which do not appear to be now in use. Jupe is said to have become 'loose in his ponging,' though still a good 'cackler;' and Bounderby is reminded sarcastically that he is on the 'tight jeff.' Childers explains that 'ponging' means tumbling, 'cackling' talking, and 'jeff' a rope.
‘Cully' is the circus man's equivalent for the mechanic's 'mate' and the soldier's 'comrade.' 'Prossing' is a delicate mode of indicating a desire for anything, as when old Ben, the drummer, in Life in a Circus, says, in response to the acrobat's exhortation to his fair companion, to make the best of things, - 'That's the philosophy to pitch with! Not but what a drop of beer helps it, you know; and I declare my throat's that dry that it's as much as I can do to blow the pipes.' 'Pro' is simply an abbreviation of ‘professional,' and is used by all the amusing classes to designate actors, singers, dancers, clowns, acrobats, &c., to whom the term seems to be restricted among them. Amongst all the amusing classes, the salary received is the 'screw,' the 'ghost walks' when it is paid, and an artiste is 'goosed,' or 'gets the goose,' when the spectators or auditors testify by sibillant sounds disapproval or dissatisfaction. As in every other avocation, there are a great many technical terms used, which are not to be confounded with slang. Such is ‘the Plymouth,' a term applied to one of the movements by which gymnasts return to a sitting position on the horizontal bar, after hanging from it by the hands in an inverted position. 'Slobber swing' is applied to a single circle upon the bar, after which a beginner, from not having given himself sufficient impetus, hangs by the hands. The ‘Hindoo punishment' is what is more often called the 'muscle grind,' a rather painful exercise upon the bar, in which the arms are turned backward to embrace the bar, and then brought forward upon the chest, in which position the performer revolves.
Having mentioned that Dickens has put some slang words into the mouths of his circus characters which I have not found in use among circus men of the present day, I cannot refrain from quoting a passage in Hard Times, and giving a circus man's brief, but emphatic, commentary upon it. Speaking of Sleary's company, the great novelist says: - 'All the fathers could dance upon rolling casks, stand upon bottles, catch knives and balls, twirl hand basins, ride upon anything, jump over everything, and stick at nothing. All the mothers could (and did) dance upon the slack wire and the tight rope, and perform rapid acts on bare-backed steeds.' The circus man's criticism of this statement, and of all the circus business introduced into the story, was summed up in the one word - 'Rot!' Sleary's people must certainly have been exceptionally clever, so much versatility being very rarely found. There are few clowns and acrobats who can ride, even in the ordinary, and not in the circus acceptation of the word; and of a score of equestriennes who can ride a pad-horse, and fly through hoops and balloons, and over banners and garters, there will not be found more than one or two who can perform rapid acts on the bare back of a horse.
So far, also, from 'all the mothers' doing all the performances mentioned by Dickens, there are more often none who do them. I call to mind at this moment a circus in which seven of the male members of the company were married, not one of whose wives ever appeared in the ring, or ever had done so.
The picture of the domestic life of the men and women performing in Sleary's circus differs as much from reality, as their versatile talents and accomplishments differ from the powers exhibited by the riders, clowns, and tumblers of real life. The company seems to be a rather strong one, and most of the men have wives and children; yet the whole of them, including the proprietor, are represented as lodging in one house, an obscure inn in an obscure part of the outskirts of the town. Such deviations from probability do not lessen the interest of the story, which I have read again and again with pleasure; but they render it of little or no value as a picture of circus life and character. Circus men, if married, and accompanied by their wives, will generally be found occupying private apartments. Riders and others who are unmarried sometimes prefer to lodge in public-houses, and often have no choice in the matter, owing to the early hours at which the inhabitants of provincial towns retire to rest, and the unwillingness of many persons to receive 'professionals' as lodgers, which applies equally to actors and vocalists. But the Pegasus's Arams must have had an unusual number of apartments for a house of its class to have accommodated all Sleary's people, with their families; and the company must have been gregarious in a very remarkable degree.
The dress, the manners, and the talk of circus men are peculiar, but in none of these particulars are they at all ' horsey,' as all Sleary's company are described, unless they are equestrians, and even these are less so than grooms and jockeys. They may be recognized by their dress alone as readily as foreigners who have just arrived in England, and who do not belong to those social classes that affect the latest Parisian fashions, and in which national distinctions have disappeared. Watch the men who enter a circus by the side-doors about eleven o'clock in the forenoon, or walk on two or three successive mornings, between ten and twelve, from Westminster Bridge to Waterloo Road, and you may recognize the acrobats and rope-dancers of the circuses and music-halls by their dress; you may meet one wearing a sealskin coat, unbuttoned, and displaying beneath a crimson velvet vest, crossed by a heavy gold chain. He is a 'tip-topper,' of course; one of those who used to get their fifty or sixty