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A Unique Story of a Marvellous Career. Life of Hon. Phineas T. Barnum, by Joel Benton. by Joel Benton A Unique Story of a Marvellous Career. Life of Hon. Phineas T. Barnum, by Joel Benton. by Joel Benton Scanned by Charles Keller with OmniPage Professional OCR A UNIQUE STORY OF A MARVELLOUS CAREER. LIFE OF Hon. PHINEAS T. BARNUM. ---- COMPRISING HIS BOYHOOD, YOUTH, ... By JOEL BENTON. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. IN THE BEGINNING. Family and Birth--School Life--His First Visit to New York City--A Landed Proprietor--The Ethics of Trade--Farm Work and Keeping Store--Meeting-house and Sunday-school--"The One Thing Needful." CHAPTER II. EARLY YEARS AT BETHEL. page 1 / 577 Death of his Grandmother and Father--Left Penniless and Bare-footed--Work in a Store--His First Love--Trying to buy Russia--Uncle Bibbin's Duel CHAPTER III. BUSINESS LIFE Removal to Brooklyn--Smallpox--Goes Home to Recover His Health--Renewed Acquaintance with the Pretty Tailoress--First Independent Business Venture--Residence in New York--Return to Bethel--Anecdotes CHAPTER IV. TRYING MANY VENTURES. Visit to Pittsburg--Successful Lottery Business--Marriage--First Editorial Venture--Libel Suit--Imprisonment and Liberation--Removal to New York--Hard Times--Keeping a Boarding House CHAPTER V. BEGINNING AS A SHOWMAN. Finding His True Vocation--The Purchase of Joice Heth--Evidence as to Her Age--Her Death--Signor Vivalla--Visit to Washington--Joining a Travelling Circus--Controversies with Ministers--The Victim of a Practical Joke CHAPTER VI. INCIDENTS OF A CIRCUS TOUR. Beating a Landlord--A Joke on Turner--Barnum as a Preacher and as a Negro Minstrel--A Bad Man with a Gun--Dealing with a Sheriff--"Lady Hayes"--An Embarrassed Juggler--Barnum as a page 2 / 577 Matrimonial Agent CHAPTER VII. HARD TIMES. Advertising for a Partner--"Quaker Oats"--Diamond the Dancer--A Dishonest Manager--Return to New York--From Hand to Mouth--The American Museum CHAPTER VIII. THE AMERICAN MUSEUM. Advertising Extraordinary--A Quick-witted Performer--Niagara Falls with Real Water--Other Attractions--Drummond Light CHAPTER IX. INCREASED POPULARITY OF THE MUSEUM. The American Flag and St. Paul's--St. Patrick's Day--The Baby Show--Grand Buffalo Hunt--N. P. Willis--The First Wild West Show CHAPTER X. GIANTS AND DWARFS. Science for the Public--Mesmerism Extraordinary--Killing off a Rival--The Two Giants--Discovery of "Tom Thumb"--Seeking Other Worlds to Conquer--First Visit to England CHAPTER XI. TOM THUMB IN LONDON. An Aristocratic Visitor--Calling at Buckingham Palace and Hobnobbing with Royalty--Getting a Puff in the "Court Circular"--The Iron Duke--A Great Social and Financial Success page 3 / 577 CHAPTER XII. IN FRANCE. Arrival in Paris--Visit to the Tuilleries--Longchamps--"Tom Ponce" all the Rage--Bonaparte and Louis Phillipi--Tour through France--Barnum's Purchase CHAPTER XIII. IN BELGIUM. Presented to King Leopold and the Queen--The General's Jewels stolen--The Field of Waterloo--An Accident--An Expensive Equipage--The Custom of the Country CHAPTER XIV. IN ENGLAND AGAIN. Egyptian Hall and the Zoological Garden--The Special Relics--Purchase of the Happy Family--Return to America CHAPTER XV. AT HOME. Partnership with Tom Thumb--Visit to Cuba--Iranistan, his Famous Palace at Bridgeport--Barnum's Game-Keeper