A serendipity from the Morning Chronicle, Aug 30 1826:
Nine blacks were brought before the Lord Mayor, for having paraded the streets with white turbans on their heads, and placards on their backs.–Mr. Brown, the Marshal, said, that the placards set forth the merits and charms of a young American Giantess, who was seven feet high, though but 18 years of age. They stated that she was exhibited under the patronage of his Lordship.–A crowd of persons was collected round the nine blacks, and the officers conceiving that, although the Lord Mayor might have sanctioned the exhibition, he never would countenance such a mode of advertising it.–Mr. Tadman, the ward of the young lady, and proprietor of the exhibition, said, that he had seen white men carrying boards of this description through the streets, and he was not aware that any person, whether white or black, might not walk through the streets with whatsoever dress he pleased.–The Lord Mayor said, that neither white nor black men could be allowed to pursue this mode of advertising, which created obstructions in the streets…–The sable train were dismissed, on Mr. Tadman’s promise that they should not again parade the streets in that manner.
This found while reading about the mid-1820s mining bubble in ex-Spanish territories, equally entertaining but not quite as succinct.
Similar posts
- The bullfighting Chinaman and his magnificent midget show
Yet more Spanish culture for Brussels to ban. - Peter the Great’s April Fool’s jokes
Of dwarves, arson, stammerers, and binge drinking. - Phoney Spanish gypsy dancers at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York?
The Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo in 1901 is now remembered mainly for the assassination of McKinley by a Polish-American anarchist follower - Security guard theory of genetics, gypsy looters, and a bit of general moaning
Some walkers want to have a look round a ruined factory, so conversation must be made with the security guard. He - More iconoclasm in the Catalan pre-Pyrenees
Re yesterday’s post on the Santa Majestat in Caldes de Montbui, here’s some anti-Catholic propaganda from the time of George Borrow,
Comments