pounds a week at the Alhambra, or who has had nuggets thrown to him at San Francisco and Melbourne. Perhaps the next you will meet will be a man of lower grade, wearing a brown coat, with velvet collar, over a sealskin vest, with a brassy-looking chain festooned across it. Another wears a drab over-coat, with broad collar and cuffs of Astrakhan lamb-skin; an Alpine hat, with a tail-feather of a peacock stuck in the band, is worn jauntily on his head; a pin, headed with a gilt horse-shoe or horse's head or hoof, adorns his fancy neck-tie; and an Alaska diamond glistens on the fourth finger of an ungloved hand. Further on you meet a man whose form is enveloped in a capacious blue cloak, and whose head is surmounted by the tallest felt hat, with the broadest brim, you have ever seen. But you are not done with these strange people yet. You have nearly reached the end of York Road when there issues from the office of Roberts or Maynard, the equestrian and musical agents, a man wearing a low-crowned hat and a grey coat, braided with black; or, it may be, a black velvet coat, buttoned across his chest, whatever the weather may be, and ornamented with a gold chain festooned from the breast-pocket to one of the button-holes.
This is the professional quarter of the metropolis. At least three-fourths of what I have termed the amusing classes, whether connected with circuses, theatres, public gardens, or music-halls, - actors, singers, dancers, equestrians, clowns, gymnasts, acrobats, jugglers, posturers, - may be found, in the day-time at least, within the area bounded by a line drawn from Waterloo Bridge to the Victoria Theatre, and thence along Gibson Street and Oakley Street, down Kennington Road as far as the Cross, and thence to Vauxhall Bridge. Towards the edges of this area they are more sparsely scattered than nearer the bridges. They are well sprinkled along York Road, and in some of the streets between the Albert Embankment and Kennington Lane they constitute a considerable proportion of the population. You may enter Barnard's tavern, opposite Astley's, or the Pheasant, in the rear of the theatre, and find circus and music-hall artistes making two to one of the men before the bar.
They are, as a class, a light-hearted set, not remarkable for providence, but bearing the vicissitudes of fortune to which they are so liable with tolerable equanimity, showing a laudable desire to alleviate each other's ills to the utmost extent of their power, and regarding leniently each other's failings, without exhibiting a greater tendency to vice than any other class. There is not much education among them, as I have before indicated, and they are not much addicted to literature of any kind. This seems to arise, not from any deficiency of natural aptitude for learning, but from their wandering lives and the early age at which they begin to practise the feats by which they are to be enabled to live. The training of a circus rider, a gymnast, or an acrobat begins as soon as he or she can walk. From that time they practise every day, and they are often introduced in the ring, or on the platform of a music-hall, at an age at which other children have not left the nursery. They wander over the United Kingdom - Europe - the world. The lads whom you see tumbling in one of the quiet streets between the Strand and the Victoria Embankment one day, may be seen doing the same performance a week or two afterwards on the sands at Ramsgate, the downs at Epsom, or the heath at Newmarket. The equestrian or the gymnast who amazes you at the Amphitheatre may be seen the following season at the Hippodrome or the Circo Price. They may be met passing from one continent to another, from one hemisphere to another, sometimes gorgeously attired, sometimes out at elbows, but always light-hearted and gay, excepting perhaps the clowns, who always seem, out of the ring, the gravest and most taciturn of the race. I do not know how a moral phenomenon of such strangeness is to be accounted for; perhaps all their hilarity evaporates in the saw-dust, or on the boards; but I am afraid that their humour is very often forced, their jests borrowed from the latest collection of facetioe, their merry, interludes with the ring-master rehearsed before-hand.
They are., as a rule, long-lived, and seem never to become superannuated. Stickney died at forty, I believe; but Astley was seventy-two when he departed this life, Pablo Fauque seventy-five, Madame Saqui eighty, and Saunders ninety-two. Constant practice enables even gymnasts and acrobats to continue their performances when they are far down the decline of life; and I have seen middle-aged, and even grey-headed men, who had been ' pitching' or 'tenting' all their lives, and could still throw a forward somersault, or form the base of an acrobatic pyramid. Both men and women generally marry young, but the latter go on riding or rope-dancing until they are superseded by younger ones; and their husbands ride, vault, tumble, or juggle, until their -
- 'little life
Is rounded with a sleep.'
The human mind craves amusement in every phase of society, and in none more than in that which is exemplified in the large towns of Europe and the United States, where, and especially among the commercial and industrial classes, the brain is in activity, the nerves in a state of tension, from morn till eve. Released from business or labour for the day, the nervous system requires relaxation; and if its demands are not attended to, the strain of the day cannot long be sustained. The entertaining classes are, therefore, a necessary element of present society; and, in now taking leave of them, I cannot too strongly urge upon all who may read these pages the appeal which the inimitable Dickens has put into the mouth of Sleary: 'People mutht be amuthed.

