[There are many spelling errors in this publication. All information should be checked with additional sources.]

Fifty-three years in the wagon show life and forty-five years a clown. I was born in 1824, February the 12th. In April, 1834, at the age of ten years, as an acrobat and rider and general performer, I started with the second show I ever saw, which was known at that time as the Van Amburg circus; from there I kept drifting from one to another until 1850 then I joined the Jerry Mabee Circus. In 1852 I joined old John Robinson's Circus and with it I remained one season. In 1853 I went back to the Mabee's show and stayed 'till '54, then I joined the Dan Rice Show and remained with them 'till 58, then I joined with Spalding & Rodger's show. In '59 I joined the Levi G. North show, then I went to the Yankee Robin's show in '68 and '69. Between '59 and '68 I was in the civil war, four years service.

Now I will give you some idea of the wagon show life. When the circular boards or curbs were used instead of the dirt ring, (it was old John Robinson that built the first dirt ring) the circular boards or curbs were three feet high with a door to enter. They were built in sections and put together with clamps. This was in '52 in Tennessee. When we went to the town to show we got there at 10 o'clock, the time we generally got in, and one section of the ring board got ditched ten miles from town, so we had to do the next best thing and "Old John" went to a man near town to get him and his team to plow up the ground for a ring. Well we did not know what he intended to do with the dirt, so he got the layout pins and stuck them around the pole and then he plowed up the ground, threw up the dirt about three feet high, then drove stakes around the bank, and put a rope around the stakes. We sat on the seats to see what he would do then. He put in the saw-dust ready for work, then Uncle John asked how we liked that ring. We said alright. Then he said "where is Ring Maker Jack?" "Here" responded Jack. "When those curbs get here fire them to Cincinnatti; we are done with the curbs." That was the end of the board ring. We had a thirty foot tent and a one hundred foot round tent. In those days they had chain guys and dog wood stakes (that is where the stake and chain wagon got its name.)

We drove by night mostly. There was a man known as the Railer who went ahead to rail the road with the boards or white rags. We would drive until about ten o'clock in the morning and drive to the lot. We would stake out and put up the tent. Everything went to hotels and barns. There was nothing fed on the grounds as now-a-days. When one o'clock came the band would play in front of the tent. In the fifties there was a division in the tent; one half was seats and the other half was known as the "pit" or "stand up." There were no parquet in those days. There was a wide door with a division in it; one went into the seats and the other into the "pit." Fifty and twenty-five cents were the prices; pit twenty-five and seats fifty cents. We had no side show with the circus in the forties and fifties. The circus shows and four concerts or negro shows, as they were called then, were all we had. We had the concert in a side tent at one o'clock, and it lasted until two o'clock, and then we went into the circus. When the circus was out we went back to the concert tent and then to supper - one hour before the big show. Then the big show, then the concert; one hour before the tent was taken down, packed and loaded for the road. There were no reserved seats in those days. This made six shows a day, two shows and four concerts. Then they counted their money and started for the next town.

We had what was called grand entries; 8-horse entry the clowns wore tight body clown suits for there were no loose suits in those days. Two clowns in the ring, first and second clown. They were Shakespeare, and talking and singing clown - no knock about clowns were known in those days. One ring master, tumbler and back and front summersalt, spring boards leaps, barrel kicking on encline, etc. Old candle stick chandeliers. The ring was around the pole and the chandelier on the pole. The ring was forty-two feet in diameter.

Now I will mention some of the old time people: They were the Buckley Family, Holland Family, Mollie Hilman (bare back rider, for fifty years, who died last summer), Madam Sands, manege rider, (supposed to be dead now), Stickney's family, Lee family, Jake Shales, ringer-master; Bill Waterman, ring master, Madam Bridges, the English rider (supposed to be dead now); Kinkaid, High Marks and families.

Old John Robinson's Show was organized April the 15th, 1824, two months before I was born and it is the oldest show on the road today. I am eighty-six years old and can give you more show talk than most people and more shows. Most of the old time boys are dead and gone. I am well preserved in health; never took a drink of whisker in my life or ever used tobacco of any kind, that is why I am here to-day. I am an old time clown and in good shape, and can act as ringmaster yet. I worked up until '88 when I got crippled leaping. I was with Cooper and Jackson in '78 and '79, Shields Southern Circus in '86 and '87. There are lots of others which I could mention but it would take me a month to tell all that happened in the old time wagon show life. There are mud holes to get out of, rivers to cross, bridges going out and bad roads in general.

