‘United Monster Show’ visited Mount Vernon in 1879 with Wild Men of Borneo

This week, 146 years ago, the area was visited by a memorable agglomeration of circus, zoo, and exhibition hall known as the United Monster Show, which in that time period was a principal rival to the legendary Barnum & Bailey operation.

The creation of entrepreneur C.W. Coup, the monster show was hugely successful, but was near the abrupt end of its spectacular run when it came here.

The note in the Democratic Banner is interesting. It starts like an editorial and closes like an advertisement, so I can’t help but wonder if the entire thing was supplied by Coup.

Or perhaps he paid premium price for an ad, but requested it in the form of an editorial.

Whatever the case, I find it amusing that one of the virtues of this circus’ orderly set-up is noted to be “entirely different from the usual confusion, boisterous manner and profanity which often is considered a necessity.”

It’s somehow reassuring to know that the calm, orderly unloading of a roadshow was just as rare then as it is now.

Here’s what the newspaper said:

This grand combination arrived yesterday morning by special train from Circleville, and the orderly and quiet manner in which the paraphernalia was removed from the train to the place of exhibition created a favorable impression, and was the subject of many comments, so entirely different from the usual confusion, boisterous manner and profanity which often is considered a necessity with such a gigantic institution.

Those who observed the disembarkation must admit that Coup is just what the public press and the community at large have christened him, the “King of Managers.”

W. C. Coup has earned this title by liberality in providing just what the public demand, and by faithfully fulfilling every promise made to the public. He has been in the last 10 years the head and front of the most gigantic amusement enterprises ever attempted.

The New York Hippodrome, Gilmore’s Gardena and the New York Aquarium may be mentioned, among the most noted.

His United Monster Show for the season of 1879 has been acknowledged by press and public as his crowning effort. The museum, menagerie, aquarium, and circus are a combination never before attempted or consummated. It is a constellation of novelties and talent which has made the name of W. C. Coup renowned from one end or the country to the other.

His star is in the ascendent and he is “the coming showman.” Performances take place this afternoon and evening at 2 p. m. and 7 p.m. Ladies and children will find the pavilion less crowded in the afternoon.

In fact, Coup had been the manager who worked with P.T. Barnum to start his famous operation, but later split off to form his own show.

Coup is, in fact, the man credited with adding multiple show rings to entertain larger crowds, thus creating the iconic “three ring circus.”

Of course, at the height of his operation, he had to outdo Barnum, and ran a four-ring circus.

Since the newspaper does not bother to give an address for the show, it almost certainly took place at the original Knox County Fairgrounds, today a residential area on the northeast corner of town.

Elsewhere, the newspaper notes that one of Coup’s most popular sideshows was The Wild Men of Borneo, who must have viewed this performance as a homecoming, as they originally grew up in Knox County, and are buried in Mound View Cemetery.

I only wish someone had thought to write about their return to their native area as performers, but it’s likely that this information was kept suppressed.

I wonder if anyone attending the show was aware that one of its most popular sideshows featured Knox Countians!

So, Coup’s show continued as a formidable rival to Barnum for almost another decade, but came to a troubled end when the United Monster Show’s equipment train was involved in a wreck near Cairo, Illinois, in 1887.

Fortunately, it wasn’t the train carrying the production’s personnel which wrecked, so the loss of life was low.

But almost the entire equipment setup for the show was lost in the wreck, which Coup either did not have insured, or else he just decided to use the disaster as a motivation to retire, and the United Monster Show came to an end.

Once in show business, always in show business, though, and Coup was found organizing a traveling museum show just a couple of years later, which he kept for several more years.