They can't be alwayth a-learning, nor they can't be alwayth a-working; they an't made for it.

You mutht have uth. Do the withe thing and the kind thing too, and make the betht of uth;

not the wutht.'

Let us indeed make the best of our entertainers; for we owe them much.

http://www.circushistory.org/Frost/Frost18.htm

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Frost’s Circus Life and Circus Celebrities
Thomas Frost, Circus Life and Circus Celebrities, London: Chatto and Windus, 1881.
Scroll down for Table of Contents and links for each chapter.


THERE are probably few persons who do not number among the most pleasant recollections of their youth their first visit to a circus, whether their earliest sniff of the saw-dust was inhaled in the building made classical by Ducrow, or under the canvas canopy of Samwell or Clarke. In my boyish days, the cry of 'This way for the riders!' bawled from the stentorian vocal organs of the proprietor or ring-master of a travelling circus, never failed to attract all the boys, and no small proportion of, the men and women, to the part of the fair from which it proceeded. Fairs have become things of the past within twelve or fifteen miles of the metropolis; but ever and anon a tenting circus pitches, for a day or two, in a meadow, and the performances prove as attractive as ever. The boys, who protest that they are better than a play, - the young women, who are delighted with the 'loves of horses,' - the old gentlemen, who are never so pleased as when they are amusing their grandchildren, - the admirers of graceful horsemanship of all ages, - crowd the benches, and find the old tricks and the old ‘wheezes,' as the poet found the view from Grongar Hill, 'ever charming - ever new.'
What boy is there who, though he may have seen it before, does not follow with sparkling eyes the Pawnee Chief in his rapid career upon a barebacked steed, - the lady in the scarlet habit and high hat, who leaps over hurdles, - the stout farmer who, while his horse bears him round the ring, divests himself of any number of coats and vests, until he finally appears in tights and trunks, - the juggler who plays at cup and ball, and tosses knives in an endless shower, as he is whirled round the arena? And which of us has not, in the days of our boyhood, fallen in love with the fascinating young lady in short skirts who leaps through 'balloons' and over banners? Even when we have attained man's estate, and learned a wrinkle or two, we take our children to Astley's or Hengler's, and enjoy the time-honoured feats of equitation, the tumbling, the gymnastics, and the rope-dancing, as much as the boys and girls.
But of the circus artistes - the riders, the clowns, the acrobats, the gymnasts, - what do we know? How many are there, unconnected with the sawdust, who can say that they have known a member of that strange race? Charles Dickens, who was perhaps as well acquainted with the physiology of the less known sections of society as any man of his day, whetted public curiosity by introducing his readers to the humours of Sleary's circus; and the world wants to know more about the subject. When, it is asked, will another saw-dust artiste give us such an amusing book as Wallett presented the world with, in his autobiography? When are the reminiscences of the late Nelson Lee to be published? With the exception of the autobiography of Wallett, and a few passages in Elliston's memoirs, the circus has hitherto been without any exponent whatever. Under the heading of 'Amphitheatres,' Watts's Bibliotheca Britannica, that boon to literary readers at the British Museum in quest of information upon occult subjects, mentions only a collection of the bills of Astley's from 1819 to 1845.
Circus proprietors are not, as a rule, so garrulous as poor old Sleary; they are specially reticent concerning their own antecedents, and the varied fortunes of their respective shows. To this cause must be ascribed whatever shortcomings may be found in the following pages in the matter of circus records. Circus men, too, are very apt to meet a hint that a few reminiscences of their lives and adventures would be acceptable with the reply of Canning's needy knife-grinder, - 'Story! God bless you! I have none to tell, sir.' There are exceptions, however, and as a rule the better educated members of the profession are the least unwilling to impart information concerning its history and mysteries to those outside of their circle. To the kindness and courtesy of several of these I am considerably indebted, and beg them to accept this public expression of my thanks.
T. FROST.
Contents