I joined with Burr Robin's show in '72 and '74, it was a wagon show from Janesville, Wisconsin, and we had a muddy time through Iowa, especially in the northern part. Cooper & Jackson was a wagon show '78 and '79 and in '83 it was in Kansas and Nebraska and then went north to Souix City, Iowa, where I left it. In the Mabee show we had Alexander and Cinderilla trick horses. Dan Rice had Excelsior or Blind Jim, who was forty-six years old and died in Kentucky in '86. And also January, Shetland pony trick wagon act. When he died he was forty-eight years old. Yankee Robinson had a horse named Lone Star. We had Pete Jenkins and Charles Sherwood who was the originator of the act. Lute Rivers was the Indian rider in the fifties. Pete and Nat Mariam were clowns also. The Billy Orton was on the road, a wagon show in '68. Dr. Gilson and Billy Andrews were clowns with that show and Miles Orton was the rider. Dan Castello was on the road in '66 with a circus. There was the George DeHaven show in the fifties from Freeport, Ill. The French Circus and Barney Carol and Ben McGinley Circus in '68. And Sells Brothers in '73. Forepaugh orginized in April of '64. John B. Dorsey '83. Ringling Bros. in '83, and so on. There are twenty shows now to one then. In '49 I went to California (overland) whacking bulls over the road. I got up a song called the Forty-nine song. It is this: "Old California, that is the land for me, I am bound for California the gold dust for to see; It rained all night the day I left the weather being so dry the sun so hot I froze to death Susan don't you cry." Chorus: "I am bound for California that is the land for me, I am bound for California the gold dust for to see." I sang this song in the fifties with the Mabee show and the song "Whole Hog or None." I guess this is the way: "Come give me your attention I'll sing you a ditty, of sights which I have seen. You must not think me witty, of fashions that met my eyes will cause a little fun, everybody goes the whole hog or none." "Chorus: "So Lor' bless your soul it is the truth I tell you honey; people act so strange and so very funny; everybody's bound to go the whole hog or none."

I think I have seen the world over in the show business. I am old but when I see the white tops come to town I forget, myself and think I am young again. Now I thank God I am living and can visit the boys in the dressing room yet.

Now I will mention some of the old time clowns of 1840 and 1850: There is Sam Lathrop, Dean Stone, Sam Lang, Tony Ashton. Some of the old time riders are the Duttons and Towanders, DeMotts and Stickneys who I mentioned in the first part of this write up.

There are lots of shows on the road now but they don't realize the hardships of circus life as in the old days. I have seen the circus from the old one ring to the two and three stage rings; from the 80 to 100 foot tops; with the one pole with the ring around the pole to the 2, 3, 4 and 6 pole tops.

I have seen the circular boards or curb rings to the dirt rings and back to the low curb rings. From one trick horse to five and ten in the ring at once. I have seen the managerie from one elephant to twenty-five or thirty. The first elephant I ever saw was old Laura Roock with Van Amburg managerie. She was the first one I leaped over and the last one in '88. Dan Rice had her in '54 to push wagons and pull them out of mud holes and bad places. In '54 we showed in Peoria, Ill., and we had to cross the river from the south side to the north to get into town. The river was bridged and they would not let us take this elephant over the bridge and we had to put her in the river and she had a fine time. They sent men in skiffs to bring her out but she would not let them and she drowned three of the five men, then she came out herself.

Clowns from 60 to 80 were Charley Fowler, Sam Stickney, Jim Smith and others.

Now I will mention some lady riders: Madam Lake, Madam Kedley, Emma Lake.

Old Bill Lake was killed at Granby, Mo., in 1868. Madam Lake afterwards run the show and Levi J. North was her Esquierian director and ring master at that time. That was the last time I saw Levi J. North.

We had a hard time traveling over the road. Our train was not railroad but wagon train. Our ring horses were led over the road. I had two horses of my own, one entry horse and one bareback or razen back horse as it was called, and they never looked through a collar in their life, in the show business. I took one of them in the civil war. He was getting old. Our horses were better footed as they were not jammed and chucked about on the cars and horse runs. We had a hack with three seats and nine people, three in a seat, and four horses to each hack. Canvas men and stake drivers rode on the baggage wagons and other wagons. Hostlers led the ring stock. Our trunks were champaign baskets, and their locks were two inch straps around them. I made the first trunk I ever had, made in '58, it was twenty-four inches long, eighteen inches wide and twenty inches high. I have it yet as a relic. Now they have the Taylor trunk instead of baskets. Time has changed in fifty years, but give me the old time one ring show and a good ringmaster and a good talking clown in the ring and the old time rider, such as hoops, baloons, garder and banners and I am satisfied.

