The anti-monopolist. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1874-1878, 1874-12-31
A RHiKOCHROS BATTLE.
Desperate Fight Between the Male
RhinOceros stPete,, and q Female
RhinOceros at tho HipProdrome..
An Exciting Scene.
From the New York Herald, 5th.l

nine o'clock, while the employees in the
Hippodrome were removing some of the
| animals in the southern and lower part
of the building, an accident occurred
! which might have caused serious loss
of life and property had it not been for
the energetic measures which were i'm
mediately taken to prevent disaster.
The we'll known and enormous sized
rhinoccros called ''Pete,' who weighs
over 1850 pounds. and who is familiar
to all of the visitors at the Hippodrome,
has of late been observed to be in low
spirits and quite moody in manner. A
pen had been built for him 80 feet in
leng tn, feet in height and 8 feet 2 in
ches in width From the brick wall Of th
Hippodrome to the stanchions on the
inner side of the pen, iron
bars about an inch in diameter were
fastened together by other iron bars of
greater thickness, and outside Of all
these were large and heavy wooden
braces that seemed to defy all attempts
ofthe animal to escape or break through.
The flooring of the cage was of solid
brick and the entire structure was be-
lieved to be perfectly safe. but it was
discovered that the iron bars were too
weak to stand the strain that they
were put to. The pen of the rhinoce-
ros ''Pete'' is in the southeastern end
Of the Hippodrome, but at the south
western end Of the building there is
confined female rhinoceros named
''Mary Jane" who is about nineteen
years old, and weighs $500 pounds.
The female rhinoceros, Mary Jane, has
quite gentle and affectionate DISPOSE
ton, and for such an ugly and misshap-
en- beast she is quite popular among
the keepers. Mr.. G. A. Fuller, the
general agent for the Hlppodrome, OBJ
serving the gloomy condition Of Pete's
mind. thought that he might be pining
for female society. and accordingly it
| was determined to place Mary Jane,
| the female rhlnoceros, in the pcn-a
huge one-with him, in order that the
male rhinoceros might be cheered up.
But Pete proved to be most ungallant
| and murderous brute, as the sequel
will show. At half-past nine o'clock
yesterday morning it was determined
to move the wagon which contained
| Mary Jane down to position in the
| building just opposite where tho pen Of
Pete stands, and this was done under
the order Of MIR. Fuller and in the
presence of Mr.. P. T. Barnum and a
large number Of employees. There was
not any audience in the building at the
time, IS tho matinee does not commence
until half past two o'clock Of each day.
TERRIBLE Plight.
| The female rhinoceros was let out Of
the movable cage. twenty or thirty
keepers standing around armed with
iron spears, hooks and tridents, in case
any danger should result in the trans
fer Of the huge beast. 1t was noticed
that the male rhinoceros watched the
transfer with surly look, and began
to growl in voice like distant thunoer
as he saw the female rhinoceros MARY
Jane) approach his cage. A low hall
wooden door " as let down and Mary
Jane was pushed into the pen Of "Pete. I
who now began to dance around with
terrific rapidity for an animal whose
measurement is twelve feet from horn
to tail, and whose circumference at the
abdomen is fourteen feet, eight feet
around the neck and thirty-five inches
around the ankle at the joint. Nc
sooner had the female rhinoceros en-.
tered the pen than the male. 'sPete,
commenced an unprovoked assault upon
the unoffending Mary Jane. who made
no fight for few minutes
! The huge monster hurled himself or
his antagonist with velocity and pow
| er that was simply terrible. TIT
weapon used BY .Pete" was his huge
horn. that had been fled down 50 IS e
: take the point of, but which was yet !
y fearful. weapon for assault The move
ntnents Of s.ete" became so rapid ane
y Ssolsnt that Mary Jane fairly beliowet
dior fear, and yelled until her walls
7 z terror filed the building. The mall
Sinoceros assaulted her on the flank
fhe legs and in the abdomen, ant
3this TIM the keepers had sprung I.
defense with iron spears and tn
Y, axe and bars Of iron. By thi
s3 anirals on the south o
ht5leivth street side Of the build
n eome ferocious, and the "
3 - somcthing appalling IN It
NJ - volume. On that side Z
behg there were imprisoned J
. - camels, three hyenas. "
4 ~ one tapir, one sacred bul
> almost frightened TO death
y tigers and hva elephant