The Lansing state Republican. [volume] (Lansing, Mich.) 1855-1874, 1859-11-22
Forl the Nc~ YORK Tribune
4 MAD ELEPHANT At LARGE.

An exciting scene was Witnessed IN W Ii.
liamsburgh about 10 o'clock on Friday
morning. Van Amburgh's Menagerie,
stationed on South Fifth street, between
Sixth and Seventh streets, was the locale
of the occurrence While lad was un-
loading sawdust from a wagon within the
exhibition tent, Old Hannibal, the elephant
broke out into one of his periodical ti,s Of
fury, and, making towards the horse. aimed
blow at him with his trunk. Missing the
animal. the blow fell upon the neck of the
boy, but with greatly diminished force, or
he must have been killed instantly. Again
he attacked the horse, and the frightened
animal, after severe hug from the ele-
plant trunk. darted off, dashing the vehicle
against the centre-pole, Gisengaging him.
self at the same time, and running into the
street. Hannibal deliberately tore the
wagon 10 pieces, flinging the wheels about
like toys. The cages containing the wild
beasts next engaged his attention; and
from the reckless way in which he turned
over and smashed up the habitations OF the
bears, hycuas, wolves, zcbras, and other
wild animals, it was probable that the
whole menageric would soon be let loose In
the streets
TIE circumstances of the affair appear to
be as follows: The animal Is notorious for
It's periodical fits of fury, during which it Is
quite unmauageablc and commits most vio-
lent attacks upon everything and every tody
that comes in It's way The immediate
cause of hs outbreak Oh Friday, appears to
have been a sudden dislike which he took
To the horse and 1t was against that AM
NAL that his first attack was directed Ia
king advantage Of the absence Of hi> keeper
he rushed at IT, and cndeavored IL strike il
with his trunk The horse sweryed sud
denly. and the blow, although with greatly
diminished force. fell upon the boys neck,
injuring him severely The horse. i'll it,
fright, darted oft, ana, striking the wagon a
galnst the ccntre-polc OF the tent, broke the
harness, and escaped to the street Bccom-
ing more aud more excited with rage, he
then mex turned the zebra cage upside
down, and, taking II up with his trunk, and
tusks, tossed it cut from beneath the can
vass as man would an apple. By this
time every altache of the mcnageric had
made good his escape, except the keeper
Of the raving beast, who was absent at the
time. The cage containing the hyena III
one compartment and several wolves III
another. was the next point of attack. This
iic tore to pieces, aud scattered them about
the premises, letting out the aniable III
habitau;-, who ran away with the utmost
terror.
Tue monster then went from one cage e.
another, upsetting them III turn, and 81 ash
ing them in pieces His keeper made has
appearance about this time, and attempted
to put in practice the usual devIses to gam
the ascendancy over the elephant. Ham
bal savageiy sailed out trumpetlng defiance
and dragging after him the chain with whict
he was u-ualIy fastened The keepers fol
lowed hlm down the street into an opeI
space not far distant from the menageri,
grounds, and, with the aid If two others
succeeded IN getting him into an excavation
made for a cellar He managed to chase
back his pursueTs, however, and was agaII
followed INTO a stone yard near by, wher,
he was second time lmpeded III his pro
gress He was kept here until the lonl
pixies and hooks of Young America Hool
aud Ladder Company were brought upoI
the ground and manned by the increasu.
croud to be used III suppressing the crazeC
iusurrectlon>t Thus, attacked from al
directions, he was hooked and piked from
50 many places that be found it inconyien
lent, and nearly impossible to move. Hi
ears, trunk, sides, back and limbs were stud
ded with pixies. and grappled and held witt
hooks Ills attention was then divcrte,
until Lis keeper could venture up benin,
him and throw a rope about his legs
This wa7 done with such celerity, tha
the rope was passed round and round again
and secured before the beast became awar,
Of wha, was being done, hs was captured
: The crowd had by this time increased t
: thousands, and had old Hannibal effectet
an escape from the hooks and pixies, it i
probable that a large number Of spectator
: would have lost their lives They wer
urged by the Snowman 10 keep out Of Tia
way, bIl dil Aiial Nds StlI VI i1llC CDul
; scarcely induce them to do otherwise tha
push forward to see what was going or.
But Hannibal was not totally conquere
: after all \ stone eight feet long and tw
feet square having been chained to his leg
: and the pike poles laid by, bis Majesty en-
3 braced an unexpected opportunity to COZ
tiuue the war H. put the spearmen /
light, and chased them about the stone var,
= dragging tn immense building stone aftt
: him a. ii it were a stick. The crowd sea
. tered precipitatoly. With some daring III
u -pearucn again irlumphed. aud the elephal
: was this time NOR severely dealt wit
! Ill. legs were again fastened with a beay
T. chain. aud he was tunIbled over aud speare'
e and stabbed with pitchforks, the ins,rumen
: entering 10 the depth Of three and four il
! ches at every hru,t, blood flowing in stream
7 He endured the torture without flnching f
: some time, but the corious blood letting
length reduced biz age aud be succUmbe
I! making a peculiar noise known to all kee
: ers of wild animals by the term Of be
u cing" When this stage Of humiiati'
< has been produced, it is always consider
al safe to release fercci0us beast.
a Hannibal was then driven back, ca
ie quered hero, to the show ground, where
ID was securely fastened by means Of hea