Here is one of the gags used in the ring: The lady and horse appear in the ring. Ringmaster to clown (myself), "right this way Mr. Parker." I enter ring. "Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen and the colored population." Clown to ringmaster "what can I do for you sir?" "Assist the lady on the horse." "Alright let her go galiger."

We had Jim Robinson, Jim Melville, Charley Fitch, Miles Orton, Dan, Leon, and Billy Dutton, Romeo Sebaskin, John Davenport and Bob Stickney.

The people now can not see the acts in the shows of today as they could in the old time shows. You must acknowledge, that the old time show was more worth the price than they are now as far as seeing the show. Of course, they are out of date. A great big managerie and circus is all the go today.

In the fifties we had a low spring board with pedestals 20 inches high. We used no run board. We ran on the ground from the dressing room to the ring. We used a banner seven feet wide and held it as high as we could then we would all go over it. The man that could go over the banner and go the highest and make a perfect hoop of himself was the "Boss." Then we would bring in a horse or two and then three or four more. Then the clown would say bring in another horse until ten or more horses were in. Fifteen was the limit at that time. The clown would slip and blunder over the horses and once in a while he would throw a good one as he was supposed to be the best one in tumbling. Our acts were different in the fifties than they, are now. There are ten to one people in the ring now then there were at that time. Ground tumbling in the ring and horizontal bars, traps or trapeze were used. I have seen the bars from the time there was one bar until there were as many as four, and from single trapeze to triple trapeze. We used to have the Jacob's Ladder and other acts that would be new to the young generation.

Well we had lots of difficult roads to travel and other things to contend with in the old-time shows. Our salaries were good and the "ghost walked" every Sunday morning as the saying is. I went hundreds of miles overland to get with my show under 'centract in a buggy or buckboard. I had two horses and would drive one one day and the other the other. Show winter quarters were at Dalivan, Wis., and I lived in Pekin, Ill.

Dan Rice had at one time what was known to be the one horse show and traveled on a steam boat and came to Pekin, Ill., to show. The mayor would not give him a license to show on the Pekin side of the river so he went over on the other side of the river in Peoria county and showed. He chartered the ferry boat and everyone that could get fifty or twenty-five cents went to the show. The boat ride was free. That was in '53 if I remember right. He made more money than if he had showed on the Pekin side. Blind Jim was the only horse he had and the best trick horse that ever stepped into a circus ring. [missing text] have a scar on my hip that he gave me through a mistake. In the act I would lie down with him as though we were asleep and he would snore and I would attempt to make him quiet by telling him to wake up and he would wake up and nip me, and one time he nipped me too hard.

Now, here are some more old time shows that I will mention. There are the George Cramer of Iowa an old time show that was on the road in the forties and fifties, S. P. Howe, London European show; the Antonio Bros. show, a production out of St. Louis, Mo.; L. B. Lent, of California, an old time show.

Our wagons were made light but strong and durable. We had canvas wagons, stake and chain wagons, property wagons, seat wagon, jack and stringer wagon, coal wagon, bank wagon, ticket wagon, candy stand wagon, chandelier wagon and hacks to carry the saw dust kickers and performers. When the curbs or circular boards were done away with that cut out three or four wagons, but the blue plow took their place in making the ring. I have seen it on top of the seat wagon when not in use. We had two side shows or concert wagons that carried the concert paraphernalia and stage. This stage was different from the concert stage now-a-days. The wagon that carried the canvas and pole made the stage. The sides were let down and propped. And the bottom was part of the floor. There were no seats in the tents. The stage was up high above the heads of everybody. We had four, six, eight and ten horse teams. The hack had four horses. Every driver had to take care of his own team. I have seen them down under their horses in the barn grooming and be sound asleep but the work went on just the same. When the tent was up the canvas men would lie down on the side wall in the shade of the tent and sleep. And some would stand guard around the tent. That was the way they got their sleep or on a wagon along the road. We got two meals a day. Our dinner was our breakfast and dinner was suppertime. We could get a lunch if near a tavern. In those days hotels were called taverns, or inns, and livery stables was the horse barn. For a circus every tavern or inn had a barn in connection. Every ten or fifteen miles along the road was one of these stands where we could water our stock. The boys of the town where we would show would sit up all night to get to see the elephants go through and the country boys would do the same, An elephant in those days was a sight to see. The elephant would start over the road and get into the next town before day light and would be put into a closed barn until the show came in. Then she would be put into the canvas with a canvas over her or him as the case might be. They are as common as cattle now a days. The work and hardships were great. Nobody can realize it but those who went through it, but it made good, healthy men and women. The out door breeze was healthier than a car or railroad coach. When we were late in town we would help arrange the dressing room but not the big top. We fixed our line work in the dressing room.

