The Great Farini

Shane Peacock
Biographer, Novelist, Playwright, Journalist, Screenwriter
Author of The Great Farini - The High-Wire Life of William Hunt

The Lives of Farini-Hunt - Back in Niagara

After a stint in New York, Farini and his “Brothers” parted ways. Farini traveled back to Niagara Falls where he was planning a fantastic feat! He was going to walk “along the brink of Niagara Falls” on stilts! After much “practicing and modifying”, he decided that the feat was possible. A few days prior to his announced performance date, Farini decided to make a “dress rehearsal” walk. The “dress rehearsal” went well until one of his stilts became wedged in a rock bed! Farini tried desperately to pull if out, but eventually he lost his balance and fell into the rapids! Here is how Shane describes it … “Never, during any of his feats, had he been this close to death. He saw nothing but a blur, the water pounded in his ears and the world began to spin. Summoning all his strength he frantically snapped the jammed stilt off, then did the same with the other; desperate to free himself. But the instant he was loose the water picked him up … and shot him toward the edge! Below the surface he drove a foot into the rocks and dug the pike pole in. Like an enraged murderer the rapids pulled him, trying to rip him out and sweep him over the brink.

He looked up and saw Robinson’s Island; it was fifty feet away in the mist. He decided his only chance was to make for it. 

NOTE: Mr. Peacock has written several books. His latest series is about "The Boy Sherlock Holmes" This is a wonderful look at the legendary Sherlock Holmes, in the beginning! To learn more about Shane and all of his works, please visit his website at www.shanepeacock.ca.

(To Be Continued)

The Great Farini

Shane Peacock
Biographer, Novelist, Playwright, Journalist, Screenwriter
Author of The Great Farini - The High-Wire Life of William Hunt

The Lives of Farini-Hunt - The Farini Brothers

After he left Hope Township, Farini started planning his next act. He decided that he would add other “feats” to his new act. Here’s how Shane Peacock tells it … “His new act was everything its huge title suggested: a series of stationary and moving high-wire and gymnastic feats. It wouldn’t be a simple thrill act as in earlier days, but an exhibition of the skills of a scientifically trained acrobat in a whole range of serious athletic endeavours. As well as being good theatre, it addressed his need to show off his intelligence and appear more respectable.” His journey now took him to New York. Farini’s act was ready and he was now a “marquee act” at the newly built Hippotheatron. The new act was called “The Farini Brothers”! The Hippotheatron had been build as the first permanent structure in the United States solely for the circus. A perfect venue for Farini and his “Brothers”. Shane explains the “Brothers” … “As for the Farini Brothers, there were apparently three of them: the Signor, “the Hero of Niagara, in his New Acts—the Marvelous Bars in the Air, the Goliath Swing, Giant Leap, and Novel Wire-Funabulism”; Carlo Farini, “the Herculean Gymnast and Great Indian Club Swinger, using clubs weighing 50 lbs. each”; and Enrico Farini, “the Athlete of the Arena, in Novel Acts of Strength and Grace.” Carlo and Enrico also performed something called the “Wild Cossack Athletes.” Exactly who these “brothers” were is difficult to know. This was one of very few performances. The mischievous Farini loved deception and it is possible that two of the siblings were none other than the Signor himself”.

NOTE: Mr. Peacock has written several books. His latest series is about "The Boy Sherlock Holmes" This is a wonderful look at the legendary Sherlock Holmes, in the beginning! To learn more about Shane and all of his works, please visit his website at www.shanepeacock.ca.

(To Be Continued)

The Great Farini

Shane Peacock
Biographer, Novelist, Playwright, Journalist, Screenwriter
Author of The Great Farini - The High-Wire Life of William Hunt

The Lives of Farini-Hunt - “Pangymnastikonaerostationist”

After Mary’s tragic death, Farini needed time to regroup. To this, he started to travel. His travels, over a six month period, took him to “to California, Old Mexico, Central America, Venezuela, Brazil and Chile”. From there he likely traveled north to San Francisco where he met famous people of the times. Some would become connected to him in the following year. After a time in San Francisco he traveled back east and eventually landed in Hope Township and a reunion with his family. Restless, his stay there didn’t last long. Before he left he paid a visit to the Gazette offices. Later the newspaper told Port Hope residents that he had been to see them. Here is how Shane described the visit … “Toward the end he paid a visit to the Gazette offices some time around December 20^th. A few days later they told the public that Captain Hunt, better known as Signor Farini, had been to se them. Apparently they asked him what he considered his occupation to be. He replied with a single word: “pangymnastikonaerostationist.” Peacock further explains … “The fad for using long names in show business in the early 1860’s began with the Hanlon Brothers and their creation, in late 1861, of the “zampillaerostation,” a variation of Leotard’s “flying trapeze.”

