Admiral Dot (1859 or 1863 – October 28, 1918), born Leopold S. Kahn and briefly displayed as the Eldorado Elf, was a

dwarf Dwarf, dwarfs or dwarves may refer to: Common uses *Dwarf (folklore), a supernatural being from Germanic folklore * Dwarf, a human or animal with dwarfism Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities * Dwarf (''Dungeons & Dragons''), a sh ...

performer for

P. T. Barnum Phineas Taylor Barnum (July 5, 1810 – April 7, 1891) was an American showman, businessman, and politician remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and founding with James Anthony Bailey the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. He was ...

Biography

He was born in 1859 or 1863 in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

to Gabriel Kahn and his wife Caroline. His mother gave birth to ten children, of which three survived. His two dwarf brothers were known as Major Atom and General Pin, born 1881. Their mother was declared insane and jailed after trying to drown General Pin when he was two years old. Barnum wrote: "During the week we spent in seeing San Francisco and its suburbs n 1869 I discovered a dwarf more diminutive than General Tom Thumb was when first I found him, and so handsome, well-formed and captivating, that I could not resist the temptation to engage him. I gave him the soubriquet of Admiral Dot, dressed him in complete Admiral's uniform, and invited the editors of the San Francisco journals to visit him in the parlours of the Cosmopolitan Hotel. Immediately there was an immense furore, and

Woodward's Gardens Woodward's Gardens, commonly referred to as The Gardens, was a combination amusement park, museum, art gallery, zoo, and aquarium operating from 1866 to 1891 in the Mission District of San Francisco, California. The Gardens covered two city bloc ...

, where "Dot" was exhibited for three weeks before going east, was daily thronged with crowds of his curious fellow citizens, under whose very eyes he had lived so long undiscovered." AdmiralDot16

Starting in 1877, he performed with the American Lilliputian Company. In the 1890s, he toured with

Adam Forepaugh Adam John Forepaugh (born Adam John Forbach; February 28, 1831 – January 22, 1890) was an American horse trader and circus owner. From 1865 through 1890 his circus operated under various names including Forepaugh's Circus, Forepaugh's Gigantic ...

's circus. He married dwarf Lottie Naomi Swartwood on August 14, 1892. They had two children: a daughter, Hazel Kahn Golden (1892-1918) and a son, Gabriel Kahn (1896-1982). He died of the

1918 influenza pandemic The 1918–1920 flu pandemic, also known as the Great Influenza epidemic or by the common misnomer Spanish flu, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the Influenza A virus subtype H1N1, H1N1 subtype of the influenz ...

at his home in

White Plains, New York White Plains is a city in and the county seat of Westchester County, New York, United States. It is an inner suburb of New York City, and a commercial hub of Westchester County, a densely populated suburban county that is home to about one milli ...

on October 28, 1918, aged 59 years.

References

American male entertainers American entertainers with dwarfism Sideshow performers 19th-century births Year of birth uncertain 1918 deaths Deaths from the Spanish flu pandemic in New York (state) Entertainers from San Francisco American people with disabilities {{US-entertainer-stub