An original 7×5 antique photo from a large archive of Adam Forepaugh – Sells Bros. Circus photos acquired from the estate of a collector. This is a unique antique/vintage silver gelatin photograph — it is not a modern print. Photo Overview In downtown Wellston, Ohio, on 28 April 1898, a dozen elephants from the Forepaugh-Sells Bros Circus stride trunk-to-tail along the main street, each wearing ornate blankets and carrying mahouts in parade howdahs. The African bulls Mike and Topsy head the line, while spectators in high-crowned hats and Victorian dresses crowd the boardwalks before brick commercial blocks and clapboard boarding houses, capturing a vivid slice of Gilded Age small-town America. The Forepaugh-Sells combination, formed in 1896, became famous for these free morning parades that advertised the afternoon and evening shows. Own this rare window into America’s golden era of traveling entertainment before another collector claims it. Text Present Back, upper center: Adam Forepaugh- Sells Bros. Ohio – April 28, 1898. Back, body of note: The two African bulls were from the Sells Show before they combined with Forepaugh, and were a male and female named Mike and Topsy, but Sells had special paper on them, billing them as Congo & Vespa. 1896 was first year Forepaugh-Sells Combo. Don’t know when Topsy died, but she disappeared from the scene by very early 1900s-then just Mike can be seen in the pix. He is the big one that is last in line in this pix. In early 1908 Billboard, it is mentioned that Mike had died there. He is said to have been ten feet four in. 19, 1907, from the effects of a burn received in a train wreck. Bailey had bought the Forepaugh-Sells Bros. Please see photos for scans of the surface. Photo may have natural curling or other imperfections from age.
