Kate’s notes:  I don’t know the true identity of the “Professor Gilliland” in this quirky sideshow, but one possible candidate was a young new Zealander named William Gilliland. The Scottish-born Gilliland was a fellow of some celebrity for his exhibitions of all manner of athletics. Among his specialties were wrestling, rowing, and displaying feats of strength. He was a fierce competitor in the NZ version of the Highland games and when he enlisted at the breakout of WWI, on his registration he declared “athlete” as his occupation.

From the Hawera & Normanby Star
Region: Taranaki, NZ
11 June 1912

CONTINENTAL VARIETIES

   One of the side attractions at the Winter Show will be the Athletic Circus and Palace of Continental Varieties and Sensations. Professor Shultz will defy the hangman’s rope, using a regulation gallows; the bridge of death, performed by Professor Gilliland, in which a motor car of 35 cwt. full of passengers, will pass over Professor Gilliland’s body; and there will be exhibitions of strength and wrestling.

-transcription by Kate Maynard, 2012