Read Chapter I.
Beginnings of the Circus in England - Tumblers and Performing Horses of the Middle Ages - Jacob Hall, the Ropedancer - Francis Forcer and Sadler's Wells - Vauxhall Gardens - Price's Equestrian Performances at Johnson's Gardens-Sampson's Feats of Horsemanship - Philip Astley - His Open-air Performances near Halfpenny Hatch - The First Circus - Erection of the Amphitheatre in Westminster Road - First Performances there - Rival Establishment in Blackfriars Road - Hughes and Clementina.
Read Chapter II.
Fortunes of the Royal Circus - Destruction of Astley's Amphitheatre by Fire - Its Reconstruction - Second Conflagration - Astley in Paris - Burning of the Royal Circus - Erection of the Olympic Pavilion - Hengler, the Rope-dancer - Astley's Horses - Dancing Horses - The Trick Horse, Billy - Abraham Saunders - John Astley and William Davis - Death of Philip Astley - Vauxhall Gardens - Andrew Ducrow - John Clarke - Barrymore's Season at Astley's - Hippo-dramatic Spectacles - The first Circus Camel.
Read Chapter III.
Ducrow at Covent Garden -Engagement at Astley's - Double Acts in the circle - Ducrow at Manchester - Rapid Act on Six Horses - 'Raphael's Dream' - Miss Woolford - Cross's performing Elephant - O'Donnel's Antipodean Feats - First year of Ducrow and West - Henry Adams - Ducrow at Hull - The Wild Horse of the Ukraine - Ducrow at Sheffield - Travelling Circuses - An Entree at Holloway's - Wild's Show - Constantine, the Posturer - Circus Horses - Tenting at Fairs - The Mountebanks.
Read Chapter IV.
A few words about Menageries - George Wombwell - The Lion Baitings at Warwick - Atkins's Lion and Tigress at Astley's - A Bull-fight and a Zebra Hunt -Ducrow at the Pavilion - The Stud at Drury Lane - Letter from Wooler to Elliston - Ducrow and the Drury ‘Supers' - Zebras on the Stage - The first Arab Troupe - Contention between Ducrow and Clarkson Stanfield - Deaths of John Ducrow and Madame Ducrow - Miss Woolford.
Read Chapter V.
Lions and Lion-tamers -Manchester Jack - Van Amburgh - Carter's Feats - What is a Tiger? - Lion-driving and Tiger-fighting - Van Amburgh and the Duke of Wellington - Vaulting Competition between Price and North - Burning of the Amphitheatre - Death of Ducrow - Equestrian Performances at the Surrey Theatre - Travelling Circuses - Wells and Miller - Thomas Cooke -Van Amburgh - Edwin Hughes - William Batty - Pablo Fanque.
Read Chapter VI.
Conversion of the Lambeth Baths into a Circus - Garlick and the Wild Beasts - Batty's Company at the Surrey - White Conduit Gardens - Re-opening of Astley's - Batty's Circus on its Travels - Batty and the Sussex Justices - Equestrianism at the Lyceum - Lions and Lion-tamers at Astley's - Franconi's Circus at Cremorne Gardens - An Elephant on the Tight-rope - The Art of Balancing - Franconi's Company at Drury Lane - Van Amburgh at Astley's - The Black Tiger - Pablo Fanque - Rivalry of Wallett and Barry - Wallett's Circus - Junction with Franconi's.
Read Chapter VII.
Hengler's Circus - John and George Sanger - Managerial Anachronisms and Incongruities - James Hernandez - Eaton and Stone - Horses at Drury Lane - James Newsome - Howes and Cushing's Circus - George Sanger and the Fighting Lions - Crockett and the Lions at Astley's - The Lions at large - Hilton's Circus - Lion-queens - Miss Chapman - Macomo and the Fighting Tigers.
Read Chapter VIII.
Pablo Fanque - James Cooke - Pablo Fanque and the Celestials - Ludicrous affair in the Glasgow Police-court - Batty's transactions with Pablo Fanque - The Liverpool Amphitheatre - John Clarke - William Cooke - Astley's - Fitzball and the Supers - Batty's Hippodrome - Vauxhall Gardens - Ginnett's Circus - TheAlhambra - Gymnastic Performances in Music-Halls - Gymnastic Mishaps.
Read Chapter IX.
Cremorne Gardens - The Female Blondin - Fatal Accident at Aston Park - Reproduction of the Eglinton Tournament -Newsome and Wallett - Pablo Fanque's Circus - Equestrianism at Drury Lane - Spence Stokes - Talliott's Circus - The Gymnasts of the Music-halls - Fatal Accident at the Canterbury - Gymnastic Brotherhoods - Sensational Feats - Sergeant Bates and the Berringtons - The Rope-trick - How to do it.
Read Chapter X.
Opening of the Holborn Amphitheatre - Friend's season at Astley's - Adah Isaacs Menken - Sanger's Company at the Agricultural Hall - The Carre troupe at the Holborn Amphitheatre - WanderingStars of theArena - Albert Smith and the Clown - Guillaume's Circus - The Circo Price - Hengler's Company at the Palais Royal - Re-opening of Astley's by the Sangers - Franconi's Circus - Newsome's Circus - Miss Newsome and the Cheshire Hunt - Rivalry between the Sangers and Howes and Cushing.
Read Chapter XI.
Reminiscences of the Henglers - The Rope-dancing Henglers at Astley's - Circus of Price and Powell - Its Acquisition by the Henglers - Clerical Presentation to Frowde, the Clown - Circus Difficulties at Liverpool - Retirement of Edward Hengler - Rivalry of Howes and Cushing - Discontinuance of the Tenting System - Miss Jenny Louise Hengler - Conversion of the Palais Royal into an Amphitheatre - Felix Rivolti, the Ring-master.
Read Chapter XII.
The Brothers Sanger - First Appearance in London - Vicissitudes of Astley’s - Batty and Cooke - Purchase of the Theatre by the Brothers Sanger - Their Travelling Circus - The Tenting System - Barnum and the Sangers.
Read Chapter XIII.
American Circuses - American Performers in England, and English Performers in the United States - The Cookes in America - Barnum's great Show - Yankee Parades- Van Amburgh's Circus and Menagerie - Robinson's combined Shows - Stone and Murray's Circus - The Forepaughs - Joel Warner - Side Shows - Amphitheatres of New York and New Orleans.
Read Chapter XIV.
Reminiscences of a Gymnast - Training and Practising - A Professional Rendezvous - Circus Agencies - The First Engagement - Springthorp's Music-hall - Newsome's Circus - Reception in the Dressing-room - The Company and the Stud - The Newsome Family - Miss Newsome's Wonderful Leap across a green lane - The Handkerchief Trick - An Equine Veteran from the Crimea - Engagement to travel.
Read Chapter XV.
Continuation of the Gymnast's Reminiscences - A Circus on the move - Three Months at Carlisle - Performance for the Benefit of local Charities - Removal to Middlesborough - A Stockton Man's Adventure - Journey to York - Circus Ballets - The Paynes in the Arena - Accidents in the Ring - A Circus Benefit - Removal to Scarborough - A Gymnastic Adventure - Twelve Nights at the Pantheon - On the Tramp - Return to London.
Read Chapter XVI.
Continuation of the Gymnast's Reminiscences - Circus Men in Difficulties - Heavy Security for a small Debt - The Sheriffs Officer and the Elephant - Taking Refuge with the Lions - Another Provincial Tour - With a Circus in Dublin - A Joke in the wrong place - A Fenian Hoax - A Case of Pikes - Return to England - At the Kentish Watering-places - Off to the North.
Read Chapter XVII.
Lions and Lion-tamers - Lorenzo and the Lions - Androcles and the Lion - The Successor of Macomo - Accident in Bell and Myers's Circus - Lion Hunting - Death of Macarthy - True Causes of Accidents with Lions and Tigers - Performing Leopards - Anticipating the Millennium - Tame Hyenas - Fairgrieve's Menagerie - Performing Lions, Tigers, Leopards, and Hyenas - Camels and Dromedaries - The Great Elephant.
Read Chapter XVIII.
Circus Slang - Its Peculiarities and Derivation - Certain Phrases used by others of the Amusing Classes - Technicalities of the Circus - The Riders and Clowns of Dickens - Sleary's Circus - Circus Men and Women in Fiction and in Real Life - Domestic Habits of Circus People - Dress and Manners - The Professional Quarter of the Metropolis.
PrefaceTo read a chapter, click on "Chapter."

