Johnny Schneider was an early recruit, and one of the six who got off the train that day. He was thirty-four, and uncommonly nimble--having worked as a contortionist for 13 years under the stage name of “John Moncayo.” As a child, he taught himself acrobatics on a sawdust carpet in an Indiana ice house. At 18, he ventured from ice house to amateur night at his town’s Apollo Theater, where he drew the attention of a circus manager who “sat bolt upright” when he saw John perform. John was snapped up for the Beach and Bowers Minstrel show, and later, the Ringling Brothers circus—he even performed at the Columbia Exposition in Chicago.

Ten years earlier, in fact, in 1893, he had arrived with the Ringling Brothers in this very town as featured star. He pretzeled expertly for crowds of 5,000, as familiar smells of non-native animals wafted over the grandstand. The rings and big top had been set on land a few hundred yards from where the group now headed.