and the Great Game Dinner--Frank Leslie CHAPTER XVI. JENNY LIND. A Daring Venture--Barnum's Ambassador--Unprecedented Terms offered--Text of the Contract--Hard Work to Raise the Guarantee Fund--Educating the American Mind to receive the Famous Singer CHAPTER XVII. ARRIVAL OF JENNY LIND. page 4 / 577 First Meeting with Barnum--Reception in New York--Poems in Her Honor--A Furore of Public Interest--Sale of Tickets for the First Concert--Barnum's Change in Terms--Ten Thousand Dollars for Charity--Enormous Success of the First Concert CHAPTER XVIII. CONTINUED TRIUMPH. Successful Advertising--The Responsibilities of Riches--Visit to Iranistan--Ovations at Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington--Visit to Mt. Vernon--Charleston--Havana--Fredericka Brerner CHAPTER XIX. HAVANA. Conquest of the Habaneros--The Italian and his Dog--Mad Bennett--A Successful Ruse--Return to New Orleans--Ludicrous Incident--Up the Mississippi--Legerdemain CHAPTER XX. THE TRIALS OF AN IMPRESSARIO. St Louis--The Secretary's Little Game--Legal Advice--Smooth Waters Again--Barnum's Efforts Appreciated--An Extravagant Encomium CHAPTER XXI. CLOSING THE GRAND TOUR. April Fool Jokes at Nashville--A Trick at Cincinnati--Return to New York--Jenny Lind Persuaded to Leave Barnum--Financial Results of the Enterprise page 5 / 577 CHAPTER XXII. A FEW SIDE ISSUES. The Expedition to Ceylon--Harnessing an Elephant to a Plow--Barnum and Vanderbilt--The Talking Machine--A Fire at Iranistan--Mountain Grove Cemetery CHAPTER XXIII. SOME DOMESTIC ENTERPRISES. Putting a Pickpocket on Exhibition--Traveling Incognito--The Pequonnock Bank--The New York Crystal Palace--A Poem on an Incident at Iranistan CHAPTER XXIV. THE JEROME CLOCK COMPANY. Founding East Bridgeport--Growth of the City--The Jerome Clock Bubble--A Ruined Man--Paying Honest Debts--Down in the Depths CHAPTER XXV. THE WHEAT AND THE CHAFF. False and True Friends--Meeting of Bridgeport Citizens--Barnum's Letter--Tom Thumb's Offer--Shillaber's Poem--Barnum's Message to the Creditors of the Jerome Clock Company--Removal to New York--Beginning Life Anew at Forty-six CHAPTER XXVI. IDLENESS WITHOUT REST. Annoying Persecutions of Creditors--Summer on Long Island--The Black Whale Pays the Board Bill--The Wheeler & Wilson Company Remove to East Bridgeport--Setting Sail for England page 6 / 577 CHAPTER XXVII. A PROSPEROUS EXILE. His Successful Pupil--Making Many Friends in London--Acquaintance with Thackeray--A Comedy of Errors in a German Custom House--Aristocratic Patronage at Fashionable Resorts--Barnum's Impressions of Holland and the Dutch CHAPTER XXVIII. HOME AGAIN. A Jolly Voyage--Mock Trial on Shipboard--Barnum on Trial for His Life--Discomfited Witnesses and a Triumphant Prisoner--Fair Weather Friends--The Burning of Iranistan CHAPTER XXIX. THE ART OF MONEY GETTING. The Lecture Field--Success--Cambridge--Oxford--An Unique Entertainment--Barnum Equal to the Occasion--Invited to Stay a Week CHAPTER XXX. AN ENTERPRISING ENGLISHMAN. A New Friend--Dinner to Tom Thumb and Commodore Nutt--Measuring the Giant--The Two Engines CHAPTER XXXI. AT HOME AGAIN. The Clock Debts Paid--The Museum once more under Barnum's Management--Enthusiastic Reception--His Speech--Two Poems page 7 / 577 CHAPTER XXXII. THE STORY OF "GRIZZLY ADAMS." Barnum's Partnership with the Famous Bear Hunter--Fooling Him with the "Golden