NOTE: Mr. Peacock has written several books. His latest series is about "The Boy Sherlock Holmes" This is a wonderful look at the legendary Sherlock Holmes, in the beginning! To learn more about Shane and all of his works, please visit his website at www.shanepeacock.ca.

(To Be Continued)

The Great Farini

Shane Peacock
Biographer, Novelist, Playwright, Journalist, Screenwriter
Author of The Great Farini - The High-Wire Life of William Hunt

The Lives of Farini-Hunt - Tragedy (Part Two)
Here’s what happened next …

“Gripping her dress in one fist he held on tightly and fell with her until the back of his knee hooked around the wire. The Great Farini had more than enough strength to hold a human being in the air with one arm and he tensed his powerful muscles to meet the need. But the dress, that beautiful dress of light fabric, tore in a agonizing, ripping sound as her full weight pulled downward against…and she was gone, spiraling away from his as he clutched at thin air, her piercing scream now mixing with screams from the crowd. Farini hung there, looking straight at Mary as she dropped. She hit the seats with a sickening thud, her head crushing against them and her body flopping sideways. For an instant she rose, staggering like a clubbed animal, and then collapsed.” They tried to save her, the best doctors were sent for and they actually thought she might survive. Unfortunately it was not to be and six days later she succumbed to her fall. Farini was devastated but well consoled by the people of Cuba. Farini stayed in Cuba for a long time after the death of his wife. Even as Farini grieved, he agreed to perform on the high-wire at a benefit that “the great Cuban circus impresario, Chiarini”, was holding for him. It was reported that between $15,000 and $20,000 was raised for him. Eventually, “Farini moved on, for all intents and purposes alone again”.

NOTE: Mr. Peacock has written several books. His latest series is about "The Boy Sherlock Holmes" This is a wonderful look at the legendary Sherlock Holmes, in the beginning! To learn more about Shane and all of his works, please visit his website at www.shanepeacock.ca.

(To Be Continued)

The Great Farini

Shane Peacock
Biographer, Novelist, Playwright, Journalist, Screenwriter
Author of The Great Farini - The High-Wire Life of William Hunt

The Lives of Farini-Hunt - Tragedy  (Part One)
From the War torn United States the Farini’s traveled to Cuba. Here Farini would once again thrill audiences and display his “high wire” talents. His choice of venue was in Havana at the city’s ball-ring, Plaza de Toros de la Habana. Farini “had strung a rope from one side to the other of the bull-ring roof”. He was going to amaze the crown “by standing on his head, hanging by his feet, walking in peach baskets and inside a sack, and going through maneuvers with a chair”. The night of his walk, “things started well’ he walked back and forth without incident.” Here is how Shane Peacock describes what happened next. … “Then Mrs. Farini appeared and he lifted her onto his back and started out on the long journey across the huge expanse. The introduction of a woman into a dangerous performance always frightened audiences, without a doubt the reason why there were so many such acts, and the crowd at the bull-ring that day was noticeably nervous, watching the pair moving slowly along the high wire, the gentleman’s muscles showing through his tights and the lady looking fragile and feminine in her translucent dress. Out they went, sixty feet over the seats and down the incline across the ring, and then up again over the other seats toward their perch on the opposite wall. As they approached safety the crowd began to relax, and in a communal feeling of relief and admiration, a burst of spontaneous applause rose throughout the stadium. The Farinis were just four feet from the perch; they could almost touch it. At that instant Mary made a deadly decision: she decided to wave. It was just a slight motion to the crowd, meant to be casual, but a rope-walker’s cardinal sin: a jerking action that was unrehearsed. She loosened her grip on her husband’s neck and in the instant her hands came up and her weight shifted, she was falling. She screamed as she tipped away from his back and felt herself dripping, head downward, shrieking for his help so loudly that the audience could hear each word. A sense of horror transfixed the crowd as Farini tried desperately, in the split second available to him, to save his dearest friend. In a lightning move he released the balance pole and shot his arm back, his hand searching for the descending body...and caught her!  One would hope that this was the happy end to an almost tragedy, but life’s not like that!

NOTE: Mr. Peacock has written several books. His latest series is about "The Boy Sherlock Holmes" This is a wonderful look at the legendary Sherlock Holmes, in the beginning! To learn more about Shane and all of his works, please visit his website at www.shanepeacock.ca.

