The Mountaineer. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1859-1861, 1859-12-24

studded with pixies, and grapplcd and
held with hooks. His attention was
then diverted until his keeper could
venture up behind him and throw q
rope about his legs.
This was done with such celebrity,
that the rope was passed round and
round again, and secured before the
beast became aware Of what was being
done, he was captured.
The crowd had by this time increased
to thousands, and had old Hannibal
effected an escape from the hooks and
pixies, il is probable that q large mum
Der Of the spectators would have lost
their lives. They were urged by the
.showmen TO keep out Of the way, but
all that was said or done could scarcely
induce them to do otherwise than push
forward to see what was going on.
But Hannibal was not totally COM
quered after all. Al stone eight feet
long and two feet square having
been chained to his legs, and the pike
poles laid BY, his Majesty embraced
an unexpected opportunity to continue
war. He put the spearmen to flight
and chased them about the stone yard,
dragging the immense building stone
after him as if il were a stick. The
crowd scattered precipitately With
some daring tie spearmen again tri-1
umphed, and the elephant was this time
more severely dealt with. His legs were
again fastened with a heavy chain, and
lie was tumbled over and speared, and
stabbed with pitchforks, the instruments
entering to the depth of three or four
inches ateyery thrust, blood flowing in
streams. He endured tile torture With
out finching for some time, but the
copious blood letting at length reduced
his rage, and he succumbed, making q
peculiar noise known to all keepers Of
wild animals by the term Of ttbegging.' p
When this stage Of humiliation has.
been Produced II Is always considered
safe to release feroeious beast. 81.
Hannibal was then driven back, q
conquered hero, to the show ground,
where he was securely fastened BY
means Of heavy chains.
This elephant was brought to
America inthe year 1874, by Mr.. Van
Amburgh, and is one of tho largest Of
his species. His hight is IL feet 4
inches. He is claimed to be one third
larger than any other elephant ever
brought to this country, Bayard Tay-
lor testifes that he is considerably
larger than the majority Of the ele-
plants which he had met with either
in Asia or Africa. When Hannibal
was imported, in 1914, it was thought
that he was already old, but he has
been growing ever since, the showmen
have concluded that he is still young
the natural term OF life Of the specie
being from 500 to 450 years. !.
This animals reputation was form
.erly almost unparalleled for vicious
ness, but during the last FIVE years he
had apparently reformed, and became
docile in character. Before that time
he had repeatedly broken loose, and
had killed, on different occasions, as
many as seven persons. The last ex-
plot of the kind, which Hannibal un-
dertook previous to the present one,
was in 1883, when he sprung open the
door of his cage, and, after affecting o
pretty general demolition Of the Com
Pany's cages and transportation wag-
ons, ran away nine miles into the
country before he was captured.
The damage sustained by Van Am
burgh & Co., by the wagons and cages
spoiled yesterday, amounts to con-
siderable sum. The wild animals which
he released were all secured without
difficulty N. x. Tribune, Nov.
SO -.Lg . 2, 49, a e.- = is