W. F. Wallett

[2][3] For many years, he performed in the circus owned by his good friend Pablo Fanque (whose name is familiar to many today from his mention in The Beatles song, Being for the Benefit of Mr.

[4] In his 1870 autobiography, Wallett shares many anecdotes that reflect the powers of observation, humor, and pathos of an effective clown.

Some ten or fifteen years afterwards, when the question came before a high tribunal, the judge came to the same decision that I had delivered in jest.

One morning, going down to the river an hour or two earlier than usual, we were astonished to find the experimental philosophic angler with his face blacked after the most approved style of the Christy Minstrels.

A christening party, consisting of a young father and mother, with their little babe, and its old grandmother, were finishing the day at the circus.

So much so, that on my benefit night at the circus in King Charles'croft, when the house was crowded to excess, there were thousands outside, unable to gain admission.

All went on well till about the middle of the entertainment, when, with a tremendous crash the gallery fell down, throwing several hundred people into a heap, mingled with broken timbers, but fortunately without loss of life to the spectators.

But poor Mrs. Pablo, who was looking over the front of the money-taking place, was struck by a falling beam, and killed on the spot.

In the confusion that followed, some vile thief stole her watch from her side, and her box containing upwards of 50 pounds, the takings of the evening.