BARNUM'S BIG SHOW



1883 posters

 

The Cortland News, Friday, July 11, 1884.

BARNUM’S BIG SHOW

   Is coming right soon. The colossal combination of great shows, owned by Messrs. Barnum, Bailey and Hutchinson have been rendered more attractive than ever before by the expenditure of four hundred thousand dollars since the close of last season. One-half of this sum was expended in searching for and securing the sacred white elephant of Siam, the genuineness of the rare and beautiful animal being vouched for by the original bills of sale from the Siamese authorities, and a bill of lading made out and signed by the British Consul at Bangkok.

   Jumbo, the biggest living, breathing creature on the face of the globe, comes back with the Barnum combination, for which he was obtained at a fabulous sum. Jumbo has grown in height since last season, and is more than ever a towering wonder of an intelligent beast, realizing what a mammoth really is like.

   There are forty elephants in the colossal show, exclusive of the sacred white animal from Siam and the gigantic Jumbo. A new and complete feature is the Ethnological Congress composed of Hindoos, Todas, Soudan Nubians, Cannibals, Aztecs, Nautch Girls, Zulus, Affghans and Sioux Indians.

   There are three hundred performers with the show, who give simultaneous performances in three rings, and on an elevated stage, introducing acrobatic acts, daring and graceful feats of equestrianism, trapeze, tight rope, and high wire acts, juvenile velocipede riders, comic skaters, promenade of nature's freaks.

   In this procession of wonders are Chang, the Chinese giant, a pair of dwarfs, the fattest of fat girls, a lady with luxurious hair trailing below her feet, a bearded woman. The hippodrome is more complete than ever before. The races run comprise flat and hurdle races, Roman standing races, classical races, foot races, wheel-barrow races, races between men and horses, foot races, a great obstacle race with forty competitors.

   The zoological department has been rendered very complete. Forty elephants appear in the rings and perform numerous tricks under the direction of their trainers. Herds of dromedaries are harnessed to golden chariots, which they draw around the racing track. Dens of lions, tigers, leopards, bears, hyenas, panthers, cougars are driven through the arena, the keepers performing with the ferocious beasts in full view of the audiences.

   The Barnum show, as at present constituted, consists of nine shows in one, with an unequaled array of curiosities and a big regiment of talented performers; and on the occasion of its certain visit to Cortland P. T. Barnum himself, the head of the great managerial trio, expects to shed the light of his countenance upon his ever approving patrons.

 

CORPORATION PROCEEDINGS.

   At a regular meeting of the Board of Trustees of Cortland, held at Firemen's Hall in Cortland, N. Y. on the 7th day of July, 1884, at 8 o'clock P. M.

   Present — D . E. Smith, president; George C. Hubbard, Wm. B. Stoppard, G. W. Bradford and Theo. Stevenson, trustees.

   The minutes of the last two meetings were read and approved.

   On motion, the following bills were allowed and ordered paid: [routine itemized bills omitted by CC editor.]

   It was moved and carried, that the president appoint a committee of two members of the Board to confer with the officers of the Bell Telephone Co. relative to running their lines through the streets of the village and the placing of an instrument at the engine house pursuant to a prior agreement on the part of said company.

   The president appointed Messrs. Stevenson and Stoppard [to] such committee.

   It was moved and carried that the D. L. & W. R. R. Co. be required and ordered to extend their street crossings at the intersection of their road with Clinton street thirty feet in width, with plank upon their roadbed.

   On motion, meeting adjourned.

   F. HATCH, Clerk.

 

The Cortland News, Friday, July 25, 1884.

CORTLAND AND VICINITY.

   After 9 o'clock Wednesday evening Mr. James Maybury telegraphed to several city papers over 2500 words giving an account of the disaster in Barnum's tent. [A cyclone hit Cortland on July 23, 1884 during the circus performance. Read No Circus Today: http://www.jeffpaine.blogspot.com/2013/09/no-circus-today.html ]

   The Elmira, Cortland & Northern R. R. handled over 3000 people on Wednesday, Barnum's day, without a break or accident, which speaks loudly in praise of the management.

   There will be a “Pink Tea Party" at the M. E. church parlors on Friday evening. Admittance free.

   Mr. Byron Rose, the master of transportation for Barnum, Bailey & Hutchinson, is a son of our former townsman, Mr. Lee Rose. He was cordially greeted Wednesday by old acquaintances.

   Joseph E. Eggleston, Esq., went to Oswego Thursday for the purpose of ascertaining whether Cortland county is liable for the support of a child left in the poormaster's hands by Elder Beebe, a Methodist minister, who adopted the child but dying left her unprovided for.