People tend to recollect of the Victorian Era as a straitlaced , prim and right age . After all , many ( perhaps inaccurately ) assign the popular cable “ We are not disport ” toQueen Victoria . But the true statement is somewhat dissimilar , as the variety of unusual amusements enjoy in the nineteenth C reflect .
The Dog Orchestra
Louis Lavater , an entertainer who do work with acircus , spent days prepare his cad orchestra for its unveiling in Amsterdam . The group was composed of six “ gorgeously dressed ” dogs with specially made pawn that were attach to their paws with diminished bangle [ PDF ] . There was Jack , the trombone player ; Tim on bass ; Patsey as first fiddle ; Prince on the braggart metal drum ; Bob on the small drum ; and Peter meet cymbals . In an 1897 way out ofThe Strand Magazine , it submit that Lavater “ pays from 18 pence to 5 shillings for a hotdog ( never more ) ” and earns between £ 50 and £ 100 a week .
Preparing adog orchestracertainly had its issue . Prince on drums was too excitable ; Jack on trombone had to see to stand on two legs for 30 arcminute at a time , and it took him three months to acquire to balance his instrument . There was also the casual troublemaker take a nip at his neighbor while Lavater was n’t looking .
The Animal Impersonator
The creature impersonator Charles Lauri Junior was well - known in the theater of operations of London and Paris . With a change of costume , Lauri became any of a phone number of animate being : amonkey , cat , dog , parrot , or ibis , to name a few . He performed in dumb show and ballet ; one of his most famous productions was an “ Indian pantomime concert dance ” he write calledThe Siouxin which he played a monkey . The Sunday Timesof London call it “ a rollicking and hustle kind of thing with a strong suggestion of Buffalo Bill ’s show . ”
In an 1894 issue ofThe Strand Magazine , Harry How wrote of Lauri “ becoming ” a monkey : “ The masquerade is an important item . This is put on the low part of the face , so as to obtain the big , come out jaw of the fauna . It is made of a chocolate - coloured leather , with belittled strap . The movement of the eyebrow is hold by a thread hide in his heavy dress . The actor has a spring in his own backtalk , which knead the oral cavity of the animal and shows the two rows of tusk teeth . ”
The Human Ostrich
The Human Ostrich was averypeculiar eccentric of 19th - century entertainment . Ostriches , although naturally omnivores , willeat sand , pebble , and other type of grit to grind down the food in their tummy and aid digestion . Henry ( also known as Samuel or Harry ) Harrison , of Syracuse , New York , was a prominent “ human ostrich ” do it for consuming the blades of pocketknives , pins , nails , glass , and more [ PDF ] . At the eld of 6 , he swallowed a tholepin , notice no ill effects , and kept on swallow up pins until it became his unusual calling .
It was all rather alarming for his parents ; he eventually ran away and join a circus , where he was a democratic attraction . Harrison alsovisitedmedical school and appropriate any curious surgeon to hack him undecided for a fee and examine his innards . At least nine took him up on his go — one even slice into his neck to examine his pharynx . Surprisingly , it was not these exploratory operations that wound up injuring the Human Ostrich : An x - ray of his stomach burned him so badly it leave him incapacitated for more than a year and a half .
The Burlesque Bullfight
This “ corrida ” pull in the care ofQueen Victoria , who , asThe Strand Magazinereported in 1899 , sent a telegram to the organizers [ PDF ] : “ The Queen is inquire about rumoured fuzz - battle . Please telegraph on the dot what is proposed . Even if the design is only burlesque with dogs , Queen is anxious there should be no harshness . ”
The amusement in interrogation was performed bydogsnamed Shutthatdor and Bangthatdor who were dressed in carefully padded Taurus the Bull costumes and face a “ matador . ” As one source distinguish it , the detent ’s “ bloodshot eyes roll from side to side even as balls of fire ; he is cautiously followed by the very man deputed to spell his day of reckoning by means of the ghastly tin sword firmly gripped in his right script . ” The dog then charge until the matador finally placed the banderillero into the horsehair costume , “ pop ” the bull . The domestic dog would next feign death and be drag from the area on a discharge deplume by a gymnastic horse .
Post - execution , in acknowledgment of being very honorable son , each frump received many well - earned delicacy .
Richard Usher the Clown
Richard Usherwas a clown and theater designer who began performing slightly before the Victorian era began . In July of 1818 , in his most noted stunt , he sail down theRiver Thamesin a washtub draw by four geese . immense crowds inspire him on his direction from Westminster to Waterloo Bridge , where he mean to proceed to the Coburg Theatre in a pushcart drag by eight tomcats .
That last part of his programme did n’t quite go as intended , asone source recounted : “ The first part of this journey he do in condom ; but , although the mouser were on a regular basis harnessed , so dandy was the crowd in the Waterloo - route that it was impossible to proceed ; in consequence several ‘ jolly new watermen ’ shoulder[ed ] Usher … , and bear them in victory to the field of operations . ”
The Aztec Children
This is a sad but not unusual story for an era when people with physical differences were often part of circus exhibits . Maximo and Bartolawere Salvadoran sibling take over with microcephaly ( a medical condition that have a baby to have a small head ) and developmental delays . Their female parent was tricked into giving the children to aSpanish traderwho said he would take them to either the Caribbean or America for a curative .
The trader instead sold Maximo and Bartola to an American promoter , who turned around and created an luxuriant backstory that tell the fry had been found in a temple in a lost metropolis and were members of the out Aztec race . With the assistance of some convincing costuming , the twosome attract the attention of ethnologist , the oecumenical public , U.S. President Millard Fillmore , and evenNapoleonand Queen Victoria . The siblings eventually became part of P.T. Barnum ’s circus and were display at his American Museum .
The Murder in the Red Barn
The Victorians were fascinated withtrue offence . Stage shows depicting notorious murders were typical ( think Jack the Ripper and Sweeney Todd ) , and one of them was the1840 melodramaMaria Marten , also known asThe slaying in the Red Barn . Marten lived in the village of Polestead , Suffolk , and was a mother of two when she meet William Corder , who seduced her and sway her to run off with him in 1827 .
The duo planned to run across at a village landmark call up theRed Barn . But Corder rather bump off Maria , through means of stabbing , shooting , andstrangling , and buried her under the construction . He write letter of the alphabet to her sept pretending to be Maria ; the slaying was n’t discovered for near a year , by which time Corder had married another woman . He was test , and when he was sentenced to expiry by give ear , 5000 multitude draw up to see his deadened body . The Victorian enthrallment with the casing resulted in popular songs and theatre of operations plays . The village where Maria was murdered even became atourist hotspot .
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