“In 1872, an armless 17-year-old from Canada approached Barnum and was hired on the spot. For more than 50 years, Charles Tripp fascinated audiences by doing with his feet what other people did with their hands – and usually doing it better, including penmanship, paper cutting, portrait painting, carpentry, and, of course, serving a genteel cup of tea.”
From P.T. Barnum, America’s Greatest Showman, 1995.
“Charles Tripp, the Armless Wonder”
“A wonderful example of the way in which Nature compensates for the loss of limbs by developing elsewhere faculties to replace those that are missing, is afforded by Charles Tripp, the armless wonder who is in many respects the most ordinary man in this collection of uncommon men and women. Tripp has educated himself to use his feet with a deftness that few men of even mechanical bent attain with their hands.
--From Barnum and Bailey Greatest Show on Earth program, 1903.