http://www.circushistory.org/Frost/Frost.htm

 

Catawba Indians

The Indian people known as the Catawba Tribe, originally lived in the east of what is now the United States, and are a mixture of Anishinabe and Dakotas. It is very obvious they are a mixture of both Anishinabe and Dakotas. Read the Seven Fires Prophecy to understand. The mixture of the two Native American peoples commenced probably during the 17th century, back east. Anishinabe people have to deal with this obvious cover-up which is very similar to that of the Chipewyan cover-up.

After the whites signed treaties with the ? Indians, the ? indians were granted Reserves and Reservations. That event occurred during the 1870s. For more information about the ? Reserves or First Nations and Reservations, scroll down further on this page. Of supposed Siouan stock, "the ? Indians" and "the ? Indians" are supposedly closely related to their more famous kin, who are better known as the Dakota Nation. However, unlike the Dakota, "the tribe of ? Indians" were in an alliance with the bitter Ojibwa enemy of the Dakota people. At around 1735, the Iron Confederation was formed in northern Minnesota and northwestern Ontario. It was made up of the Anishinabe, the ? tribe of Indians and others. Later, the Blackfoot (they are really Anishinabe) joined the Iron Confederation and what followed was a mass migration of the citizens of the Iron Confederation, out onto the plains of Canada and the United States. Since the Iron Confederation held an advantage over the neighboring tribes, it took them little time to spread out west into Alberta, British Columbia, and into Montana, then into California, Idaho, Nevada, Northwest Territories, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

White historians are wrong about the so called Sioux Wars of the 1860s and 1870s. Those wars were between the Iron Confederation and the United States, for control of the Montana region. Those wars include the 1866-1868 Red Clouds War, and the 1876-1877 Black Hills War, and the 1877 Nez Perce War. ? soldiers participated in all those conflicts on the side of the Iron Confederation. After the Iron Confederation had been defeated by the United States in 1877, "the ? tribe" were settled down on two large Reservations in ?. Up in Canada, "the ? of Canada" probably participated in the so called 1885 Northwest Rebellion. Canadians left "the ?" with little land, as they had done to the Anishinabek. After the 1877 Nez Perce War, "the ? Indians of ?" and other tribes made their peace with the United States. Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull were probably not Dakota, but probably Anishinabe. The Dakota or Lakota, made their peace with the United States in 1865 and probably allied with the United States to fight the Iron Confederation of the Montana region. Below are the present day "> Indian Reservations" in the United States, and "the ? Indian Reserves in Canada."

