Did you know?
There was a time, I’m told, that young children, exasperated by their “overbearing” parents, would entertain notions of “running away with the circus.”
Imagine the surprise that greeted Uniontown’s newspaper readers when they opened their editions of the Morning Herald on April 25, 1911. They learned that a clown had apparently run away from the circus. “Man from circus here seeking missing clown,” read the headline on the front page.
I’m pretty sure it wasn’t a laughing matter back then. Please excuse my honesty. It sure is now. The thought of a man, in full clown regalia, wandering aimlessly through downtown Uniontown, has a lot to do with that.
Apparently, Harry O’Brien, described as “one of the main clowns of the circus,” believed that his clowning co-worker had “been under such circumstances it was believed that he had been arrested and committed to jail.” He’d been asked by the missing clown’s mother — who was said to have been “greatly worried” — to try to find her son.
I made a cursory search of subsequent Morning Heralds, but I didn’t find any “clown-sightings.”
Meanwhile, a couple of weeks later, it was announced that tickets for the upcoming performances by the Barnum & Bailey Circus (before it merged with Ringling Brothers in 1919) were going on sale in Uniontown. Admission prices to see “The Greatest Show on Earth” cost 50 cents. Of course, adjusting for inflation, the same ticket today would cost $12.32. (http://westegg.com/inflation)
The advertisement in the May 11, 1911, edition claimed the circus would arrive with 1,280 persons, 700 horses and in 85 double-length railroad cars. On that day, it was reported that the big circus parade would begin the following morning, after the train was unloaded on Berkley Street and would head to the show grounds on Easy Street.
“There are few persons in Fayette County who are not aware that Barnum and Bailey’s great show is now ‘in our midst,’ and there are just as few who will not take advantage of the two performances here this afternoon and night,” said the report.
The following morning it was reported on the front page of the Morning Herald that 25,000 people had come to Uniontown from “all parts of Fayette County, and from Greene and Westmoreland Counties.”
According to the report, it had been a day that was “ideal for a circus,” with circus lovers lining Fayette and Main streets and along Gallatin Avenue between 10 a.m. and noon. The revelry would last, for some people, until after the final section of the massive train left at 2 a.m.
There was “a lack of order on the local streets.” Although, it was indelicately reported that of the 18 people who had been arrested, 16 were foreigners.
And perhaps even more odd was the final paragraphs of the story.
“Almost every part of Fayette County was represented here yesterday. Among the prominent visitors were:” And with that, the names of hundreds of people were listed. Enough to cover half an entire page. I checked, but Ned Cotton, that clown who disappeared from Howe’s Circus a month earlier, wasn’t on the list.
Back in 1907, it was reported on the front page of the Uniontown Daily News Standard that a child had been christened in Republic; there was a subsequent celebration that lasted in the wee hours of the morning, and that resulted in one man getting shot and another put in jail.
“A christening crime,” read the headline for the story on the front page of the July 15, 1907, edition of the News Standard.
As was the custom in those days, the participant’s nationalities were included in the report. “All of the men are Poles and cannot speak English,” it was reported.
“There were several brands of beer on tap at the celebration, and following a day and half a night of merrymaking Mike Sabol went upstairs and got a new revolver to display it to his fellow countrymen,” said the report.
Fortunately, the gunshot wound wasn’t considered life threatening. The child who had been christened was unharmed.
Here’s a somewhat novel idea. The folk 98 years ago had a “dress up” week in Uniontown.
“All Ye That Reside Hereabouts are Expected to Blossom Forth in New Apparel for Spring,” said a headline for a front page of the Morning Herald on March 24, 1916.
“Mr. Uniontown, Mrs. Uniontown and the other members of the family are expected to “dress up” next week,” it was announced.
I’m sure dressing to the nines wasn’t a mandate, but it was also written that “dress up week” extended through “principal cities of 48 states of the Union.”