Show DEATH OF P T BARNUM dispatches announce that P T barnum died april ath at bridgeport conn from general debility caused by old age after an illness of nearly five months he was one of the most remarkable men of modern times being probably the greatest shO showman of all history phineas taylor barnum was waa born in bethel conn july ath 1810 his father was an innkeeper and country merchant who died in 1825 leaving no property and from the age of thirteen to eighteen the son was in business in various places part of the time in brooklyn and new york city having accumulated a little money he returned to bethel and opened a small store here he was very successful stilt especially after taking the agency for a year of a lottery chartered by the state for building the groton monument opposite new london when the lottery charter expired he built a larger store in bethel but through bad debts the enterprise proved a failure after his marriage in 1829 he established and edited a weekly newspaper entitled the herald of freedom A dedam and for fok the free expressions of his opinions he was imprisoned sixty days for libel in 1834 he removed to ne new york his property having become much reduced he soon afterward visited philadelphia and saw there on exhibition a colored slave woman named joyce heth advertised as aa the nurse of george washington one hundred and sixty one years old her owner exhibited an an chent looking time colored bill of sale dated 1727 mr barnum bought her for 1000 advertised her exten extensively and his receipts soon reached SIM 1500 a week within a year joyce heth died and a postmortem post mortem martom examination proved that the virginia planter had added abo about t eighty years to her age having shuts thus acquired reda a taste for the show business mr barnum traveled through the south with small shows shown which were generally unsuccessful in 1841 although without a dollar of his own he be purchased scudders american museum named it museum and by bv adding novel curiosities and adverts advertising ng freely he was able to pay for it the first year and in IM 1848 he gay had ad added to it two other extensive collections leet ions besides several minor ones in 1842 he first heard board of charles S stratton of bridgeport conn then le less as than two feet high and weighing only sixteen pounds who soon became known to the world under mr direction as gen tom thumb and was exhibited in the united states and europe with great success in 1849 mr barnum after long negotiations engaged jenny lind land to sing in america for nights at 1000 a night and a concert company was formed to support her only ninety five concerts were an given v on but the gross receipts of the tour m nine months of 1850 and 1851 were upon which mr barnum made a large profit in 1866 1865 after being connected with many enterprises besides those named he retired to an oriental villa in bridgeport which he had built in 1846 he expended large sums in improving roving that city built u up the city of miles east bridgeport made mites of streets and therein there iii planted thousands of trees he encouraged manufacturers to move to his new city which has since been united with bridgeport but in 1856 7 to encourage a large manufacturing company to remove there he became so impressed with confidence in their wealth and certain success that he endorsed their notes for nearly the company went into bankruptcy wiping bipin out ar mr property but he hag had settled a fortune upon his wife he went to england again with tom thumb and lectured with success in london and other english cities returning in 1857 his earnings and his cifes assistance assia tance enabled him to emerge from his financial misfortunes and he once more took charge of the old museum on the corner of broadway and ann street and conducted it with success till it was wa burned on july 1865 another museum which he opened was also burned he then in the spring of f 1871 87 1 established a great traveling museum and menagerie introducing rare equestrian and athletic performances which aal after er the addition of a representation of the ancient roman hippodrome races the great elephant jumbo and other novelties he called ap P T greatest show on earth f mr barnum has been four times a member of the connecticut legislature and mayor of bridgeport to which city he presented a pub public ic park his other bene net factions have been large and numerous among them a stone museum building resented to tufts tofts college near boston ass asa filled with specimens of natural history he has delivered hundreds of lectures on hemle temperance and t the he p practical tactical rac affairs of life he published his autobiography og PIT new york 1855 1865 enlarged edition hartford artford 1869 with yearly ap appendices en dir humburgs humbugs Hum bugs of the world v new ew york 1866 1865 and lion jack a story 1876 1870 11 mr barnum dealt only in inflame ame of a certain class clan and add the humbugs humburgs he manipulated for the amusement of the public were exposi exposed el by his hie own pen so ao that what was deception on his part io in one way was not in another he was opposed to social political and religious cant and hypocrisy and he led a strictly temperate and moral life at least we have never heard a hint of anything to the contrary he visited utah a good many yeara ago and took much interest in the condition of the community he had previously known nothing of the cormons mormons Mor mons aside from what he bad read and those aware of the prejudiced way in which our people are almost universally treated know what that menus means he was astounded to find that the saints exhibited so many virtues as are characteristic of their course subsequently in the east be expressed himself with striking vigor on the subject through the press for doling doing this he was assailed by anti antl mormon Momon I 1 bigots hut but nothing daunted he reiterated and added to his bis statements in defense of the saints showing that his love of justice was wan so strong that he unhesitatingly ta expressed it at the risk of being subjected to popular censure during his eventful life mr barnum gave many evidences of being a man of capacious brain irrepressible energy and magna magnanimous disposition |