Old Billy Main had a wagon show thirty-five years ago. He was the father of Walter L. Main of Genoseo, Ohio. The Old Great Eastern was a wagon show in the fifties.

Now I will drop in a gag: Horse first, fool next and gentleman last. Horse goes out. The clown starts out and the following words are said: Ring Master. "I never follow a fool." Clown, stepping back to let the ring master out: "I am not so particular. I will," and follows the ring master out.

Clown to waiters: "Bill, you go over there; John you go over there." Ringmaster: "That is enough of that, sir." Clown: "That's all I know." R. M. “I will do the ordering." Clown. "Order me a bottle of beer." R. M. "I suffer no spirits here." Clown. "Just order the spirits and I will do the suffering."

Well if the younger generation could see an old time show and hear the old time clown and ring masters in their sayings it would please them much more than the shows of today.

A good clown and ring master are the life of a circus, but as I said before the tents are so big that you can't see what they do or hear what they say.

There are lots of performers now-a-days that never saw an old time show or old time acts. There is the old barber shop act which is one of the funniest if played right. Johnson with Sells-Floto played it but he did not have all of it and it did not go right with me, as he left out lots of it.

We used to do this act as a brake up of the circus. And the charcoal act is another funny act.

The more the people are humbugged the better they like it. There is more truth than poetry in that, but give me the old one ring show for money and least expense to carry over the road. I can take a one ring show, have the same acts and lots of them as the big show and make more money than the big one with more money invested. I can tell you more old time people who were in the ring in the forties and fifties than any other man can, but many of the old boys are dead that were in the ring in those days. There is Sam Reinhart, the leaper, now dead. Geo. M. Kelley is still living, the last I heard of him. Billy Bachelor, who was with W. W. Cole is also living. W. W. Cole is also living. W. W. White, (Hurricane Jim as he was called) was with the Cole show also. He died in Warrensburg, Mo. Minnie Menetta his wife was in Mexico City when I last heard from her, with the Orin Bros.' show. There was an old time acrobat, Joshua Orin, but he died years ago. The time of his death I can't give as my memory is bad. I was in the civil war four years '61 to '65, then back to the show business again in 1872 and there I staid until 1888 when I got crippled and have since been handling goats, dogs, donkeys, ponies and mules for the ring. Now I have to sit and see the other boys do the acts which I have done and set in the dressing room and chat about the old time show work. I have met many of the old time people such as Will Marks, Jimmie Dutton, Harry Lampkins and John Davenport and other boys and girls of the big shows, such as Barnum & Bailey, Hedgenbeck & Wallace and it makes me think I can spring over the ring or jump over the biggest elephant or horse. that lives, but it is all over with me now.

Here are some song gags:

O woman! O woman! Thou art dvine, If I had one I could call mine,
I'd press her to my heart,
I'd press her to my liver,
And if I didn't like her,
I would throw her in the river.

Another one:

What care I for the gold or silver,
Or all the money in this land,
All I want is a pretty little wife, a good old horse and a peanut stand.

There are lots of gags that I used to get off in the old time shows.

Along in the fifties we used to camp out along the river on Sundays and fished, hunted and cleaned up. This was our recreation from our week's work. We would put up a small tent or a piece of sidewall on poles to lie under and we would go to a farm house and buy milk and bread and have a good square meal. Butter milk was a great drink with the boys and girls. Some of us would go swimming and other would wash their wardrobe; some would fix spangles on their collars and cuffs and when night came the whole train would move on. We would start about 12 o'clock in the morning for the drive we had to make. I saw the circus in the beginning and saw all the developments and growth, nothing like the American show ever existed in any other country and was all created here. The old time clown in the early show made his fame by jest and song. So many of the old time songs we have first heard from the lips of the old time clown singing from the end of the springing board, just before bringing another horse.