(To Be Continued)

The Great Farini

Shane Peacock
Biographer, Novelist, Playwright, Journalist, Screenwriter
Author of The Great Farini - The High-Wire Life of William Hunt

The Lives of Farini-Hunt - At War (Part Two)

Peacock continues, "He would walk on water. Hardly a surprising idea for a man of his ambition. For this he used “water skates”, devices similar to the ones he had read about other eccentric men using a few years ago. His shoes were made of zinc, shaped like tiny boats, with air-tight compartments and exterior flanges (or “fins”), lightly hinged near the bottom and attached to strings he held in his hands. With this bizarre invention strapped to his feet he prepared to head out across the river. But six-foot-four-inch Abraham Lincoln, described by Farini as “the rail splitting lawyer President,” sitting nearby with his knees up higher than his chin, tapped him on the shoulder. “Young man,” he said to Willie Hunt, “don’t be afraid, if you should tip over and get in head down, I’m long enough to wade you out.” With that Farini was off across the river." Farini eventually tired of “non-activity” in Washington and applied to join the Secret Service. Shane Peacock tells it best “Soon Farini was sick of sitting around in Washington (Mary was likely there too—as restless as her husband), so he determined to get himself into some danger. He applied to join the Secret Service. “Here my adventurous nature would have full play,” he said. In one of his first missions, dressed in civilian clothes, he swam the river near Aquia Creek and went south, overland through enemy territory toward Falmouth and Fredericksburg.” Farini continued in this role until McClennan’s army left Washington and made for Richmond. Farini fought in two engagements, “Chickahoming Swamps” and in the "Second Battle of Bull Run". Ultimately General McClennan fell out of favour with President Lincoln and he was fired. Many of McClennan’s men were not happy with this development and left Washington and the War. Shane Peacock writes, “If he thought by quitting the war he would leave pain and tragedy behind, he was badly mistaken. Some time in mid-November he and Mary (Signora Farini) were steaming out of an east harbour, heading for Cuba.” Little did Farini know that “this trip would prove to be the greatest mistake of his life and contain a moment of terror that would haunt him forever.”


NOTE: Mr. Peacock has written several books. His latest series is about "The Boy Sherlock Holmes" This is a wonderful look at the legendary Sherlock Holmes, in the beginning! To learn more about Shane and all of his works, please visit his website at www.shanepeacock.ca.

(To Be Continued)

The Great Farini

Shane Peacock
Biographer, Novelist, Playwright, Journalist, Screenwriter
Author of The Great Farini - The High-Wire Life of William Hunt

The Lives of Farini-Hunt - At War (Part One)

At some point Hunt was lured to the Civil War taking place in the U.S.  It was likely that he was looking for more adventure. He ended up in Washington and ultimately joined the Union States forces under the command of Colonel John McLeod Murphy. Murphy commanded the 15^th New York Engineers Regiment. The Regiment was instructed by General McClennan, "to find a way to transport large groups of soldiers across rivers”. Murphy was impressed with Hunt’s “inventive mind” and asked Hunt to work on a way to accommodate McClennan’s wishes. It took Hunt/Farini three weeks to come up with a solution. The “solution” was demonstrated before a distinguished group, including the General and the President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. Here is how Shane Peacock described the demonstration, “When all the officials were assembled the engineers quickly laid a pontoon bridge across the river, to much approval from the audience. Then it was time for Farini. First he had his portable “skirmish rope bridge” put over, a device which could be carried up to a river bank, quickly brought over the river and then used to transport troops much faster than the enemy could move. This too met with approval, especially when he raced over the bridge himself, firing his gun to give things “a little life”, as he put it. Then, in response to anticipated questions about how the bridge would be anchored on the other shore, he delivered his coup de grace".

NOTE: Mr. Peacock has written several books. His latest series is about "The Boy Sherlock Holmes" This is a wonderful look at the legendary Sherlock Holmes, in the beginning! To learn more about Shane and all of his works, please visit his website at www.shanepeacock.ca.

