A Unique Story of a Marvellous Career. Life of Hon. Phineas T. Barnum. Comprising his Boyhood, Youth, ..., by Joel Benton

Published: [Philadelphia PA] Edgewood Publishing Company, 1891

Family and birth; first love; business ventures; joining a travelling circus; visits to/with Buckingham Palace, Paris, Bonaparte, Louis Phillipi, King Leopold, Prince of Wales, King of Hawaii, Cuba, Ceylon; burning of Iranistan; the American Museum; first Wild West Show; Tom Thumb; Jenny Lind; Grizzly Adams; founding East Bridgeport; the art of money getting; newspaper comments; political life; the funeral, much more

CONTENTS:

CHAPTER I [1]. 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 [2]. EARLY YEARS AT BETHEL
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 [3]. 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 [4]. 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 [5]. 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----Controversies with Ministers--The Victim of a Practical Joke

CHAPTER VI [6]. 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 Matrimonial Agent

CHAPTER VII [7]. 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 [8]. THE AMERICAN MUSEUM
Advertising Extraordinary--A Quick-witted Performer--Niagara Falls with Real Water--Other Attractions--Drummond Light

CHAPTER IX [9]. 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 [10]. 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 [11]. 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

CHAPTER XII [12]. 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 [13]. 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 [14]. IN ENGLAND AGAIN
Egyptian Hall and the Zoological Garden--The Special Relics--Purchase of the Happy Family--Return to America

CHAPTER XV [15]. 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 [16]. 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 [17]. ARRIVAL OF JENNY LIND
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 [18]. 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 [19]. 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 [20]. 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 [21]. 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

CHAPTER XXII [22]. 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 [23]. 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 [24]. 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 [25]. 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 [26]. 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

CHAPTER XXVII [27]. 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 [28]. 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 [29]. 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 [30]. AN ENTERPRISING ENGLISHMAN
A New Friend--Dinner to Tom Thumb and Commodore Nutt--Measuring the Giant--The Two Engines

CHAPTER XXXI [31]. AT HOME AGAIN
The Clock Debts Paid--The Museum once more under Barnum's Management--Enthusiastic Reception--His Speech--Two Poems

CHAPTER XXXII [32]. 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 [33]. 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 [34]. 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 [35]. 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 [36]. 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

CHAPTER XXXVII [37]. 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 [38]. 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 [39]. 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 [40]. 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 [41]. HONORS AND ADULATIONS
Second Marriage--The King of Hawaii--Elected Mayor of Bridgeport--Successful Tour of the Hippodrome--Barnum's Retirement from Office--The Funeral