{"id":2936,"date":"2018-09-19T14:21:31","date_gmt":"2018-09-19T14:21:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fourwallspublishing.com\/BlogMChaney\/?p=2936"},"modified":"2018-11-08T14:53:31","modified_gmt":"2018-11-08T14:53:31","slug":"circus-spectacle-inspired-show-hopefuls-at-cairo-illinois","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/fourwallspublishing.com\/BlogMChaney\/?p=2936","title":{"rendered":"Circus Spectacle Inspired Show Hopefuls at Cairo, Illinois"},"content":{"rendered":"

Twenty-Fifth in a Series<\/em><\/p>\n

By Matt Chaney, for ChaneysBlog.com<\/p>\n

Posted Wednesday, September 19, 2018<\/p>\n

Copyright\u00a0\u00a92018 for historical arrangement by Matthew L. Chaney, Four Walls Publishing<\/p>\n

American circus industry shifted westward in the 19th<\/sup> century, resettling along interior waterways for rapid transit and national reach, among advantages. Modern historian Janet M. Davis, in her essay \u201cThe Circus Americanized,\u201d observed that \u201cgeography of the Middle West permanently influenced the development of the American circus. Abundant, inexpensive, grassy pastureland and a convenient convergence of river systems that served as a gateway to the trans-Mississippi West made the region attractive to the enterprising showmen from the East.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following the Civil War, upstart showmen of the Midwest \u201cpermanently reoriented the center of the American circus industry away from the East.\u201d\u00a0Perry Powers, for one, focused on circus development after fire destroyed his theater and livery property at Cairo, Ill., junction of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers.<\/p>\n

Circuses and personnel converged around Cairo and Bird’s Point, associate Missouri landing, for strategic location \u201chugged\u201d by rivers, crisscrossed by railroads. The area benefited daily of circus business, as \u201cheadquarters of navigation\u201d during winter and launching pad for show season. Perry Powers organized his first circus in 1867, operating from Cairo.<\/p>\n

The Powers Combination Circus boasted \u201cfirst-class acts despite its small size,\u201d observed Stuart Thayer, modern historian. \u201cTom Burgess, Willis Cobb, Oliver Bell, Don Santiago Gibbonois (John Fitzgibbons), Fred O\u2019Brien, and Ed Schofield were on the roster. It also appears to be Frank Lemen\u2019s first circus job. [Levi J.] North was again the manager. The circus traveled on a steamboat.\u201d<\/p>\n

But problems dogged Powers, age 40. On the business front, his show lost money while North\u2019s son died on tour, likely of tuberculosis. In domestic life, Powers\u2019 marriage was crumbling. He lost possession of the circus and was arrested in Chicago, for debt to North, famed equestrian. Downstate, Powers’ wife sued for divorce in Cairo.<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t give up, determined to realize profit and spotlight as a showman. Powers opened a new theater in downtown Cairo, naming it \u201cPalace Varieties,\u201d and hired a stock company of minstrels. He opened a circus training gym for young males. Additionally, Powers was building repute as expert handler of circus animals.<\/p>\n

Cairo Bulletin<\/em> editors boosted this personable fellow known for resilience in face of adversity, who bought advertising besides. \u201cExcepting ourselves we would as soon see Perry Powers make money as any man in town,” remarked the newspapermen. “He keeps the article in circulation\u2014evidently earning if for the satisfaction of spending it again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Powers\u2019 gym was an old stable converted for \u201cflying circus.\u201d Young males climbed ladders to grip metal bars and rings, from ropes hung at rafters, and swing about the room. They practiced release moves, twists, flips, with hopeful clutches and landings. On floor the acrobats tumbled and lifted weights for strength and conditioning.\u00a0The Bulletin<\/em> urged \u201cevery young man\u201d to patronize the facility and didn’t mention whether injuries were mounting.<\/p>\n

Powers incorporated circus spectacle, \u201csports of the ring,\u201d for his theater productions, staging a \u201chuman cannonball\u201d act and trapeze around music and comedy. And in those immediate years postwar, Powers could recruit top talent from local acrobats.<\/p>\n

