[Ruto Semm and Annie Semm (known as "Fiji Jim and Wife")]

"Exotic" peoples were a staple of carnival freak shows and circus acts well into the twentieth century. Sideshow impresarios enhanced their strangeness with Western versions of native regalia and attracted gullible audiences with tales of savage customs. Although the practice of cannibalism in the Fiji Islands had died out by the mid-nineteenth century, the lore was perfect fodder for the freak show mill. Ruto and Annie Semm were lured to America from their home in the Fijis around 1877 by a circus agent. They worked for Barnum for eight years, billed as "Fiji Jim and Wife," then traveled with the dime museum circuit. By the early 1890s, they were exhibits at New York amusement parks in the summer and at Huber's Museum on East 14th Street in the winter. Ruto died of pneumonia in Brooklyn in 1897; Annie's fate is unknown.