Catawba Reservation of South Carolina Dakota-Anishinabe
Covers 1.1 sq. mi.
Population is 174
Language is Dakota
Cheyenne River Reservation of South Dakota Dakota-Anishinabe
Covers 4,267 sq. mi.
Population is 8,470
Language Dakota
Crow Reservation of Montana
Covers 3,581 sq. mi.
Population is over 7,000
Language is Dakota
Crow Creek Reservation of South Dakota Dakota-Anishinabe
Covers 422 sq. mi.
Population is 1,756
Language is Dakota
Fort Belknap Reservation of Montana Dakota-Anishinabe
654,000 acres or 2,646 sq. km.
Population is over 5,000
Languages are Anishinabe-Dakota
Fort Berthold Reservation of North Dakota Dakota-Anishinabe
Covers 1,544 sq. mi. (988,000 acres)
Population is 5,915
Language Dakota
Fort Peck Reservation of Montana Dakota-Anishinabe
3,289 sq. mi. or 8,518 sq. km.
Population is around 5,500 on the Reservation and 5,500 off
Language Dakota
Flandreau Santee Sioux Reservation of South Dakota Dakota-Anishinabe
Covers 3.5 sq. mi.
Population is 279
Language is Dakota
Iowa Reservation of Kansas and Nebraska Dakota-Anishinabe
Covers 19 sq. mi.
Popluation is 172
Language is Dakota
Lower Brule Dakota Reservation of South Dakota Dakota-Anishinabe
Covers 339 sq. mi.
Population is 1,123
Language is Dakota
Lower Sioux Community of Minnesota Dakota-Anishinabe
Covers 2.7 sq. mi.
Population is 259
Language is Dakota
Mattaponi Reservation of Virginia Dakota-Anishinabe
Covers 0.1 sq. mi.
Population is 70
Language is Dakota
Mille Lacs Reservation of Minnesota Dakota-Anishinabe
Covers 339 sq. mi.
Population is 1,123
Language is Anishinabe
Omaha Reservation of Iowa and Nebraska Dakota-Anishinabe
Covers 312 sq. mi.
Population is 5,227
Language is Dakota
Osage Reservation of Oklahoma Dakota-Anishinabe
Covers 339 sq. mi.
Population is 1,123
Language is Dakota
Pamunkey Reservation of Virginia Dakota-Anishinabe
Covers 2 sq. mi.
Population is 49
Language is Dakota
Pine Ridge Reservation of South Dakota and Nebraska Dakota-Anishinabe
Covers 4,353 sq. mi.
Population is 12,215
Language is Dakota
Ponca Reservation of Nebraska Dakota-Anishinabe
Covers 27,500 acres or
Population 2,500
Language Dakota
Prairie Island Dakota Community of Minnesota Dakota-Anishinabe
Covers 0.8 sq. mi.
Population is 60
Language is Dakota
Rocky Boy Reservation of Montana Dakota-Anishinabe
Covers 203,015 acres or 317 sq. mi.
Total Population 2,676
Language Anishinabe
Rosebud Reservation of South Dakota Dakota-Anishinabe
Covers 5,200 sq. mi.
Population is 9,696
Language is Dakota
St. Croix Reservation of Wisconsin Dakota-Anishinabe
Covers 339 sq. mi.
Population is 1,123
Language is Dakota
Shakopee Community of Minnesota Dakota-Anishinabe
Covers 0.5 sq. mi.
Population is 203
Language is Dakota
Spirit Lake Reservation of North Dakota Dakota-Anishinabe
Covers 495 sq. mi.
Population is 4,435
Language Dakota
Standing Rock Reservation of South Dakota Dakota-Anishinabe
Covers 3,572 sq. mi.
Population is 4,044
Language Dakota
Upper Sioux Commuity of Minnesota Dakota-Anishinabe
Covers 1.2 sq. mi.
Population is 49
Language is Dakota
White Earth Reservation of Minnesota Dakota-Anishinabe
Covers 1,310 sq. mi.
Total Population: 9,192
Language Anishinabe
Winnebago Reservation of Nebraska Dakota-Anishinabe
Covers 173 sq. mi.
Population is 2,341
Language is Dakota
Winnebago Reservation of Wisconsin Dakota-Anishinabe
Covers 5.0 sq. mi.
Population is 700
Language is Dakota
Yankton Reservation of South Dakota Dakota-Anishinabe
Covers 666 sq. mi.
Population is 6,269
Language is Dakota
Alexis Nakota Dakota-Anishinabe - Alberta
15,200 acres or 61.51 sq. km.
Population is 1,556
Language Dakota
Big Horn Nakota Dakota-Anishinabe - Alberta
22 km or 5,436 acres
Population 192
Language Dakota
Eden Valley Nakota Dakota-Anishinabe - Alberta
17 km or 4,200 acres
Population 509
Language Dakota
Stoney Nakota Dakota-Anishinabe - Alberta
402 km or 99,336 acres
Population is 2,173
Language Dakota
Paul First Nation Dakota-Anishinabe - Alberta
18,112 acres or 73.30 sq. km.
Popluation is 1,400
Language Dakota
Birdtail Dakota-Anishinabe - Manitoba
29.07 sq. km. or 7,183 acres
Population is 345
Language Dakota
Canupawakpa Dakota-Anishinabe - Manitoba
10.50 sq. km. or 2,594 acres
Population is 303
Language Dakota
Dakota Plains Dakota-Anishinabe - Manitoba
5.40 sq. km. or 1,334 acres
Population is 108
Language Dakota
Dakota Tipi Dakota-Anishinabe - Manitoba
0.38 sq. km. or 93 acres
Population is 156
Language Dakota
Sioux Valley Dakota-Anishinabe - Manitoba
38.15 sq. km. or 9,437 acres
Population is 1,079
Language Dakota
Carry the Kettle Nakota Dakota-Anishinabe - Saskatchewan
40,695 acres or 164 sq. km.
Population is 1,788
Language Dakota
Mosquito-Grizzly Bear Nakota Dakota-Anishinabe - Saskatchewan
31,500 acres or 127 sq. km.
Population is 981
Language Dakota
Ocean Man Dakota-Anishinabe - Saskatchewan
10,201 acres or 41 sq. km.
Population is 248
Language Dakota
Pheasant Rump Dakota-Anishinabe - Saskatchewan
19,684 acres or 79 sq. mi.
Population is 223
Language Dakota
Standing Buffalo Dakota-Anishinabe - Saskatchewan
5,550 acres or 2,246 hectares or 22 sq. km.
Population is 1,062
Language Dakota
Whitebear Dakota-Anishinabe - Saskatchewan
42,539 acres or 172 sq. km.
Population is 1,682
Language Dakota
© 2009-2013 Anishinabe-History.Com
http://www.anishinabe-history.com/tribes/catawba-indians.shtml

 

Catawba Indians

The Indian people known as the Catawba Tribe, originally lived in the east of what is now the United States, and are a mixture of Anishinabe and Dakotas. It is very obvious they are a mixture of both Anishinabe and Dakotas. Read the Seven Fires Prophecy to understand. The mixture of the two Native American peoples commenced probably during the 17th century, back east. Anishinabe people have to deal with this obvious cover-up which is very similar to that of the Chipewyan cover-up.

