{"id":783,"date":"1955-06-10T14:50:41","date_gmt":"1955-06-10T19:50:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/radnorhistory.org\/archive\/articles\/ytmt\/?p=783"},"modified":"2016-06-26T14:51:35","modified_gmt":"2016-06-26T19:51:35","slug":"1913-labor-day-parade-society-circus-2nd-city-troop-members-penman-robert-and-thomas-wood-sons-of-late-john-p-wood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radnorhistory.org\/archive\/articles\/ytmt\/?p=783","title":{"rendered":"1913 Labor Day: parade; Society Circus; 2nd City Troop members Penman, Robert and Thomas Wood, sons of late John P. Wood"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"24_image01\"<\/a>Several weeks ago this columnist commented on the time and patience required to bring stories and pictures together in connection with the series on the big Labor Day Festival, held on the School Field in Wayne, in 1912.<\/p>\n

This week’s column is the result of five years of research, however it has required five years to locate the picture shown above, which relates to a story written in \u201cYour Town and My Town\u201d in September 1950. This story described Labor Day, 1913, in Wayne, when several thousand people gathered on Radnor School field to witness a \u201cSociety Circus,\u201d the like of which was never seen before, nor has ever been seen since \u2013 not in Wayne, at any rate. And because five years is a long time, the highlights of that story will be repeated in today\u2019s column.<\/p>\n

Today’s picture, discovered in an album of old pictures belonging to \u201cTed\u201d Brooks, was as familiar to the writer as if she had seen it before \u2013 surely it must be a picture of that \u201cparade\u201d that swung around Radnor High School grounds, making itself heard above the merry-go-round, the animals and the crowd on Labor Day, 1913. And sure enough, when the picture was loosened from the paper, there was the notation on the back, \u201cDress Parade, Labor Day, 1913.\u201d For even further proof, it was possible to identify one of the central figures, for the story of five years ago had described A.J.D. Peterson as \u201cthe bearded lady, very lady-like indeed, in a high waisted silk dress and kid gloves, reaching above the elbow.\u201d Surely, this lady in the picture is \u201cShe,\u201d taking great strides at the side of a handsome escort in the parade!<\/p>\n

Some of the highlights of the event were the three Wood brothers, Penman, Robert and Thomas, members of the Second City Troop, sons of the late John P. Wood. The three did \u201chorseback stunts on two beautiful horses.\u201d And then there was Theodore J. Grayson, in \u201ca polka dot clown suit\u201d and B.L. Van Schaick, chairman of the circus committee, who performed in a most elegant riding costume. Wallace C. Dickson was a snake charmer with a large snake around \u201cher\u201d waist. Frances Leonard, queen of the gypsy caravan, had three fortune telling companions, Mona Whitlock, Margaret Riley and Mrs. B.L. Van Schaick.<\/p>\n

Another entertainer was Dr. Norman Sinclair, \u201cfor two years the rage in Paris and Strafford,\u201d who performed in a comedy riding act. Tom Walton was master of wild beasts, while Ralph Weadle was the wild man who escaped from a side show at an inopportune moment, much to the consternation of the audience!<\/p>\n

Osgood Sayen was \u201cMoke,\u201d the monkey who stepped on the tail of the lion, George Luigi. William Lynch, the tiger, joined in their merry fracas.<\/p>\n

In the side shows, Professor George C. Allen, \u201cP.D.Q.R.S.V.P.,\u201d exhibited his human curiosities. Among them were Crutze, the strong man, known around Wayne as Thomas Hearne, and Lady Winnie, the snake charmer, well-known locally as Wallace Dickson.<\/p>\n

The old newspapers from which this story was originally taken were lent the writer by T. Griffith Roberts, who had treasured copies of the now defunct Philadelphia Press and Public Ledger.<\/p>\n

Perhaps among other residents of this bygone era there may be some who have pictures of this famous \u201cSociety Circus\u201d which they may be willing to lend for use in this column.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Several weeks ago this columnist commented on the time and patience required to bring stories and pictures together in connection with the series on the big Labor Day Festival, held on the School Field in Wayne, in 1912. This week’s column is the result of five years of research, however it has required five years…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radnorhistory.org\/archive\/articles\/ytmt\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radnorhistory.org\/archive\/articles\/ytmt\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radnorhistory.org\/archive\/articles\/ytmt\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radnorhistory.org\/archive\/articles\/ytmt\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radnorhistory.org\/archive\/articles\/ytmt\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=783"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radnorhistory.org\/archive\/articles\/ytmt\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":785,"href":"https:\/\/radnorhistory.org\/archive\/articles\/ytmt\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783\/revisions\/785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radnorhistory.org\/archive\/articles\/ytmt\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radnorhistory.org\/archive\/articles\/ytmt\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radnorhistory.org\/archive\/articles\/ytmt\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}