Looking Back

By James Rada, Jr.

Don’t Mess with Circus Folk

The residents of the Emmitsburg area were a bit leery of a circus coming to town in 1909. Two years earlier, the Robinson Circus had performed in town and left people with a bad taste in their mouths.

“Many of our people attended the circus in Emmitsburg on Saturday and after coming home wished they had back not only the money swindled from them but also the fifty cents admittance fee,” The Catoctin Clarion reported in 1907.

But now, a different circus wanted to play in Emmitsburg, and the residents were open to the idea. The John H. Sparks Circus had been around, under that name at least, since 1894. It had continued growing in popularity as owner Charles Sparks invested in equipment and talent. The show used seven railcars to move from town to town and was considered a medium-size circus.

“The management claims that the people of Emmitsburg will be surprised and delighted at the amount of keen enjoyment to be had in witnessing the performance given by the splendid array of talent with the Spark’s Shows. The costumes are reported to be elegant and costly, the music especially fine, and nothing omitted that could add to the pleasure and enjoyment of the patrons,” The Weekly Chronicle reported in early June.

The circus arrived in town and performed to enthusiastic crowds.

The circus was praised for being clean and the performers polished. No foul language was heard, and no hidden gambling dens were found.

“Emmitsburg has so often been duped by graft and immoral shows that it is an act of simple justice to note an exception to this rule,” The Weekly Chronicle reported. The paper also noted, “The management of the Sparks’ shows deserve the highest praise for the manner in which they conduct their circus and the immense patronage should be theirs.”

With this pleasant experience, the townspeople were excited when another circus wanted to perform in town in September. The Frank A. Robbins Circus promised hilarious clowns, a daredevil making “His Leap to the Moon,” animals, dancers, and more. Robbins’ shows were very popular, and people seemed to enjoy the variety of animals in his menagerie.

It also billed itself as “The Only Big Show Coming This Year,” which seems odd since the Sparks Circus had performed in June.

The circus arrived with a grand parade through town that led people out to the park where the big top had been erected.

The problem was the Robbins Circus didn’t have the reputation for being as family friendly as the John H. Sparks Circus, and it wasn’t necessarily from the circus employees. People looking to take advantage of others followed circuses, and the year before, in Altamont, New York, an “aged and respected citizen lost $200 [about $7,000 today] to a “slick individual,” while a young man was “flim-flammed” out of $56 [about $2,000 today] by the ticket seller, according to the Altamont Enterprise. Other people lost smaller amounts to the scam artists.

The problem in Emmitsburg didn’t involve money, at least directly. A group of young men came into town wanting to see the circus, but they didn’t want to pay the admission to the big top. They apparently cut a slit in the side of the tent with the intention of slipping inside to watch the performance.

A group of circus workers saw them and chased them off. The workers continued to watch for the young men, though.

“After the performance, while the circus was being loaded upon the train, a gang of circus men patrolled the street alongside the railroad track, armed with clubs, and when a part of young men, including Basil Sanders, George and Samuel Cool, who were on their way to their homes in the vicinity of Mt. St. Mary’s, and who are declared to have had no part in the previous disorder, came along, the circus men, it is alleged set upon them and beat them brutally,” The (Frederick) News reported.

Sanders and George were seriously injured, and at one point, a rumor circulated that Sanders wouldn’t survive.

Sheriff George Edward Myers and Deputy William E. Darner were able to secure a car and drive from Frederick to Emmitsburg. The circus had already left on the Emmitsburg Railroad by then. George Cool’s brother, John, said he would be able to identify the men who attacked them if he saw them again.

Myers, Darner, and Cool drove to Westminster, the next stop for the circus. After getting permission from the Carroll County sheriff, the three men began to walk the circus groups. Two men were identified and arrested.

“By this time, the news that the officers were searching for the guilty men had spread over the circus grounds and men had scattered across the adjoining fields,” The News reported.

No more of the attackers could be found, not even the gang foreman, who had apparently disappeared with the rest of the workers.

Sheriff Myers had to be satisfied with the two men he was able to arrest, and he transported them back to Frederick, where they faced assault charges.