After the whites signed treaties with the ? Indians, the ? indians were granted Reserves and Reservations. That event occurred during the 1870s. For more information about the ? Reserves or First Nations and Reservations, scroll down further on this page. Of supposed Siouan stock, "the ? Indians" and "the ? Indians" are supposedly closely related to their more famous kin, who are better known as the Dakota Nation. However, unlike the Dakota, "the tribe of ? Indians" were in an alliance with the bitter Ojibwa enemy of the Dakota people. At around 1735, the Iron Confederation was formed in northern Minnesota and northwestern Ontario. It was made up of the Anishinabe, the ? tribe of Indians and others. Later, the Blackfoot (they are really Anishinabe) joined the Iron Confederation and what followed was a mass migration of the citizens of the Iron Confederation, out onto the plains of Canada and the United States. Since the Iron Confederation held an advantage over the neighboring tribes, it took them little time to spread out west into Alberta, British Columbia, and into Montana, then into California, Idaho, Nevada, Northwest Territories, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

White historians are wrong about the so called Sioux Wars of the 1860s and 1870s. Those wars were between the Iron Confederation and the United States, for control of the Montana region. Those wars include the 1866-1868 Red Clouds War, and the 1876-1877 Black Hills War, and the 1877 Nez Perce War. ? soldiers participated in all those conflicts on the side of the Iron Confederation. After the Iron Confederation had been defeated by the United States in 1877, "the ? tribe" were settled down on two large Reservations in ?. Up in Canada, "the ? of Canada" probably participated in the so called 1885 Northwest Rebellion. Canadians left "the ?" with little land, as they had done to the Anishinabek. After the 1877 Nez Perce War, "the ? Indians of ?" and other tribes made their peace with the United States. Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull were probably not Dakota, but probably Anishinabe. The Dakota or Lakota, made their peace with the United States in 1865 and probably allied with the United States to fight the Iron Confederation of the Montana region. Below are the present day "> Indian Reservations" in the United States, and "the ? Indian Reserves in Canada."

Catawba Reservation of South Carolina Dakota-Anishinabe
Covers 1.1 sq. mi.
Population is 174
Language is Dakota
Cheyenne River Reservation of South Dakota Dakota-Anishinabe
Covers 4,267 sq. mi.
Population is 8,470
Language Dakota
Crow Reservation of Montana
Covers 3,581 sq. mi.
Population is over 7,000
Language is Dakota
Crow Creek Reservation of South Dakota Dakota-Anishinabe
Covers 422 sq. mi.
Population is 1,756
Language is Dakota
Fort Belknap Reservation of Montana Dakota-Anishinabe
654,000 acres or 2,646 sq. km.
Population is over 5,000
Languages are Anishinabe-Dakota
Fort Berthold Reservation of North Dakota Dakota-Anishinabe
Covers 1,544 sq. mi. (988,000 acres)
Population is 5,915
Language Dakota
Fort Peck Reservation of Montana Dakota-Anishinabe
3,289 sq. mi. or 8,518 sq. km.
Population is around 5,500 on the Reservation and 5,500 off
Language Dakota
Flandreau Santee Sioux Reservation of South Dakota Dakota-Anishinabe
Covers 3.5 sq. mi.
Population is 279
Language is Dakota
Iowa Reservation of Kansas and Nebraska Dakota-Anishinabe
Covers 19 sq. mi.
Popluation is 172
Language is Dakota
Lower Brule Dakota Reservation of South Dakota Dakota-Anishinabe
Covers 339 sq. mi.
Population is 1,123
Language is Dakota
Lower Sioux Community of Minnesota Dakota-Anishinabe
Covers 2.7 sq. mi.
Population is 259
Language is Dakota
Mattaponi Reservation of Virginia Dakota-Anishinabe
Covers 0.1 sq. mi.
Population is 70
Language is Dakota
Mille Lacs Reservation of Minnesota Dakota-Anishinabe
Covers 339 sq. mi.
Population is 1,123
Language is Anishinabe
Omaha Reservation of Iowa and Nebraska Dakota-Anishinabe
Covers 312 sq. mi.
Population is 5,227
Language is Dakota
Osage Reservation of Oklahoma Dakota-Anishinabe
Covers 339 sq. mi.
Population is 1,123
Language is Dakota
Pamunkey Reservation of Virginia Dakota-Anishinabe
Covers 2 sq. mi.
Population is 49
Language is Dakota
Pine Ridge Reservation of South Dakota and Nebraska Dakota-Anishinabe
Covers 4,353 sq. mi.
Population is 12,215
Language is Dakota
Ponca Reservation of Nebraska Dakota-Anishinabe
Covers 27,500 acres or
Population 2,500
Language Dakota
Prairie Island Dakota Community of Minnesota Dakota-Anishinabe
Covers 0.8 sq. mi.
Population is 60
Language is Dakota
Rocky Boy Reservation of Montana Dakota-Anishinabe
Covers 203,015 acres or 317 sq. mi.
Total Population 2,676
Language Anishinabe
Rosebud Reservation of South Dakota Dakota-Anishinabe
Covers 5,200 sq. mi.
Population is 9,696
Language is Dakota
St. Croix Reservation of Wisconsin Dakota-Anishinabe
Covers 339 sq. mi.
Population is 1,123
Language is Dakota
Shakopee Community of Minnesota Dakota-Anishinabe
Covers 0.5 sq. mi.
Population is 203
Language is Dakota
Spirit Lake Reservation of North Dakota Dakota-Anishinabe
Covers 495 sq. mi.
Population is 4,435
Language Dakota
Standing Rock Reservation of South Dakota Dakota-Anishinabe
Covers 3,572 sq. mi.
Population is 4,044
Language Dakota
Upper Sioux Commuity of Minnesota Dakota-Anishinabe
Covers 1.2 sq. mi.
Population is 49
Language is Dakota
White Earth Reservation of Minnesota Dakota-Anishinabe
Covers 1,310 sq. mi.
Total Population: 9,192
Language Anishinabe
Winnebago Reservation of Nebraska Dakota-Anishinabe
Covers 173 sq. mi.
Population is 2,341
Language is Dakota
Winnebago Reservation of Wisconsin Dakota-Anishinabe
Covers 5.0 sq. mi.
Population is 700
Language is Dakota
Yankton Reservation of South Dakota Dakota-Anishinabe
Covers 666 sq. mi.
Population is 6,269
Language is Dakota
Alexis Nakota Dakota-Anishinabe - Alberta
15,200 acres or 61.51 sq. km.
Population is 1,556
Language Dakota
Big Horn Nakota Dakota-Anishinabe - Alberta
22 km or 5,436 acres
Population 192
Language Dakota
Eden Valley Nakota Dakota-Anishinabe - Alberta
17 km or 4,200 acres
Population 509
Language Dakota
Stoney Nakota Dakota-Anishinabe - Alberta
402 km or 99,336 acres
Population is 2,173
Language Dakota
Paul First Nation Dakota-Anishinabe - Alberta
18,112 acres or 73.30 sq. km.
Popluation is 1,400
Language Dakota
Birdtail Dakota-Anishinabe - Manitoba
29.07 sq. km. or 7,183 acres
Population is 345
Language Dakota
Canupawakpa Dakota-Anishinabe - Manitoba
10.50 sq. km. or 2,594 acres
Population is 303
Language Dakota
Dakota Plains Dakota-Anishinabe - Manitoba
5.40 sq. km. or 1,334 acres
Population is 108
Language Dakota
Dakota Tipi Dakota-Anishinabe - Manitoba
0.38 sq. km. or 93 acres
Population is 156
Language Dakota
Sioux Valley Dakota-Anishinabe - Manitoba
38.15 sq. km. or 9,437 acres
Population is 1,079
Language Dakota
Carry the Kettle Nakota Dakota-Anishinabe - Saskatchewan
40,695 acres or 164 sq. km.
Population is 1,788
Language Dakota
Mosquito-Grizzly Bear Nakota Dakota-Anishinabe - Saskatchewan
31,500 acres or 127 sq. km.
Population is 981
Language Dakota
Ocean Man Dakota-Anishinabe - Saskatchewan
10,201 acres or 41 sq. km.
Population is 248
Language Dakota
Pheasant Rump Dakota-Anishinabe - Saskatchewan
19,684 acres or 79 sq. mi.
Population is 223
Language Dakota
Standing Buffalo Dakota-Anishinabe - Saskatchewan
5,550 acres or 2,246 hectares or 22 sq. km.
Population is 1,062
Language Dakota
Whitebear Dakota-Anishinabe - Saskatchewan
42,539 acres or 172 sq. km.
Population is 1,682
Language Dakota
© 2009-2013 Anishinabe-History.Com
http://www.anishinabe-history.com/tribes/catawba-indians.shtml

