Jadoowallahs, Jugglers and Jinns: A Magical History of India by John Zubrzycki

Author:John Zubrzycki [Zubrzycki, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Published: 2018-06-27T18:30:00+00:00

Group of jugglers and musicians, Nicholas and Curths, 1870. British Library.

Within a few weeks of their arrival in Melbourne, however, police were called to investigate allegations of mistreatment. One of the jugglers allegedly bit the show’s manager, Harry Friedman, after he tried to stop his allowance of two glasses of whiskey between evening performances. No charges were laid against Friedman, leading one newspaper to dismiss the allegations as having ‘no existence outside the imagination of the malcontents’.48 Things took a turn for the worse in late October when a juggler committed suicide. At a coroner’s inquest into his death, Bastard blamed the suicide on the man’s heavy drinking. Another member of the troupe, however, accused Bastard of threatening to imprison the juggler after a disturbance among the Indians a week earlier. The evidence was dismissed by the jury, which found alcoholism to have been the cause. During the course of the inquest, it emerged that the troupe was housed eight people to a room. One of the police inspectors recommended that instead of being exhibited, the ‘monkey boys’ should be put into an insane asylum.49

Minus one of their jugglers, the troupe resumed performances at the Grand Palace of Amusement, where they were billed alongside a twenty-two-inch high midget and Tikit Taro, ‘the Marvellous Japanese Conjurer and Balancer’. But their return to the stage was short-lived. In developments similar to those that beset the Oriental Troupe in Norwich and members of the Indian Village in London, Bastard and Washburn were charged with embezzlement, leaving the Indians without a salary and contracts that were worthless. On 7 November 1889, the troupe staged what the local press described as a ‘mutiny’ and marched down Melbourne’s main street to the District Court. According to the Melbourne Herald, members of the public stood aghast at the spectacle, particularly the ‘monkey boys’ who ‘squealed and kicked and romped around like little puppy dogs’ when they were refused entry into the court.50 Eventually they were allowed to appear before the presiding magistrate and demanded their return passages to India now that their contracts had expired. Although the two men who had recruited them were clearly at fault, the judge showed little sympathy for the plight of the Indians, focusing instead on the potential inconvenience they posed. If individuals such as Bastard continued to indulge in the trade of show people: ‘We shall soon have all the lunacy of the East out here, and consequently a great nuisance will be imposed upon the State,’ he thundered, before giving Bastard until the following Monday to arrange for return passages. 51

The passing of the deadline without a resolution brought matters to a head. Once again, the troupe marched down Melbourne’s main street, taking up position in a yard adjacent to the court and refused to move. After the police arrested one of the men, the chief juggler started gesticulating wildly to the others. When the crowd grew to such an extent that the traffic was interrupted, the police locked all the Indians up on a charge of insulting behaviour.

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