Who’s Who

The Igorrotes’ Manager

Truman Hunt
A trusted friend of the Igorrotes, Truman is a former medical doctor and lieutenant governor of Bontoc Province in the Philippines. He takes the Igorrotes from the mountains of the northern Philippines to exhibit them on America’s fair and amusement park circuit.

This picture is one of only two known surviving photos of Truman Hunt. Taken at St Louis in 1904

The Filipinos

Julio Balinag
Truman’s twenty-one-year-old translator. He is half-Igorrote and half-Ilocano, a tribe regarded by Americans as superior to the Igorrotes. Julio is ambitious but principled, and takes great pride in his natty American wardrobe.

Maria
Julio’s eighteen-year-old Igorrote wife is a mother hen who looks after the other members of the tribe.

Friday Strong
The baby of the group, seven-year-old orphan Friday belongs to a different tribe – the Negritos. He stands less than four feet tall, and always has a cigar clamped between his teeth.

Julio, on far right, next to Maria, with Friday on far left, at Luna Park

Tainan
“The little boy with the big voice” becomes a favorite with the American public, not least for his performances of patriotic American songs, including ‘My Country Tis of Thee.’ He is nine years old, and is friends with Friday.

Fomoaley Ponci
The tall, chubby tribal chief. He becomes the butt of the Igorrotes’ jokes because of his self-importance and willingness to give lengthy interviews to the press.

Fomoaley Ponci, left, and Bolinget Ofool

Feloa
A natural leader and a popular, outspoken tribesman. He leaves his wife and three young children in the Philippines to travel to America to earn his fortune.

Dengay
A close friend of Feloa’s. Dengay has a wife and four young children in the Philippines.

Truman’s Allies

Ed Callahan
The 33-year-old former railroad clerk works in the Igorrote Village as Truman’s security guard and right hand man. He is intensely loyal to the showman.

Sallie Hunt
At the age of seventeen, the spirited Sallie left her large family behind in Kentucky to seek excitement at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. There Truman gave her a job as his stenographer and the two were married just a few months later.

Adele von Groyss
Truman’s close friend, Adele is a flamboyant and eccentric Austrian expatriate famed for her avant garde parties. Adele worked in the Philippines alongside Truman and is fascinated by Igorrote culture.

Adele von Groyss

Antoinette Funk
The tiny yet formidable attorney hired by Truman to defend him. She is of the surprising view that women don’t belong in the professions.

Antoinette Funk

Truman’s Opponents

Frederick Barker
Truman’s nemesis: the high-minded, dogged and handsome government agent who is tasked with finding Truman and bringing him to justice.

Frederick Barker as a young man

William Pinkerton
The Pinkerton detective charged with tracking down Truman Hunt. William is the son of Allan Pinkerton, the Scot who founded the world’s most famous detective agency.

William Pinkerton in his Chicago office

Louis Blum
The Chicago attorney hired by the Government to prosecute Truman. Blum is an overweight bachelor with a ready wit. He’s a born optimist with an encyclopedic knowledge of the law and current affairs.

The Showmen

Thompson and Dundy
Dubbed “the kings of Coney,” the founders of Luna Park think big and spend extravagantly. They are determined to book the Igorrotes for the 1905 season.

Frederic Thompson

Elmer “Skip” Dundy

Samuel Gumpertz
The manager of Dreamland, Luna Park’s main rival, which is situated just across Surf Avenue from Thompson and Dundy’s park. He too wants the Igorrotes.