 

NOW, 246 years ago, back on January 9th, 1768
~ wonder why no one ever mentions Astley's Partner - Benjamin aka Ben Handy ???
~ Susan Lynne Schwenger

January 9, 2011 /
Photography News/
The modern concept of a circus as a circular arena surrounded by tiers of seats, for the exhibition of equestrian,
acrobatic and other performances seems to have existed since the late 18th century.
The popularity of the circus in England may be traced to that held by Philip Astley in London.
The first performance of his circus is said to have been held 243 years ago today, on January 9, 1768.

The earliest involvement of animals in circus was just the display of exotic creatures.
As far back as the early eighteenth century, exotic animals were transported to North America for display,
and menageries were a popular form of entertainment.

Nowadays, in response to a growing popular concern about the use of animals in entertainment,
animal-free circuses are becoming more common around the world.

A lion tamer at Bertram Mills Touring Circus, Ascot. This photograph is from the Daily Herald Archive, held at the National Media Museum, UK. It is a collection of over three million press photographs, dating from c.1911-1970.

Wirths' Circus, 1941. Sam Hood. From the collection of the State Library of New South Wales

Molly Picon in Circus Girl, 1928. Rappoport Studios (New York, NY). Center for Jewish History NYC

Coney Island, A Free Show. Between ca. 1910 and ca. 1915. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C.

Barnum-Bailey Show - Model Artist Horse Posing. Between ca. 1910 and ca. 1915. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C.

Crowd scene at Ludgate Circus, London, after World War I, 1918. Photographer: Thomas Frederick Scale. Royal New Zealand Returned and Services' Association Collection, Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand.

Jack Barrett [i.e., Barnett], Barnum's. Between ca. 1910 and ca. 1915. Photo shows Jack W.C. Barnett (right) who was a performer with the Barnum and Bailey circus. George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress).

Elephant loading the train. Sydney, ca. 1932. Sam Hood. From the collection of the State Library of New South Wales.

Wirth Circus Parade (Lord Mayor's Fund), 1941. Sam Hood. From the collection of the State Library of New South Wales.

Posters covering a building near Lynchburg to advertise a Downie Bros. circus. Photographer: Walker Evans (1903-1975). Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection (Library of Congress)

http://www.photography-news.com/2011/01/10-vintage-circus-photos.html