OUT OF OUR PAST:
Under the sweltering Big TopAudience members said there were pick pockets; people were faintingThe Greatest Show on Earth ... was not so great in Richmond in 1872.
P.T. Barnum's Great Traveling World's Fair -- The Greatest Show on Earth -- was more than Wayne County residents could bear.Ads in three local newspapers promised: "... a Chaste and Refined Circus of Performers, Seven Superior Shows for One price, under Six Colossal Tents; Curiosities from All Parts of the Earth, Rare Wild Animals; wild cannibals, black rhinoceros, Babylonian lions, freaks of nature -- a lady born without arms, General Tom Thumb, a sleeping beauty, a kaffre snake charmer -- plus equestrians, acrobats, knights, heralds, Arabs, Turks, Tartars, Greeks, Germans, bareback riders and aerialists!"It deemed itself "absolutely without parallel the greatest spectacle in the history of the world!" All of Wayne County Phineas Taylor Barnum, the most renowned showman of his time, relied on colorful advertising and publicity to create spectacular anticipation. He had skyrocketed midget Charles Sherman Stratton, a.k.a. Gen. Tom Thumb, to international stardom while touring Europe.
Barnum’s Great Traveling World’s Fair attracted residents from all over Wayne County. But once under the Big Top, audience members had to face the oppressive heat and thieves. (Supplied photo)Barnum used gimmickry to produce a spectacular effect. After his circus came to Richmond on July 15, 1872, the Richmond Daily Independent reported, "People from the countryside came pouring into town. The streets and sidewalks were crowded with humanity... A colored man living 17 miles north of the city walked that distance to see Barnum's show. When asked why he did not come by wagon, he replied that he was afraid there might be an accident and he was determined to see the show, so he preferred to trust to the only manner of locomotion that had never yet failed him. His feet."The paper added, "The heat was oppressive, making it next to impossible to breathe. Several persons fainted under the big top and had to be carried out... One German lady who had never attended a show paid her half dollar and received her ticket. She was much pleased with what she saw, until having occasion to feel in her pocket, she discovered she had been robbed of five dollars. She is now of the opinion that such shows are a humbug."The Richmond Daily Independent's ultimate critique: "The exhibition was very good, but nothing like what the advertising had led the people to expect. The immense crowd attracted reveals what printers' ink will do, when judiciously pressed and promising more than could be delivered."
P.T. Barnum, pictured above with Sherman Stratton, a.k.a Gen. Tom Thumb, said he made Thumb an international star while touring in Europe. (Supplied photo)
THE AUTHOR ....
Out of Our Past 
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