The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1875-11-04
From the Troy IN. " TImesJ
A Nan seized by an Enraged EIephaEI
ana Almost Squeezed 90 DeAih.

John HOOley, a mOlder in Burdeit.
smith & Co.'s Tnundry, resides at 395
I Tenth street, with his wife and fam
lily Of several children Last Saturday
FOrepaughis circus and menagerie ex-
hiOited here, ant a. they were to
show IN Albany on Monday, the ami
mails, or at least part Cf them, re-
mained over at Troy on Sunday. The
four elephants, 3 male II f-aIe
grown, and two young ones, were
/ kept III q vacant lot at the corner OF
Vail avenue aud Middleburgh street
and attracted crowds during the day,
who watched the animals as they fed,
and offered them sundry little deliea-
| cies of fruit, nuts, cakes, etc. HOOl-
ey, noticing the elephants, thought to
| have little fun with them, went
home, got some apples and candy,
and returning, proceeded tO feed the
animals. He gave several apples TO
the large male, who ate them with
evident enjoyment, and was very
friendly in its disposition, the female
standing by meanwhile and eyeing
HOoiey with suspicious interest. Fn-
ally he offered the male some candy,
which it declined to take. He then
rendered 3 piece tn the female. As he
approached, she watched him very
narrowly, but he, being unfamiliar
with the character of the animals,
paid no SttentiOn to the indications
Of anger, and boldly advanced tn prof
fer the candy. As he did SO the
female extended its trunk, as HOOley
supposed to take the sweetmeat but
to his astOnishmant it threw its pow
erful and plant member around his
arms and body and proceeded TO draw
him head first toward its nsath-
HoOley tried u draw hack, bnt he was
in an iron grip, and seemed utterly
powerless. The animal, with fearful
deliberatiOn, drew his head directly
toward its Wide.y-eXtended Jaws, and
prepared to crush his skull into frag-
ments. The piniOned victim, cast
ing up his eyes, felt the warm breath
OF the monster, saw its huge teeth, its
powerful jaws, and its c3vernOus
mouth, and made a desperate and al
most superhuman effort to throw of
the grip which held him almost
breathless and with powerful violence.
Throwing back the shoulders and
OuL WIN 1GlA5g nC SUI
ceeded in lOOsiQgthe hold for q second,
and Immediately slipped to the ground
rolled out of reach, AMI jumped to his
feet, and, in his terrible excitement
fairly ran home. He was shortly
taken i'll, and remained in the house,
suffering severe pains about the chest,
until Tuesday, when ne started To re-
turn to work. Ga reaching the fOun-
dry, be suddenly lell to the floor, and
began bleeding at the mouth. He
was tendeFlY carried home. and Dr..
Burton WAS called who, after an eX-
animation, declared that q blOOd-ves-
sci had been ruptured, ard that HOOl-
ey's condition WAS very serious.
His symptoms yesterday were not
improved, and priest was called to
administer the last consolation Of his
religion. There are still hopes Of re-
coVery, but the symptoms are not
very promising. Jt /. believed that
the female elephant became Jealous,
because HOOleY fed the male and
passed her by, and it is thought that
in her anger she seized him and in
fiicted the injuries mentioned 1t IS
also reported that the female elephant
is shortly t. bear her young, aud that
while in this condition these animals
are always exceedingly dangerous t0
approach or fOndle. This morning
we called at the residence of Mr..
HOOley; he is much weakened and
suffering considerable pain, his back
and breast being terribly bruised, and
the ruptured bIOOd.vessel in his lung
giving him trouble and anxiety. The
nervous prnstratiOn accompanying
such accidents and injuries ia very
marked. His version of the affair is
as follows: After feeding the
male elephant, he turned IL
the female to divide his favOrs.
The animal seemed somewhat rest
less, but he did not question her kind
ness, and approached her fearlessly.
Tossing her lump of candy, it passed
at once into the mouth and lodged in
one of the glands under the tongue
Mr.. Hooley perceived that something
was wrong, and, divining the cause
| thrust his hand into her mouth. In
removing the lump his nail scratched
so deep as to draw blood from the deli
cate lining of the mouth in sufficient
quantity to stain his hand. Without
warning the dulmal NOuuu us bruOk
about his body, from left to right, and
gave him q bOa-constrictOr-like-lug
which took his breath away and made
his head spin. With remarkable cool
ness he made neither opposition mol
struggle, but allowed himself to drop
and slipped out OF the deadly coil. He
crawled between her fOrelegs, and hal
rolled, half sprang out Of her reach, as
she turned nimbiy around at the
length of her chain, with uplifted
| trunk. He was slightly ineOn-
venieneed by the bruises, but not sc
much as to particularly annoy him,
and went 70 his work as usual or
Monday morning. He worked the
following day until yesterday, Wher
be was affected as above narrated, and
returned to his home. He has been q
careful, steady, provident map, and i:
highly spoken of. Possessed of .
magnificent physique ami strong con
stitutiOn, he has good ehsnces of pul.
ling through q misfortune which
would have ended nine men ont %
ten.