Do we enjoy them as we did the old time ones? Speaking of the old time clowns, they had to be natural born mimics and witty and have good manners to make a success as a clown and only old time clowns will agree with me when I say that he must have the lines in his head and be quick, witty and a good actor to be successful in the business. I was a natural born acrobat and the first horse which I was ever on was my father's old horse. I got upon him on my feet and carried a bucket of water from the spring to the barn on my head and all such things as that. I remember of making a spring board, and we had some tan bark for a bed or leaping tick, then we would turn summersaults and I got so I could turn over a horse, and turn hand-springs, back snap-ups, round-offs, and lots of such things. Then at ten years of age I was a fair acrobat. That was the was I made my start in the business.

And many other acts that would be new to the young generation and people of today. There were lots of things in the old time show that are not in the circus of today.

Here is another gag: Clown - My dear Isabel, if I catch you with that fellow I will smack you over the head with my umbrella. Ringmaster-Who are you? Clown - I am a lord. Ringmaster - Lord who? Clown-Lord only knows.

There was the Sun Bros. show and Phillips New York Olymphia circus, which were old timers; also Mollie Bailey Wagon show which is known to every man, woman, and child in Texas. She has been traveling since 1859 and never got out of the state. She has the same show and the same performers she had 17 year ago. The principal performers are her own five sons and two daughters, who play in the band and double in the ring.

The life of a wagon show is not all fun. There were rainy days when the roads would be so muddy that would take 16 horses to pull a heavy load out of a mud hole, but as the old clown said when the sun shines again we enjoy it all the more. I have seen the old timers along in the forties and fifties when they started out in the spring that their canvas would never be dry during the entire season, the tents being made of heavy duck and the tops in quarter laces; and hard to handle. The chain guys were put through the top; a hoop on each end and the ring in the top with a heavy bail ring. There are many things that I could tell of the old life. It is the greatest pleasure to get with the circus people and talk over the old life. When the opera troops come into my town I generally have a good talk with them. As old as I am with one foot in the grave I enjoy it, you bet. I sell lots of my pictures to the circus people that come to my town. I sold two dozen of them at Barnum & Bailey's circus on the 20th of September of last year. I went to the dressing room before the show and sold my pictures at 10 cents a piece after giving them a lecture of my life in the business. I found some people there that knew of me but had never met me. They were pleased to hear my talk of the old time life. Then I went to the big top, took my seat close to the band stand and entrance so I could see the acts put on, and see the entry around the big ring or hippodrome. I saw two acts of the old time works in the ring.

Dan Rice's headquarters were at Gerard, Pa., and I used to go there on horse back as there were no railroads in the fifties. The first railroad in Illinois was built in 1848-49. It run from Meridosha to Jacksonville. There were no telegraph nor anything but stage and river travel. Now, with the railroads all over the country it is easier to travel. I remember when Chicago was nothing but a fort. In the fifties Chicago was larger and known as a city. How time has changed since then. I think that the time is coming when all the big circuses will be cut down to one ring as the people are getting tired of the three rings and two stage shows; I hear it spoken of every day in general. Gag - (washing machine) - Clown - It washed out, it rung out, it hung out and ironed out all at the same time. It washed them out with the Yankee blood, it rung them out in the Independence Hall at Philadelphia, and ironed them out with the red hot Yanke balls. Ringmaster - Who invented this machine? Clown - One whose name is held sacred to the hearts of every true American - Washington.

Well I have lots of gags that I could spring and songs that I could sing, but I am too old for the ring now. I am writing this book for the benefit of the younger generation and show people of today so the can tell the difference between the hardships of the old life and the life of today. I expect to break me a small mule and hitch it to a cart and do high school acts and get with some show and sell my pictures and book. Now in forty-six the Mexican war broke out and every young man went to the call. The surrender of the city of Mexico was on the 16th day of 1848. In '49 1 went to California.

There was Nat Austin, an old time clown in the seventies. He died with Clark Bros. last summer at Blackwell, Oklahoma, so I heard. They are all passing away and there are but few left to tell the story, but thanks be to God that I am still alive and enjoy good health for as old a man as I am. There are many things that I could relate. Fourpaugh started the first railroad show, if I am not mistaken. Frank Melville had the first rail-road show I ever saw which was in '64. I was in the war at the time but saw the show at Sedalia, Mo. There is where the railroad begun.

