The Salford Sioux (Part 1)

American promoter Buffalo Bill Cody brings the greatest show on earth to a racecourse ground in Salford, where an army of performers and crew construct ‘the largest theatre ever seen in the world’. The Wild West show thrills England’s Victorian millworkers and is remembered for decades to come.  But did, according to local legend, hundreds of native American performers disappear into the smog-cloaked streets of Victorian England, never to be seen again? In this episode, we explore the legend of the Salford Sioux. We’ll discuss the performers who took part in the show, the tumultuous and violent period in American history, and the impact this enormous wild west touring performance had on the imagination of workers in Victorian England’s powerhouse city.

 

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