Lengel's account of
Barnum acquiring (for $ 1000) and then parading elderly African - American Joice Heth around the East Coast as «the 161 - year - old slave mammy» to George Washington is equally disturbing and gripping;
put on display 14 hours a day for a paying public, Heth soon died, and
Barnum held a public autopsy - charging 50 cents a head.»