Cooper & Jackson, Barney Carol, Billy McGuinley, Billy Orton and Yankee Robinson all had shows, and also Billy Main.

Well I am not a big man. When I was forty-five years old I measured five feet one inch and weighed 120 pounds. Now I am four feet ten inches and weigh 105 pounds and am as straight as I was at forty-five. One would not think a man of my age could be so straight, but it is in the way I have used myself. Anyone could be the same if they tried to do so. A great man boys do not take care of themselves like they ought to do and that is what makes them so humpbacked. They don't train themselves to be straight. And the girls are the same. There is nothing better than out door exercise and physical training for boys and girls. Now I will mention some of the clowns of the eighties: Charley Seely of Sells Bros., Johnny Purvis, the mule and donkey man; Charley Bell, George Hall, Tom Berry, Jim Myers, Billy Wallet, Daddy Rice, John Carson, Geo. A. Fox, Joe Pentland, Dan Gardner and Baron Christy; Daddy Rice and Baron Christy were black faced clowns back in the thirties and forties and in the fifties the white faced clowns began. Dan Rice was the first white faced clown. Bill Sparks was with the Mabee show in the fifties and Fred Bartlett, a jocky rider and an old timer. Joe Tinkum was in the line of old timers, and a bounding jocky and acrobat. He died in DeBuck, Iowa. The last I saw of him he was in Texakana, Ark., with the Hobson show.

The father of Homer Hobson, a rider; was with Ringling Bros. There is old Jerry Hopper, the old time high stilt man and clown, and he was a good one in his day. Charley Parker, the English and singing clown in the fifties, he committed suicide some years ago. Geo. Pennington, Effie Horn, Neal Bryant, Dan Emmet, Geo. Christy, and Dick Sands started a ministrel show in the forties, it was organized at Cattam Street, N. Y. City. The old time plantation nigger show, six in number, but I have forgotten the boarding house and the woman who run it, she was a widow. There are many other things which have slipped my mind, for a man can't think of everything. I have seen lots since that time but it don't go with this write-up. This is of the thirties to the eighties, that is the time I retired.

Now I will mention some things about the clown mule January, which was another successful clown trick in those days. It was called the January act from the beginning of the American circus. The mule was drived by a clown into the ring. I know now where the beast got its name. The trick was this: The clown drove into the ring and had a wagon with a high dash board and says: Ho! January, stand stood. Then looks around for the ringmaster and the ringmaster says; Hello! You here? Clown - Yes I have been here for a long time. Ringmaster - Where is your horse? Clown - Here he is. Ringmaster - That is a mule. Clown - He was a horse when I started with him. Then they got up a trade and the ringmaster wants to see the mule go. Then the clown says, get up January, and the mule begins to kick the dashboard, de don't like the ringmaster. Now, the first January was a Shetland pony, owned by Dan Rice in 1850, who broke him and started the January act, and after that the mule came in and took the place of the pony. January lived to be forty-eight years old and died at Abilene, Kansas. Dan Rice had a mule also and broke him in 1854. He first started him around the ring to leap bars, but when the mule came to the bars he refused to go over them, and Dan laid on the whip, and he would lie down. Dan said, there is a trick mule. From then on the trick mule started in the ring, as you all know of him today.

Dan Rice bought another mule and broke it. His name was Tooth Pick. Cooper & Jackson had him in '83 the last time I ever saw him. That was the great clown year in this country. You may not think so but the clowns have as much pride in their work as any Shakespearian actor. It gives me a thrill to think of the great men of that day, for they are nearly all gone. The first of the American clowns were Daddy Rice. He was no kin to Dan Rice, who too, was a famous clown. Daddy Rice was a black face clown and the black face minstrels developed from him. There was Billy Wallet, as fine a clown as ever faced the circus goers. Some of the people of today never saw a King's Jester or Shakespearian Jester in the circus ring, but there were many of them in the forties, fifties and sixties. In the early days I remember some of the high waters in the year and once we came to a stop and could not make the lead team go, so I got out with a lantern and went ahead and there I found that the bridge was gone out. We had to turn around and go back two or three miles to the next fork in the road, and that bridge was not gone. That was in the life of the wagon show. Another time the railer guide was found dead with a bullet hole in his head and his horse standing over him. Now you can imagine what show life was in the old days, but the life is different now. The go in palace cars on the railroad.