Cairo children trained variously in gymnastics, including free-lance tumbling and “turning” in streets, yards and barns. Schools offered formal instruction and athletes of upper grades were main attraction at a holiday variety show, performing \u201crevolutions, motions, jolting, twisting, turning, bending, bowing and stretching,\u201d the paper reported. \u201cThe boys were uniformed in red Zouave pants, white shirts and red turbans; the girls in black bloomer dresses and drawers, elaborately trimmed in red.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gymnastics and trapeze were hallmark of German Turner Societies in 19th<\/sup> century America, represented by a vibrant organization at Cairo. The Turners<\/a>, titled after modern gymnastics founded in the \u201cfader land,\u201d established Turngemeinde<\/em> clubs serving as \u201cathletic, political, and social centers<\/a> for German communities in the United States,\u201d archivists would note.<\/p>\n

River valleys of the American interior resembled fabled Rhineland country, impressing Dutch scouts, and they directed a mass of German emigration to Iowa, Wisconsin, Missouri and Illinois. Gymnastics facilities<\/a> rose up as did grape vineyards. The Turners movement coincided with circus industry\u2019s plant in the Midwest, influencing ring talent and stunts.<\/p>\n

The Turners of Cairo practiced acrobatics indoors and out, and they showed for audiences on land and water, venues such as Scheel\u2019s Hall, Flora Garden and excursion boats. The Turners presented children and adults in \u201cgymnastic and trapeze performances of a daring and interesting character,\u201d The Bulletin<\/em> reported. A multipurpose facility opened downtown in 1875, at corner of Tenth and Poplar streets. The gym in new Turner Hall was \u201cfurnished with all the modern exercising implements\u2026 dumb bells, parallel bars, horizontal bars, rings, trapeze, ropes, sand bags, spring boards.\u201d<\/p>\n

German immigrant Conrad Alba was a local sensation, 20-something and muscular, drawing fans and press for Turner performances. \u201cThe horizontal bar exercises by young Alba were heartily encored\u2026 an exhibition of muscle, or strength of arm, altogether beyond the ordinary. The pyramiding by the Turners was also very good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amateur circus developed locally, including a promising group of teenagers at Charleston, Mo., west of Cairo, led by the Danforth brothers. \u201cOur Juvenile Circus Troupe,\u201d the town paper headlined proudly, reviewing a capable exhibition of trapeze, gymnastics, trick-riding and strength displays by \u201cthe boys.\u201d<\/p>\n

Locals entered commercial entertainment. Leslie May performed on trapeze at the Atheneum Theatre in Cairo, and steamer pilot R.W. Dugan moonlighted as circus acrobat. An 11-year-old trapezist and rope-walker, Sidney J. Allen, joined French\u2019s showboat New Sensation<\/em> in 1879. Teenager Frank Herbert, a Turner talent, became a daredevil for Rice\u2019s circus and Johnny Bowman\u2019s variety troupe, outfits touring from Cairo. Herbert was stellar on the high rope and had to be, traversing over city streets and hall floors without netting.<\/p>\n

Legendary rope-walker “Professor Leon” frequented Cairo, performing downtown on lines from rooftops. Professor Leon, whose birth name was Jesse Albert St. John, had crossed Niagara Falls by tightrope numerous times, famously toting a little nephew on his back. The maneuver was repeated at Cairo. \u201cThe rope was stretched from the roof of Dr. Wardner\u2019s building to the roof of the Arlington House… perhaps 60 feet above the ground,” The Bulletin<\/em> reported, “more than once the spectators were held breathless and trembling while Leon performed some of his most difficult parts.”<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he started to cross on the rope with the little boy, Master Curtis Hackett, a child less than 7 years old on his back, an expression of fear and uneasiness was visible on the face of nearly everyone present.\u00a0But Leon made the trip as easily as if he had been walking on a plank a foot wide, and the little fellow on his back seemed to delight in the undertaking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Females on high wire dazzled Cairo audiences. The amazing Zazel pranced and danced along at the ceiling of Barnum\u2019s big-top, and Ella Zuela rode a bicycle, pedaling over wire for Coup\u2019s show. Zuela starred at Cairo the night of Aug. 19, 1882; hours later, two trains of the Coup circus crashed together in southern Illinois, at Tunnel Hill. Ella Zuela apparently wasn\u2019t hurt in the collision, but circus animals were rumored loose in woods north of Cairo.<\/p>\n

The story was false, of escaped beasts, just another circus tale in circulation, like a Missouri report that flew nationwide in newspapers. Lions and tigers broke from cages during a street parade, scattering residents of a tiny town; big cats leaped onto a bandwagon and mauled screaming musicians, killing several\u2014all a hoax, newsmen revealed on follow-up.<\/p>\n

