Saturday, February 24, 2007

"Sheba's" Funeral #1 (From Roger Smith)


I trust these will scan. The date of these prints reads "June 1956". Taken at Terrell Jacobs Winterquarters, Peru, Indiana.I have over 25 other snapshots of his place, including barns, the bunkhouse, his steel arena wagon, equipment lettered for Dolly Jacobs, and the Russian Tableau wagon, which may be of interest for Terrell Jacobs Month.
Roger Smith
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Posted by Buckles at 2/24/2007 05:39:00 AM

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I believe you will find that after 1951 Terrell would not be quarteres in his place in Bunker Hill and I believe he moved all of his cats and equip. to a farmer friends place in Chili [Shylie] or some name like that, or to another similar place in I believe the name is 12mile, or something like that. If he had facilities in Peru proper I am not aware of that. I note one of the pall bearers is his long tme cage man, Little Nick, carrying on the left rear. Any photos of his nice Bunker Hill facilities would have to be prior 51. Too bad it was a perfect facility for him and state of the art for t5hat time. I regret that I lost track of him somewhat after55 and it would be interesting to know more of his activities after that time. I know he had a difficult time on Kelly-Miller one season and generally times were tough after the glory years. But he was a real showman and could roll with the punchesw. What more can you say. Maybe someone out there can enlighten us on those later years.

24 February, 2007 17:31
Anonymous said...

that's some damned fine welding; fashioning a coffin out of thin gauged galvanized washtubs and assorted pieces parts isn't easy. the fumes alone are (ob)noxious.

24 February, 2007 18:48
Anonymous said...

Here is a quote that further tells the story of the coffin. From the Fred D. Pfening, Jr. article "THE LION KING--His Career and Circuses", in the March-April, 1986 BANDWAGON, we have this March 7, 1957 letter from Buckles's dad, Col. William Woodcock, Sr.:

"In April, 1954, I pulled out of Hugo to join Orrin Davenport up the road, and about that time, Sheba, star with Terrell Jacbos for a number of years, died. [NOTE: Sheba, at 20, had been retired from the act in January, 1954, and died of old age on April 4th, in Hugo winterquarters.] I supposed they buried this lioness and that was the end. Not so. Last year, I ran into some circus fan snapshots, showing Sheba in a very credible coffin; also being carried by TJ and other pallbearers. I asked Fred Logan not long ago where the cat was buried and he said he didn't know. Well, last Saturday, here come some guys lugging the casket (Wayne Sanquin whomped it up and it looked the part) and loaded it into Kelly-Miller truck #45. Jack Moore had talked to TJ on the phone and later asked him to bring Sheba to the Indiana Happy Hunting Grounds for more decent interment. The past three years she has been resting on Vernon Pratt's farm. Now here is the joker. Wayne had this coffin soldered up, but bouncing around in the truck she must have cracked a wee bit, because by the time the truck got to a filling station to gas up, the whole thing stunk to high Heaven. Everybody was gagging and holding their breath. Dory Miller said he wouldn't drive that thing to Chicago for five hundred dollars. Don't it beat the Devil what showfolk will do."

In a partial answer to Johnny Herriott's question, this same article notes that Jacobs left his cats and equipment in Houston, after the Paul Miller dates in December, 1957, and drove to his home in Twelve Mile, Indiana, for Christmas with his wife and two boys. As we know, he died there on Christmas Eve. The fabled Lion King is interred in Wabash, Indiana.

26 February, 2007 14:54

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