Sparks Circus 1922/ Parade elephants

Nice looking picture, you can almost hear the calliope playing. Louie Reed riding the first elephant, Walte McLain the second. Elephants from front to back are: "Topsy", "Sparks Queen", "Barnum Queen", "Myrtle", "Bonnie" and "Babe". Babe died with Stevens Bros. Circus while wintering at the Fairgrounds in Hugo in Feb. of 1951. I remember it well. Kelly Miller was in the process of building his large estate across from the Kelly-Miller winter quarters and upon Babe's death had her carcass skinned, the hide tanned and made into things like sofas, etc. that were placed in the vast basement that served as a Recreation Room. He gave my dad a pair of elephant skin house slippers which he promptly threw away. This rec room, along with a pool table, had an elaborate bar in one end, above which Babe,s head was mounted. Stamped into the front of the bar were several thousand silver dollars that spelled "Kelly's Silver Dollar Bar". Not too much later while the show was on the road, several of Hugo's more astute criminals broke into the house and pried loose all the coins but were arrested the following day while trying to purchase a car with silver dollars. The front gate of the estate was built with a low archway since Kelly wanted to make sure D.R. couldn't park any show trucks in his back yard, one night a fire broke out gutting the entire estate, Babe and all. The fire rescue was hindered when the archway took the top off the Fire Engine.