This was the year the circus died.

"The Greatest Show on Earth" drew big crowds in Detroit during its 146-year run of circus tours across the country before its final act last May.

But if the past week is any indication, it will continue to make headlines: Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus filed Dec. 22 to sue Kid Rock and others for using its slogan as the name of his latest tour. It's the latest of many often-quirky stories involving a Michigan connection to the greatest big top.

James A. Bailey, a co-founder of Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus, was born July 4, 1847 near what today is Cobo Center in downtown Detroit. Among thousands of mentions in the Detroit Free Press over the years are stories of mishaps during visits and locals running away to join the show.

Kid Rock's use of the trademarked "Greatest Show on Earth" resulted in the lawsuit filed by the circus' parent company, Florida-based Feld Entertainment. The company claims that the Detroit musician, whose real name is Robert Ritchie, uses "vulgar language," "obscene gestures," smoking and other images in his act that are "antithetical to the family friendly reputation of the circus and the trademarks," according to the federal court complaint, alleging trademark infringement, unfair competition and more. Ritchie and his attorney didn't immediately respond to requests for comment on the allegations.

The end of the Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus tour was announced in January 2017 because of declining attendance and high operating costs, USA Today reported.

In its heyday, the circus was a massive production, highlighted by a so-called "big top" tent featuring acts involving clowns, acrobats, exotic animals and performers from around the world.

It woud spend weeks per stop in big cities. The June 8, 1917 Free Press described "an iridescent pageant descriptive of the story of 'Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp,' in which over 1,000 people take part, together with 500 horses and a score of elephants."

There were bears riding bicycles, baboons doing stunts and cats "nosing harmlessly around with trained rats and pigeons," according to the article.

"The grand finale is thoroughly patriotic in conception, and sends the audience away on a note of high excitement," Free Press reporter J.D. Callaghan wrote Aug. 28, 1942. "The circus, despite, or perhaps because of, its added brilliance remains the circus in soul and essence — a thing so inescapably American that America will never let it die."

But what made sense to people more than 100 years ago would be considered barbaric today.

The circus' treatment of animals, frequently moving them around the country and forcing them to perform, led to protests by animal-rights activists. In May 2016, the company removed elephants from its shows, but ticket sales continued to decline, USA Today reported. The show would give its final performance a year later.

Here are some of the zany stories of the circus and its connections to Detroit:

'Elephant killed by strangulation'

The execution of the Barnum & Bailey circus' largest elephant aboard an Atlantic Transport Line steamer in New York was front page news, above the fold, in the Nov. 9, 1902 edition of the Detroit Free Press. Mandarin served for 24 years, weighed five tons and stood 9 feet, 10 inches tall.

The article described with excruciating detail how a ship-towing cable was looped around the elephant's neck and fastened to winch engines used to strangle the animal, which was pronounced dead after eight minutes.

"The cage containing the body was then hoisted from the ship by a crane and loaded onto a barge, in which it was towed about 20 miles out to sea and sunk, the cage being weighted with about 5,000 pounds of old railroad iron," according to the article.

The explanation of the execution was summarized in a sentence at the end of the report: "The elephant had recently become unmanageable, rendering his destruction necessary."

Typhoid hits performers in Detroit

The same city where famous magician and stunt performer Harry Houdini died of peritonitis in 1926 was also where, in July 1934, some 70 Barnum and Bailey performers and workers became sick with typhoid fever. By Sept. 16, 1934, seven had died and a dozen remained hospitalized.

The Free Press that day reported the ones in the hospital "smile now, contrasting the gloom of the past month" as they anticipated rejoining the circus — all except one performer: "Nagy, the clown, had a long face Saturday as he left the hospital. He was pronounced cured, but he mourned the addition of 15 pounds to his weight. His worry concerns the ability of his trick mule to carry him and the extra poundage about the ring," according to the report.

