Spectacular Four-Column newspaper advertisement for Chevalier Cliquot, sword-swallower when he appeared at “The Wonderland Musee and Theatre” in Erie, PA in 1893. Cliquot was said by many to be the greatest sword-swallower of his day.
Born in 1870 as Frederick McLone in Liverpool, England, Cliquot spoke seven languages, and presented himself throughout his career as a French Canadian, though he was said to speak often with an American accent! He made a famous run at The Royal Aquarium in London in 1896 that was documented in The Strand Magazine and was the first human being to swallow a lighted object– a sword made of lead with a small light bulb embedded inside behind a watch face crystal. His wife, sometimes presented as his sister, was also a sword swallower, known as Mademoiselle (or Madam) Cliquot.