But said sightings of a giant alligator near Cairo weren\u2019t easily dismissed. Locals claimed close encounters with a 20-foot gator, supposedly a circus escapee hanging in summertime water, Ohio River. One fisherman said the toothy reptile snapped prow of a skiff, and The Bulletin<\/em> cracked \u201cthat alligator in the river in this neighborhood has had the effect of keeping all cautious boys out of the water.\u201d A circus announcement excited folks, coming from Cooper, Bailey and Co., offering anyone $400 for live recapture. But nothing further developed of the alleged gator.<\/p>\n

The Cairo area teemed with circus animals, anyway, verifiable anytime by eyesight. Exotic livestock and full menageries passed through year-round on steamboats and railroads. During the circus offseason animals were quartered in stables and pasture on the Cairo peninsula and Missouri shoreline, in Mid-South climate. During performance season animals were paraded through Cairo streets and displayed at the wharf and rail yards. There were camels, elephants, hippos, lions, tigers, bears, monkeys, horses, mules, alligators, crocodiles, hyenas, boars, porcupines, canaries and more specimens, with the majority trained for show.<\/p>\n

Circus menageries dated locally to prewar appearances of Isaac Van Amburgh, \u201cThe Lion King,\u201d famed American trainer, aboard the cavernous Floating Palace of Spalding and Rogers. Celebrity trainers and their livestock had frequented Cairo for generations, including Dan Rice and \u201cExcelsior,\u201d his great snowy white horse, along with Spencer Q. Stokes, Levi J. North, Sam Stickney and James DeMott.<\/p>\n

And so Perry Powers, ambitious Cairo showman and liveryman, met trainers locally and on his travels, learning from all. He excelled in the care and training of animals for circuses like DeHaven\u2019s, Rothchild\u2019s and the Rice combinations. Many equestrians knew Powers, entrusting their horses with him, and he was friend of Rice and DeMott, periodic residents of the Cairo area. During wintertime Powers stabled the complete Rothchild menagerie for DeMott, manager of the circus. The Rothchild and Rice circuses launched tours from Cairo on train, boat and wagon, thanks in no small part to Powers\u2019 presence.<\/p>\n

But he still floundered overall as entrepreneur, for factors of his making and otherwise.\u00a0Fledgling circuses folded which Powers funded or operated, and his training gym closed. A hireling musician swindled him, taking a bandwagon to Memphis for hock. Too trusting of customers at the livery, Powers leased horses and mules that weren\u2019t returned, or paid for stock already stolen.<\/p>\n

Powers invested pawn loan for an \u201ceducated hog\u201d that didn\u2019t pan for profit, and serious injury befell his second wife, an actress \u201cknocked senseless\u201d by a falling post. Powers purchased a fleet of used carriages from a railroad, envisioning his own omnibus line through Illinois and Missouri, but nothing materialized except the broken-down hacks. Expensive horses dropped dead on Powers, who surely lost money in thoroughbred racing as trainer and gambler, based on news reports.<\/p>\n

\u201cPerry Powers has met with another streak of bad luck,\u201d The Bulletin <\/em>announced. Then news\u00a0turned dire in January 1878, when Powers fell stricken and died, possibly of yellow fever striking Cairo. His live-in nephew, a musician, assumed control of the livery business and married the widow.<\/p>\n

And that sort of Powers luck came to mark local circus owners. Several Cairo men committed time and money\u2014steamer captains, boat clerks, railroad personnel, an auctioneer, a lumberman, each on exciting venture\u2014only to lose in circus prospecting.<\/p>\n

On the performance side, circus sports were highly popular in Cairo and southeast Missouri throughout the late 1800s\u2014for spectating<\/em>. Youths still fantasized of ring glory but fewer pursued it. Rising team sports led by baseball and football attracted athletes while circus life increasingly drew criticism, particularly regarding young performers. Publicized issues included child endangerment, animal cruelty, low pay, evermore riskier stunts, and broken individuals. \u201cIt is a dangerous life to live, you may be sure, and a great many who follow it die young, while many are killed,\u201d stated veteran showman C.M. Sherman, retired in Missouri, 1886.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat mother would wish her son to be a professional rope-dancer or circus-tumbler\u2014not to mention her daughter<\/em>?\u201d posed a national commentary, reprinted in Cairo. \u201cAside from the unnaturalness and debasing effect of a such a life, the \u2018accidents\u2019 to which even the best-trained and most experienced performers are liable are too frequent and of too sad a kind to be generally known. It is for the showman\u2019s interest to keep [injuries] secret.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cairo saw casualties of circus stunts, in novice and professional acrobats. Tragically, local youths were crippled and killed. In the worst cases, William Bambrick, 20, died of a spinal injury from \u201cexcessive gymnastic exercises,\u201d The Bulletin<\/em> reported. Thirteen-year-old Charles Riley suffered strangulation by rope, becoming entangled while \u201cdoing circus acts\u201d in a coal shed; companions of the boy panicked, \u201cran away,\u201d and he perished.<\/p>\n

