Born in 1855 in Woodstock, Ontario, Charles B. Tripp was entirely without arms. He learned to dress himself, shave, and write using his feet and became a very skilled cabinet maker, incorporating intricate wood inlay designs into his cabinets. In fact, Charles made his primary living as a carpenter. In 1872 he joined Barnum's circus and was hired on the spot. His career as an oddity lasted for over fifty years, and he travelled with Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey as well as with a number of carnivals. In his acts, he performed such tasks as penmanship, portrait painting and paper cutting. At the turn of the century, Charles became interested in photography and was known as "The Armless Photographer". He worked as staff photographer to the Barnum circus and also trained the Chinese conjoined twins, Liou Tang-sen and Liou Seng-sen, in photography. Charles Tripp was presented as a respectable, responsible man, often dressed in a dark suit with a white shirt and gold watch chain, photographed against elegant Victorian settings. He married late in life, had no children and was not photographed with his wife, because his image was that of a bachelor. He died in 1939, at the age of 84, in a retirement community in Salisbury, North Carolina.