(To Be Continued)

The Great Farini

Shane Peacock
Biographer, Novelist, Playwright, Journalist, Screenwriter
Author of The Great Farini - The High-Wire Life of William Hunt

The Lives of Farini-Hunt - Further Adventures (Part Three)

He announced plans for several wire walks, but due to the financial climate of a war torn country, he financially wasn’t available. Finally he revised his plans and “presented weekly shows at Moffat’s Grove, the pleasure ground just north of Buffalo”. The shows didn’t all go smoothly, but Farini was able to work his way through the problems. One of his walks featured the debut of Signora Farini. Here is Shane’s description, “The exciting prospect him carry “a live woman” brought out another big crown. They watched him step out onto his rope with Mary on his back and head toward his “crow’s nest” in the tree. He had invented a new apparatus for carrying her, a kind of side-saddle made of leather, steel bands and stirrups that strapped onto his shoulders and rendered her ride comfortable and as safe as possible. She was described as “a pale and rather interesting looking person of twenty-two years, or thereabouts” and despite the poor condition of the rope that day she performed her task without fear and was cheered heartily when they reached the crow’s nest and she was lowered safely to the ground”. Farini and Signora Farini three more times and then left town. Farini “was about to temporarily leave show business and plunge himself into the bloody mess that was the American Civil War.”

NOTE: Mr. Peacock has written several books. His latest series is about "The Boy Sherlock Holmes" This is a wonderful look at the legendary Sherlock Holmes, in the beginning! To learn more about Shane and all of his works, please visit his website at www.shanepeacock.ca.

(To Be Continued)

The Great Farini

Shane Peacock
Biographer, Novelist, Playwright, Journalist, Screenwriter
Author of The Great Farini - The High-Wire Life of William Hunt

The Lives of Farini-Hunt - Further Adventures (Part Two)

To do this he needed to “warm up”. His target was another high-wire walk in Port Hope. As before the Port Hope Guide’s Hugh Crea gave “Farini” a big build-up. Farini would do “two grand ascensions”. People from all over the area came to see Farini’s performance, and they were not disappointed! Two weeks after the performance, Bill Hunt-Farini was gone! Shortly afterwards, Buffalo and Niagara newspapers started reporting that “The Great Farini” was in Niagara Falls and that he was “laying plans for spectacular crossings, including the carrying of a “woman” on his back" … enter Madame Farini! Here is how Shane Peacock describes it, “The fearless Mary Osborne, his old friend from the township, had decided to go on the road with him. Whether she was ever actually married to him, was merely his professional “wife” or his live-in lover is not certain. They had been close for a number of years and she had supported him through thick and thin." Peacock goes on to say “Living across the road was the socially conscious, eccentric Hunt family, and by far their most intriguing member, at least to Mary, was the romantic eldest son. With his help she too learned to walk a high wire and was one of the few township people not frightened by his feats and his desires. When he returned to Hope in 1861 as a world-renowned gymnast, their friendship was renewed. They were just one year apart and obviously both rather unconventional people. When he left home again after his second Port Hope walk she went with him and publicly took the name Farini”.

 NOTE: Mr. Peacock has written several books. His latest series is about "The Boy Sherlock Holmes" This is a wonderful look at the legendary Sherlock Holmes, in the beginning! To learn more about Shane and all of his works, please visit his website at www.shanepeacock.ca.

(To Be Continued)

The Great Farini

Shane Peacock
Biographer, Novelist, Playwright, Journalist, Screenwriter
Author of The Great Farini - The High-Wire Life of William Hunt

The Lives of Farini-Hunt - Further Adventures (Part One)

With the season over and Blondin gone from Niagara (forever), Farini left the area and headed south. Along the way he performed in various cities. After a number of performances, he ended up in New Orleans. Times in America where changing. Abraham Lincoln was elected and signs of a split were in the air! Farini put together a company of acrobats to perform in New Orleans, but with the onset of Civil War, the city became a very dangerous place to be. Ultimately Farini made his way up the Mississippi and then made his way by steamer to Cuba and  on to New York City. Normally Farini would have loved to stay in this exciting city, but having arrived “in the midst of war fever”, he decided to head north for “the quiet countryside of Hope Township”.

Here is how Shane describes Farini’s return “Somehow Farini was able to be Bill Hunt again and live in the same house with his father for three months. Thomas turned much of the farm operation over to him and in a few years would sell him all his land and begin plans to retire permanently to Port Hope. Bill Hunt settled in and by April he was busy with crop planting and other chores." However, according to Peacock, “living in Hope Township would never work for him. The energy that had possessed him since birth just wouldn’t rest. He had to head out in the world again after adventure”.

 NOTE: Mr. Peacock has written several books. His latest series is about "The Boy Sherlock Holmes" This is a wonderful look at the legendary Sherlock Holmes, in the beginning! To learn more about Shane and all of his works, please visit his website at www.shanepeacock.ca.

(To Be Continued)