1951, Relief print, 762 x 510 mm, Ephemera Collection, Alexander Turnbull Library, Reference: Eph-D-CABOT-Rodeo-1951-01Cabot had been involved with sideshows from around the 1930s, and in 1946 took out contracts with A&P associations to run sideshow alleys at A&P shows. Rodeos were also occasions on which he could operate sideshows. Even at the age of 70, in 1960, he was still keen to run the occasional stall at country fairs, selling novelties such as dolls on sticks, acrobat clowns, and Lord’s Prayer medallions. Life on the road had its drawbacks. His wife Beatrice often regretted her husband’s absences on the road. But on one occasion she had accompanied him in a truck down near Mosgiel, taking sideshow novelties to yet another fair, and they met with an accident. An undated newsclipping in one of Cabot’s scrapbooks (Acc. 82-215) reports "A truck with a caravan attached, owned by Mr C H Cabot, collided with a telegraph pole on the main highway south of Mosgiel golf links at 10 a.m. today. The truck...was laden with goods used as prizes in sideshows. Mr Cabot and his wife, who were passengers, were given medical attention at Mosgiel. The driver received cuts and abrasions".
View this image's record