Pigeons"--Adams Earns $500 at Desperate Cost--Tricking Barnum out of a Fine Hunting Suit--Prosperity of the Museum--Visit of the Prince of Wales CHAPTER XXXIII. BUILDING A CITY. At Home Once More--Growth of East Bridgeport--Barnum's Offer to Men Wanting Homes of Their Own--Remarkable Progress of the Place--How the Streets were Named CHAPTER XXXIV. A GREAT YEAR AT THE MUSEUM. Capturing and Exhibiting White Whales--Newspaper Comments--A Touching Obituary--The Great Behemoth--A Long "Last Week"--Commodore Nutt--Real Live Indians on Exhibition CHAPTER XXXV. GENERAL AND MRS. TOM THUMB. Miss Lavinia Warren--The Rivals--Miss Warren's Engagement to Tom Thumb--The Wedding--Grand Reception--Letter From a Would-be Guest, and Dr Taylor's Reply CHAPTER XXXVI. POLITICAL NOTES. Barnum Becomes a Republican--Illuminating the House of a Democrat--The Peace Meeting--Elected to the Legislature--War on the Railroads--Speech on the Amendment page 8 / 577 CHAPTER XXXVII. BURNING OF THE AMERICAN MUSEUM. How Barnum Received the Tidings--Humorous Description of the Fire--A Public Calamity--Greeley's Advice--Intention to Re-establish the Museum--Speech at Employees' Benefit CHAPTER XXXVIII. POLITICAL LIFE. In the Connecticut Legislature--The Great Railroad Fight--Barnum's Effective Stroke--Canvassing for a United States Senator--Barnum's Congressional Campaign--A Challenge that was not Accepted CHAPTER XXXIX. FIGHTING A NEWSPAPER. Disposing of the Lease of the Museum Site--The Bargain with Mr. Bennett--Barnum's Refusal to Back Out--A Long and Bitter War with "The Herald"--Action of the Other Managers--The Return of Peace CHAPTER XL. BRIDGEPORT. The Fight for the Establishment of Seaside Park--Laying out City Streets--Impatience with "Old Fogies"--Building a Seaside Home--Waldemere--A Home in New York City CHAPTER XLI. HONORS AND ADULATIONS. Second Marriage--The King of Hawaii--Elected Mayor of Bridgeport--Successful Tour of the Hippodrome--Barnum's Retirement from Office page 9 / 577 CHAPTER I. IN THE BEGINNING. FAMILY AND BIRTH--SCHOOL LIFE--HIS FIRST VISIT TO NEW YORK CITY --A LANDED PROPRIETOR--THE ETHICS OF TRADE--FARM WORK AND KEEPING STORE--MEETING-HOUSE AND SUNDAY SCHOOL--"THE ONE THING NEEDFUL." Among the names of great Americans of the nineteenth century there is scarcely one more familiar to the world than that of the subject of this biography. There are those that stand for higher achievement in literature, science and art, in public life and in the business world. There is none that stands for more notable success in his chosen line, none that recalls more memories of wholesome entertainment, none that is more invested with the fragrance of kindliness and true humanity. His career was, in a large sense, typical of genuine Americanism, of its enterprise and pluck, of its indomitable will and unfailing courage, of its shrewdness, audacity and unerring instinct for success. Like so many of his famous compatriots, Phineas Taylor Barnum came of good old New England stock. His ancestors were among the builders of the colonies of Massachusetts and Connecticut. His father's father, Ephraim Barnum, was a captain in the War of the Revolution, and was distinguished for his valor and for his fervent patriotism. His mother's father, Phineas Taylor, was locally noted as a wag and practical joker.

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