Most Delta youths gravitated to show performance of less risk\u2014song and dance\u2014for their pleasure if not potential career. A few Cairo products were already famous on stage.\u00a0“Cairo is a city… which good music is, of course, always a prominent feature,” The Bulletin<\/em> editorialized in 1882. “Social entertainments and balls, both great and small, public and private, are the order of the day and night in Cairo… good music is desired\u2014is a necessity, in fact.”<\/p>\n

“Cairo…,” declared the paper, “has been prolific in its production of good musicians.”<\/p>\n

Writer and consultant Matt Chaney is compiling a book on historical song and dance in the Missouri delta, tentatively titled <\/em>From River Music to Rock in the Missouri Delta. For more information see the <\/em>ChaneysBlog page\u00a0<\/em>“Music History and Legend of the Missouri Delta.”<\/a> For information on Chaney’s previous books, visit\u00a0<\/em>www.fourwallspublishing.com<\/a>.\u00a0 Email:<\/em><\/em>\u00a0mattchaney@fourwallspublishing.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Prof. Leon, the Rope-Walker. (1877, Nov. 24). Cairo Bulletin<\/em> IL, p. 3.<\/p>\n

Property Changes. (1882, Nov. 25). Cairo Bulletin<\/em> IL, p. 4.<\/p>\n

Prostration of Mr. Perry Powers. (1878, Jan. 22). Cairo Bulletin<\/em> IL, p. 3.<\/p>\n

Public School Exhibition. (1868, Dec. 28). Cairo Bulletin<\/em> IL, p. 4.<\/p>\n

River News. (1872, Dec. 10). Cairo Bulletin<\/em> IL, p. 4.<\/p>\n

River News. (1875, Dec. 21). Cairo Bulletin<\/em> IL, p. 3.<\/p>\n

River News. (1880, Dec. 1). Cairo Bulletin<\/em> IL, p. 3.<\/p>\n

River News. (1882, Sept. 12). Cairo Bulletin<\/em> IL, p. 1.<\/p>\n

River News, &c. (1858, June 24). Vicksburg Whig<\/em> MS, p. 3.<\/p>\n

Rothchild\u2019s Great Show. (1876, April 22). Cairo Bulletin<\/em> IL, p. 3.<\/p>\n

Rothchild\u2019s Menagerie. (1876, April 6). Cairo Bulletin<\/em> IL, p. 3.<\/p>\n

Sherman, C.M. (1886, Dec. 30). Life in the ring. Clinton Advocate<\/em> MO, p. 7.<\/p>\n

Show Him Up! (1875, Nov. 18). Cairo Bulletin<\/em> IL, p. 2.<\/p>\n

Southeast Missouri. (1897, Nov. 4). Caruthersville Democrat<\/em> MO, p. 4.<\/p>\n

Special Local Items. ((1882, Jan. 20). Cairo Bulletin<\/em> IL, p. 4.<\/p>\n

Steamboat Register. (1865, Nov. 12). Cairo Evening Times<\/em> IL, p. 4.<\/p>\n

That Educated Hog. (1875, July 11). Cairo Bulletin<\/em> IL, p. 3.<\/p>\n

Thayer, S., & [Ed.] Slout, W.R. (2005). Levi J. North, \u2018America\u2019s Own Horseman.\u2019 In Stuart Thayer\u2019s American circus anthology<\/em>. Circus Historical Society, classic.circushistory.org.<\/p>\n

The Atheneum was Crowded Yesterday. (1869, Oct. 12). Cairo Bulletin<\/em> IL, p. 3.<\/p>\n

The Cairo Turngemeinde and the Fourth. (1869, June 30). Cairo Bulletin<\/em> IL, p. 3.<\/p>\n

The German in Cairo. (1871, Jan. 8). Cairo Bulletin<\/em> IL, p. 3.<\/p>\n

The Girl Rider in O\u2019Brien\u2019s Show. (1873, Aug. 4). Rochester Democrat and Chronicle<\/em> NY, p. 4.<\/p>\n

