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Unidentified photographer
"Miss Hall Trainer". "Hargreaves Circus July 1 1905" "Jumbo the 2nd, 12ft 6 in high, weight 6 1/2 tons"
1905, 1 July
Cabinet card, size
Private collection of Ira Stein
LL/100732
The woman is Mabel Hall. An article from the Hammond Times about a 1907 appearance notes that the circus...
"Includes many clever and handsome women, one of the most proficient and attractive of which is Miss Mabel Hall, whose specialty is animal training. This lady Is acknowledged to be without a peer, either masculine or feminine. In America or Europe, although every act which she presents is a novelty one, in particular, is such an overwhelming inovation that all other appear insignificant in comparison. Attired in a gorgeous costume. Miss Hall compels "Jumbo the Second," positively the largest elephant known to exist, to perform a series of striking feats and tricks. The fact of Miss Hall being the only woman in all the world that ever appeared as an elephant trainer, makes this an exclusive feature. What makes this feature the more wonderful is the fact that "Jumbo the Second" will not perform a single feat for anybody except Miss Hall. Miss Hall has the proud distinction of having "broken" this prodigious pachyderm to the stunts. Never before has a woman trainer attempted anything so difficult. As a matter of fact, few are the male trainers who have achieved any great degree of success in breaking elephants to fancy tricks."
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