Produced by Chris Curnow and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) SAWDUST & SPANGLES STORIES & SECRETS OF THE CIRCUS BY W. C. COUP Herbert S. Stone and Company Eldridge Court, Chicago MDCCCCI COPYRIGHT, 1901, BY HERBERT S. STONE & CO CONTENTS FOREWORD ix CHAP. PAGE I. BOYHOOD WITH THE OLD-TIME WAGON SHOW 1 My First Exciting Experience 4 The Intelligence of Elephants 5 Fights with the Grangers 6 "Doc" Baird and the Bully 9 Teasing Old Romeo 10 The Story of a Stolen Negro 12 Horse Thieves in the Circus 15 II. THE PERILOUS BUSINESS OF STOCKING A MENAGERIE 18 Beasts at Wholesale 20 The Professional Animal Hunter 21 Striking into the Interior 22 Hunters' Life in the Jungle. 23 Why Baby Elephants are Hard to Capture 26 Across the Desert with Captive Beasts 29 The Adventures of Specimen Hunters 31 III. FREAKS AND FAKES 35 The Burial and Resurrection of the "Cardiff Giant" 37 The Rival White Elephants 40 How the "Light of Asia" Embarrassed the Lecturer 41 The Wild Cave-Dweller of Kentucky 44 The Two-Headed Girl's Three-Headed Rival 46 Missing Links and Dancing Turkeys 49 The Salaries Paid to Freaks 50 The Love-Making and Merrymaking of the Freaks 51 The Exposure of the "Aztec Children" 54 An Adventure with a Circus Shark 56 IV. MOVING THE BIG SHOW 59