sent over the wire, the local operator being ignorant of the loafer's telegraphic skill.
IDLE BILL POSTERS
These opposition fights greatly benefited the local bill posters and were frequently urged on by them. Sometimes a show would send a brigade over the country at night, placing its own dates on the paper of its rival, thus getting all the advantages of the first show's paper. Sometimes the indolence and laziness of my own men have annoyed me greatly. I am reminded that, while my advance brigade was billing Texas, one of my agents became utterly disgusted with the sleepiness of his men. They were mainly of corpulent build, and their captain actually sent me this message:
"Waco, Texas, July, 1881.
"W. C. Coup,
"Sturtevant House, New York City:
"There is one more shade tree in Texas; send another fat man to sit under it."
On numerous occasions I have had to pay dearly as a result of the sharp practices of unscrupulous people, and it is a well-known fact that a circus man has to deal with a great
