A CONGRESS OF FREAKS. Business Meeting of Giants, Fat Women, Five-armed Boys, and Dog-Faced Men.
Al,l the giants, dwarfs, beautiful Circassians,wax work proprietors, Japanese jugglers deputy lion tamers, Herculean athletes or wre&tling-men, large-limbed females and general anatomical monstrosities who exhibit themselves in Parisian fairs, were convened in solemn conclave on Saturday night in the menagerie of M. Ridel for the purpose of discussing the interests of their respective callings, so far as these were connected with the hiring of ground in the metropolis or its vicinity. The " indu&triels forains," as they are called, have for some time been complaining of the exorbitant prices which have been asked for ground, and they lesolvcd last night with unanimity to " boycott " the forthcoming fete which i& to take place around the statue of the Lion of Belfoit, in the Montrouge district, unless lower prices be asked for the places M'hereon they usually pitch their tents or construct their wooden booths. The meeting was a rather stormy one, as many wanted to speak at once. Some of the brawny wrestling-men who had an itch for distinguishing themselves in rhetoric as well as in the skill usually displayed by them in rough-and-tumble exercises and operations, elbowed their way thoi ugh the ranks of their weaker brethren in oider to expound their views of the situation. The anatomical cuiiositie.s who ventured to express opinions were sneered at by the swallowers of knives or the exhibitors of trained seals, who would have everything their own way, while the occasional roars of the lion Sultan and the shrill cries of the hyenas lose menacingly above the din of human voices. The lion-tamers frequently discontinued their discourses in order to •shout commands to their animals to be qniet ; and it was only atter long and painful exertions of lung-power that M. Bidel, the presiding genius of the remarkable conclave, was able to put the final reso lution to the meeting and to get it carried. — From the " London Daily Telegraph."
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Te Aroha News, 26 November 1887, Page 7
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331A CONGRESS OF FREAKS. Business Meeting of Giants, Fat Women, Five-armed Boys, and Dog-Faced Men. Te Aroha News, 26 November 1887, Page 7
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