"Among the other stars in the typhoid ward are the Wallenda sisters — Helen and Henrietta – tight rope performers, and Robert Yacobi, expert acrobat. The animal man, Joe Hayes, is nearly ready to leave for his home in Gregory, Mich."

Health officials reported that the circus employees had picked up the infection 10-21 days earlier, before the circus arrived in Detroit, and they assured residents that the city wasn't in danger of it spreading. Typhoid is spread by contaminated food and water, and symptoms include high fevers, weakness, stomach pain, headache and loss of appetite, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Dr. E.T. Olson, former superintendent of Detroit Receiving Hospital, joined the circus tour to "check the threatened epidemic and to supervise general health conditions of the circus personnel," the Free Press reported July 31, 1934.

Tragedy would again strike the Wallenda family in Detroit, in 1962, when the Flying Wallendas performed before 7,000 people with the Shrine Circus at the State Fair Coliseum. Two members of the high-wire circus act, founded by Nik's great-grandfather, Karl Wallenda, fell to their deaths while performing a seven-person pyramid crossing on the tightrope, according to previous reports in the Free Press.

Left it to the circus

A "strange story" from Cassopolis (in southwest Michigan) in the March 19, 1898 Free Press described a dispute over the will of a farmer who had died.

"The old man was eccentric and did not live in harmony with his relatives. It is alleged that after his death, it was found that, according to his will, he had left the old homestead, consisting of 40 acres, to his wife, and the remainder of his possessions, amounting to about $10,000, was left, so the will stated, to Barnum & Bailey's circus," according to the article. "It is further stated that the old man's relatives will endeavor to break the will."

Gorilla etiquette

Free Press writers often detailed the oddities they saw when the Barnum and Bailey circus arrived.

"The menagerie of the circus contains a magnificent collection of animals, by far the best ever seen in this city. Of course, Johanna, the famous gorilla, heads the list, and she is now a full-fledged society belle," the Free Press reported Aug. 16, 1897.

"When fed, Johanna uses a plate, knife and fork, pours out a glass of wine with an unconcerned air, wipes her mouth with a napkin and afterwards makes good use of a toothpick," according to the report. "Many of the animals are exceedingly rare and among the number is a little camel, born on Easter Sunday, and a hippopotamus, of the white species, which sweats blood."

Read more:

Ringling Bros. owner: Final shows are ‘a celebration’

Wallendas have tragic history in Detroit

Clowning around

"Of course there were clowns, a whole regiment of them, and their antics would make a dyspeptic smile after a dinner of boiled cabbage, lobster salad and plum pudding. 'Slivers' Oakley, one of the most popular clowns in the business, introduced a lot of new stunts, all of which are of a far higher class than the work usually seen in the circus ring.

"For one thing, 'Slivers' played a baseball game in pantomime all by himself, going through the entire program, from moistening his glove with saliva to killing the umpire," as reported June 18, 1907.

Fugitive runs away with the circus

Accused of stealing a diamond ring from a woman whose sister had just died on Detroit's east side, Edward Lauth fled town with the circus, as reported Jan. 14, 1908.

"At the time of the theft, Lauth was employed by the undertaker that had charge of the funeral of Miss (Laura) Beckhold's sister. He was sent to the Beckhold residence after the funeral to remove the chairs and saw the diamond lying on a dresser. He took it and gave it to a young woman to keep for him."

That night, he joined Barnum & Bailey's circus as a canvas man. He ended up in Europe before arriving, months later, in Boston. He then wrote his mother, asking about his wife, and the mother turned him in to the police.

"Since Lauth's arrest, his wife, who now lives at 95 Jackson Street, gave birth to a child, and when Lauth heard of its arrival, he decided to plead guilty and beg for leniency," according to the report.

Lauth, 22, was sentenced to eight to 12 months of incarceration, according to a report March 19, 1908.

'Big Top' goes up

The arrival of the circus was announced June 17, 1907 as 12 acres of canvas — divided among 20 tents — landed on a lot near Palmer Park.

