Follow up question: Water for Elephants paints a pretty rough picture of the early circus. They are made out to be pretty underhanded, if not outright shysters. They are shown to be eager to bilk money out of the locals of whatever town they are in, and then leave before anyone could get organized enough to actually get back at them. Flagrantly breaking laws is shown to be commonplace.

Was this the case? Were they really shady cheats who just wanted your money under the guise of showmanship, or is that just literary license taken by the author?