The Great Fire in Cairo. (1864, Sept. 21). New Orleans True Delta<\/em> LA, p. 1.<\/p>\n

The Great U-Rope-In Combination. (1875, July 27). Cairo Bulletin<\/em> IL, p. 3.<\/p>\n

The Horrible Story. (1870, June 28). Lawrence Daily Kansas Tribune<\/em> KS, p. 3.<\/p>\n

The Humboldt Celebration. (1869, Sept. 15). Cairo Bulletin<\/em> IL, p. 3.<\/p>\n

The Last Stupid Hoax. (1846, June 27). New Orleans Delta<\/em> LA, p. 2.<\/p>\n

The New Combination. (1875, July 1). Cairo Bulletin<\/em> IL, p. 3.<\/p>\n

The Palace Varieties. (1869, Nov. 25). Cairo Bulletin<\/em> IL, p. 3.<\/p>\n

The Party of Ladies and Gentlemen. (1872, July 7). Cairo Bulletin<\/em> IL, p. 5.<\/p>\n

The Pemiscot Argus. (1905, Aug. 18). Pemiscot Argus<\/em>, Hayti MO, p. 2.<\/p>\n

The Terrible Story. (1870, June 23). Alexandria Gazette<\/em> VA, p. 2.<\/p>\n

The Turner Hall. (1875, Aug. 8). Cairo Bulletin<\/em> IL, p. 3.<\/p>\n

The Turner Pic-nic Yesterday. (1870, May 2). Cairo Bulletin<\/em> IL, p. 4.<\/p>\n

The Turners at the Flora Garden. (1869, July 6). Cairo Bulletin <\/em>IL, p. 3.<\/p>\n

The Turners\u2019 Feast Yesterday. (1870, Sept. 12). Cairo Bulletin<\/em> IL, p. 4.<\/p>\n

The Young Men of the City. (1869, May 28). Cairo Bulletin<\/em> IL, p. 3.<\/p>\n

Theatrical and Musical. (1846, April 29). New York Herald<\/em>, p. 2.<\/p>\n

To Be Sold. (1875, July 30). Cairo Bulletin<\/em> IL, p. 3.<\/p>\n

To-night\u2014To-night! (1869, Nov. 30). Cairo Bulletin<\/em> IL, p. 3.<\/p>\n

Torn to Pieces. (1870, June 15). Philadelphia Evening Telegraph<\/em> PA, p. 3.<\/p>\n

Town Chit-Chat. (1873, May 24). Cairo Bulletin<\/em> IL, p. 4.<\/p>\n

Turner Celebration. (1871, Sept. 15). Cairo Bulletin<\/em> IL, p. 4.<\/p>\n

W.C. Coup\u2019s Shows. (1882, Aug. 20). Cairo Bulletin<\/em> IL, p. 1.<\/p>\n

\u201cWait for the Wagon!\u201d (1858, May 6). [Advertisement.] Glasgow Weekly Times<\/em> MO, p. 1.<\/p>\n

Wait Until Saturday, Sept. 30. (1882, Sept. 10). Cairo Bulletin<\/em> IL, p. 9.<\/p>\n

West and South. (1892, Sept. 17. Cape Girardeau Democrat<\/em> MO, p. 1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Twenty-Fifth in a Series By Matt Chaney, for ChaneysBlog.com Posted Wednesday, September 19, 2018 Copyright\u00a0\u00a92018 for historical arrangement by Matthew L. Chaney, Four Walls Publishing American circus industry shifted westward in the 19th century, resettling along interior waterways for rapid transit and national reach, among advantages. Modern historian Janet M. Davis, in her essay \u201cThe … Continue reading Circus Spectacle Inspired Show Hopefuls at Cairo, Illinois<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":""},"categories":[283,374],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4ywFp-Lm","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/fourwallspublishing.com\/BlogMChaney\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2936"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/fourwallspublishing.com\/BlogMChaney\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/fourwallspublishing.com\/BlogMChaney\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fourwallspublishing.com\/BlogMChaney\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fourwallspublishing.com\/BlogMChaney\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2936"}],"version-history":[{"count":60,"href":"http:\/\/fourwallspublishing.com\/BlogMChaney\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2936\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3048,"href":"http:\/\/fourwallspublishing.com\/BlogMChaney\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2936\/revisions\/3048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/fourwallspublishing.com\/BlogMChaney\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fourwallspublishing.com\/BlogMChaney\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fourwallspublishing.com\/BlogMChaney\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}