"The proverbial mushroom would seem of laggard growth compared with the manner in which the huge tents sprouted from the ground," according to the article. The "big top" tent was 643 feet long, seating about 15,000 people. Children were ecstatic.

"No wide-awake boy, and certainly no Detroit boy, could resist the fascination of the menagerie, and scores of urchins were transported to the seventh heaven yesterday morning by being permitted to carry water for the elephants or hay for the camels," the Free Press reported.

The lot, however, was in bad condition when the circus arrived.

"The wheels of some of the heavier wagons sinking hub-deep in the mud. In some cases, 40 horses, assisted by an elephant or two, were necessary to move the vehicles."

History of circus co-founder James A. Bailey

James Anthony Bailey was born July 4, 1847 and died from erysipelas, a skin infection, at age 59 on April 12, 1906 at his home in Mount Vernon, N.Y., according to his obituary that day.

He was known as managing director of the Barnum and Bailey show, having joined P.T. Barnum in 1881, as the circuses increasingly consolidated.

"Few men of his time were more widely known throughout the world than James Anthony Bailey, yet few protected their private lives more securely from the public. Gentle and unassuming, he shrank from putting his personality forward, being content to have the public at large know him merely as the head of the great enterprises in which he was interested," according to the obituary.

Bailey's mother died when he was a child, and as the youngest of six siblings, he said many of the chores fell to him. His morning duties caused him to frequently be late for school. The tardiness resulted in detention, causing him to get home later and into more trouble with his family.

"In spite of this 'heads I win, tails you lose' game, James made no complaint for a long time, but finally, when he was about 11 years of age, resolved to stand it no longer and left his home," according to the obituary. "After wandering about Detroit two days, he went out into the country and there secured a place as a 'chore boy' for a farmer at the princely salary of $3.50 per month in the summer, and his board and lodging in the winter."

He continued going to school, trudging 1½ miles. When his employer refused a 50-cent raise, Bailey walked 10 miles to Pontiac and started working at a hotel, where he "first began his career as a showman."

He went on to work in Zanesville, Ohio, in the package-delivery business, which he found not nearly as interesting. He moved to Nashville, Tenn., and worked at a theater. Later, he worked as a sutler's clerk in Ohio during the Civil War. "He volunteered to act as mail agent for his regiment and had some narrow escapes under fire," according to the obituary.

After the war, he became an agent in show business. He saved up and invested in Hemmings, Cooper & Whitby show, eventually becoming Cooper and Bailey.

"The show business in America was not enormously profitable at that time, and Mr. Bailey decided on a bold stroke to better his profits," the obituary said.

He moved to Australia, toured New Zealand, Peru and elsewhere before taking a ship to Brooklyn, New York in 1878.

In the ensuing years, the Cooper & Bailey show competed with P.T. Barnum's performers. In 1881, they they combined for what they called the "greatest show on earth." Other acts were also consolidated over the years.

As it says on a Michigan Registered Historic Site plaque honoring Bailey at Cobo Center: "Unlike Barnum who asserted, 'The public likes to be humbugged,' Bailey said, 'Give the people the best ... and they'll reward you.'"

Barnum died in 1891, and Bailey ran the "mammoth three-ring show" until his own death. "The circus was then sold to Ringling Brothers, which lives on as Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey," according to the plaque.

The final performance of the Greatest Show on Earth was May 21, 2017, at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, N.Y. The Feld family owned the company for about 50 years, and Kenneth Feld spoke at the final event:

"It’s so important that you carry on supporting all those people that do dedicate their lives to these animals. Support good, well-run circuses. Support good, well-run zoos. Support good, well-run public parks that look after these animals," he told the crowd, as USA TODAY reported. “It’s always been our goal to be able to share with families the incredible experience, the joy, the happiness and the wonderment of the Greatest Show on Earth — and I think we’ve accomplished that goal.”

Contact Robert Allen on Twitter @rallenMI or rallen@freepress.com.