The last I appeared before the public was on Feb. 10th, 1910, with Polly of the Circus at Winfield and Arkansas City, Kansas, with a make up on. Miss Effie Dutton was the principal bare back rider and I clowned the act, as a representative of the act in the role of the fifties. The Polly of the Circus show is a fine show and in fact one of the finest on the road today.

So good bye to all the sawdust kickers, as we used to call them, and bidding you adieu and best wishes hoping to meet the the white tops and people often and as long as I live and am so that can get to the lot where the show is and talk over the show I will go.

My address is Winfield, Kansas, and if any old show people wish to write to me I will be very much pleased. I have retired from the business for 21 years.

Yours,

TONY PARKER.

Circus Organizations

John Robinson - 1824
Van Amburg - 1834
Howe & Cushing - 1850
Jerry Mabee - 1850
Dan Rice - 1852
Crains - 1850
Spalding & Rogers - 1850
Levi J. North - 1850
William Orton - 1868
Jim Melville - 1864
Adam Forepaugh - 1864
French - 1868
Caroll & McGuinley - 1868
Dan Castilla - 1866
Sells Bros. - 1873
Bur Robins - 1874
W. W. Cole - 1873
Cooper & Jackson - 1878
John B. Dorce - 1884
Ringling Bros. - 1883
George DeHaven - 1887
Campbell Bros. - 1900
L. B. Lent - 1859
101 Ranch - 1907

Additional information:

From Variety, March 16, 1914, p. 5. Oldest Acrobat in Kansas. Chicago, March 4 - Bob Sherman has unearthed the oldest acrobat in captivity, living at Winfield, Kansas. The old boy claims to be the first acrobat with the first circus and modestly answers to the age of 98 (four years younger than Hank Allardt). According to Sherman, whose veracity in matters of this kind goes unquestioned, the old tumbler hasn't been active since his 89th year, having sprained a tendon in his left nether limb at that age while doing a round-off flip-flap from a moving wagon.)

From Washington Post, January 21, 1912. Sixty-seven years ago the Van Amberg [sic] one-ring circus drifted into a little town in the hills of Pennsylvania and entertained the country folk with horseback riding, a few acrobatic stunts, tight-wire walking and the antics of a trained bear. When the circus left that night a ten-year-old boy of the village went with it. That boy grew up with the circus and for 57 years he traveled over all the country. For 53 years he was a clown. He died the other day in Winfield, Kan., an old man who had made millions laugh. Tony Parker was the boy's name when he ran away with the circus, but to hide his Identity he changed it to Tony Agler, and that name is known to every circus man in America. Tony was drilled unmercifully by the lone hardback rider of the circus, and he soon became an adept and was made general utility man, being an acrobat, rider and general performer. Soon he became a clown. Tony was a weazened little man, with a face wrinkled and strangely pale from the make-up that he used thousands of times He was sober, almost sorrowful in appearance, and rarely laughed or joked when out of the ring. But he loved animals and children and in his old age would amuse the children of Winfield for hours with his pet ponies and with the stories of his ring life. . . .

From Winfield Courier, July 10, 1884. Fourth of July Celebration: Fully Fifteen Thousand People Present. On the evening of the 3rd the old soldiers gathered in large numbers at the G. A. R. headquarters and marched to the tune of "Old John Brown" to the beautiful Fair Ground Park. Here they found tents already pitched and everything in readiness for them to chase the festive bean around the camp fire and retell the thrilling stories which will never grow old to the comrades-in-arms. Regular old-fashioned "hard-tack" had been supplied in abundance and a happy reunion was had that night by the boys who wore the blue. After supper, headed by the Burden, Courier, and Juvenile bands, a torchlight procession marched into town. By sunrise Friday morning people from all sections began to pour in. . . . As we watched the old pioneers as they came into town in their handsome turnouts, we noticed on their countenances pictures of gladness and independence which can’t be beaten anywhere in this broad Union. . . . At ten o’clock Col. Wm. Whiting and Capt. H. H. Siverd, with a score of assistants, formed the procession and the march to the Park was taken up. The procession was headed by the Burden Band, led by Frank McClain. . . . Tony Agler, with his clown suit and goat teams, trick ponies, and other things of his own get-up, was attractive in the procession. Tony takes great pains in training his "pets" and shows commendable enterprise in turning out with them on all public occasions. St. John’s battery was prominent in the procession, and awakened the echoes by booming of cannon from Thursday evening until well along in the next day. The members of the Battery worked faithfully and well for the success of the celebration.

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