Show World (October 1910)

October 8, 1910. THE SHOW WORLD 17 HAGENBECK-W ALLACE TROUBLE IN THE SOUTH Wholesale Arrest of Circus Crew Follows Affair in which Young Man Lost His Life climbed up on the wagon under which they had been riding. Weekly says that just as he was about to make a run for it to the extreme rear of the train, he saw a group, of men whom he be¬ lieves to have been white make for him and Williams with the exclamation, “Now we’ll get the -Weekly says a shot was fired. Weekly crawled under a bundle of canvas and from his place of hiding heard the marauders demand money from a man who had been sleep¬ ing on the top of this same bundle of canvas. Weekly never saw Williams alive again. The scuffle had occurred about 2 o’clock in the morning and when day broke Weekly, in his search for his companion, found a splotch of blood on the side of the car where the fight had taken place, found Williams’ watch fob, and a letter which Williams had had in his pocket. Weekly left the train at Warrenville and wired the Augusta chief of police. The local authorities were on the lookout for the circus train and made wholesale arrests when it Felton Gilbert, a negro, sought the aid of City Physician Rice on Monday for treatment of wounds about the head. He said that he was the man whom Weekly had heard asked for money and says that the men who held him up and threw Williams from the train were negroes; he also says that he thinks he will be able to identify them. Officials of the Hagenbeek-Wallace show, when interviewed relative to the murder and near-riot Sunday morning, said that Weekly and Williams were certainly riding on the train without authorized permission and that trips of this kind were particularly dangerous because of the character of the men who do the work with circuses. They say that they certainly cannot be held sponsible or blamable for the un¬ fortunate affair. SYNDICATE PAYS $12,000 IN TEXAS Back Circus Tax Suits in Lone Star State Adjusted— $30,000 Original Claim Shows, represented the defendants in the settlement of the suits. State Rev¬ enue Agent McDonald has been working on these suits for the past year or two and he feels that he has earned $12,000 for the state which would otherwise not have been collected. The Barnum & Bailey Show, owned by t he Ringlings, is playing in the state at the present time, and others of the syndicate circuses will be here soon. It is not known just what effect this con¬ fession of liability under the existing revenue laws will have upon the circus management during the present and ap¬ proaching tours. The back taxes piled up when the shows which were sued attempted to evade the law by cutting their admission price and representing their afternoon and evening perform¬ ances as only one continuous perform¬ ance. Newspaper publications, In other sections of the state, are to the effect that this continuous performance dodge will be resorted to again this season. used for patrons to sit on. Shortly after the performance a nice shower came up, but only enough rain to lay the dust. The sun came out again and business tonight was good. Loaded early as we have ninety-eight miles to¬ night. Quite a lot of adverse criticism has gone the rounds since the note re¬ garding Fred Ledgett and Dorcas Avery came out. The writer thinks there is no wrong in telling the absolute truth and had it not been for a streak of yel¬ low in several of the male members of the dressing room. Miss Avery would never have had to take the beating she hardly deserved, especially by a man. The article was written with the knowl¬ edge of the management and is sanc¬ tioned by them in every line. Cleburne, Texas, Tuesday, Sept. 27.— The long run was made in record break¬ ing time, for we were in and unloaded before 6 o’clock. Forepaugh-Sells had every available board and pasted their "coming soon” paper five weeks ago. This is quite interesting as they do not show here until October 22. Talk about opposition; I guess that is going some. Very light crowd on parade, as we had a poor showing in the rural districts. Weather extremely hot. (Continued on page 20) Four Generations of Acrobats =ti 1i;= ORIGINAL NELSON FAMILY FEATURED FOR TWO SEASONS WITH THE BIG SELLS - FLOTO SHOWS Engaged as a Special Feature WITH THE RHODA ROYAL INDOOR CIRCUS ADDRESS ARTHUR NELSON MT. CLEMENS, MICH.