The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1879-09-18
THE INDIAN BULL.
Strange Stories Of Elephantine "cuss-
ednsss' and Affection.

tains of flesh which form one of the
attractions of the Cooper Bailey
show. "Our show has ten, Fore.
paugh has nine, Barnum has eight
the Sells Brothers have seven, Cole
has a couple, and the remainder are
distributed among the geological
gardens and the smaller circuses
The first elephant ever brought to
the United States was by Hack
Bailey, grand-uncle of Mr.. Bailey OF
our show, and that was in 1924. II
was called Betsy and is known il
the profession as Betsy the First.
1t was exhibited for four years
through New York State and New
/ England. 1t was a great novelty,
The owner travelled with il at night,
and it was always exhibited in a
building erected over it. The old
timers tell about the great excite
ment it created throughout the
country. The news of its coming
would go before, and whole villages
would turn out and spend the night
along the roadside in the hope of
seeing the creature, only known to
them through pictures and works of
travellers. What they generally be-
held vas q great shapeless mass,
covered with tarpaulins, swinging
along the darkness, carefully guard
ed by attendants who kept the Gu
rious rustics at a distance. 1t was
not very big elephant, and came
from Upper India. II was anything
but amiable, and had a habit of
tearing out the sides of it's house
and starting of on 'go-as you-please'
excursions.
"This was fatal folly of Betsy's.
One night Betsy was out near AL
bany, New York. She was mad
about something, and vented her
rage in the exasperating shrek pc
culiar to an elephant. 1t got into a
plucky farmers yard. He saw the
monster. He did not know what it
was. The only thing that he knew
was that he was badly frightened
and that he knew how TO use a gun.
He fired at the creature and the
leaden ball pierced her heart. She
sank to the earth and died, moan
ing piteously. Her keeper arrived.
She was stuffed, and / believe some
museum has her now.
"The second elephant brought
over was also called Betsy. She ar
rived in 1884 and was exhibited as
the main attraction of a show for
three years, when she succumbed TO
the climate. The third Betsy was
brought over IN 1885. Then ele
plants became more frequent, and
the names of Columbus, Hannibal
the most vicious elephant that
ever lived, and one whose course
through the country, we might say,
was marked with blood-Lalla
Rookh, the creature owned by
Cooper and Dan Rice, which was
brought over from Canada, known
tho Rrat t-iot aIophapt-it oould
walk a slack rope about a foot
thick, and used to play with chill
dren, but afterward got so wicked
that he was shot in Chicago; and
then there were Antony and Cleo
patra, who were lost in the quick
sands of the Delaware river, and a
great many more"
'Tell us about Antony and Cleo
pstra."
"Oh, they were simply chained
together, and were wading across
the river, They had tried the
bridge, but it was not safe to their
notion, and, as is the custom in a
case OF that kind, they were wading
through the water, when they struck
the quicksands and sank to rise no
more. The bodies were of course
never recovered"
"Where are most of the elephants
from?"
"All those prior to 1850 we're
from Upper India. The bulls were
wild, restless, wicked creatures.
Most of those now on exhibition
are Ceylonese elephants. They are
much more tractable than their
brethren of the North. There are
q few African elephants, but they
are not desirable, as they certainly
hacked amiability. Prior to 1863
there were few shows that had more
than one elephant. The first cara
van of four was made when Cooper
and Bailey went into the business.
One OF these was the world-famed
Columbus, the largest elephant liv-
ing in captivity. 1t was eleven feet
five inches in height. l will tell
you something about training ele-
plants. Stewart Craven, who is
now living quietly on his cattle
rancho in Texas, was the inventor
of new system of handling ele-
plants, and he actually broke every
performing elephant now before the
country, with the exception Of the
seven now in the Sells Brothers
show, which is over in Illinois.
That batch / trained myself era
ven broke in the celebrated Hanni-
bal and Romeo. In 1870 James
Kelly, proprietor Of the London
show, sent Bill Shannon to Ceylon,
and Shannon sent him back ten ele
plants. They we're brought to
Philadelphia in 1872, and broken by
Craven. Five of them were sold,
and the other five came into my
charge. They were well broke
when 1 got them, but / trained them
to their wonderful ring perform
ance. An elephant Is q treacher
Gus, cunning and very intelligent
animal. He forms no attachment
for his keeper. He will, however,
become deeply attached TO a dog or
other animal. There are three dogs
with my elephants, and Babe, my
best elephant (Chieftain Is my larg
est), has a pet camel called Dick.
The camel will stand by her side for
hours in contentment,andB Babe actu-
ally fondles him with her trunk. In
handling elephants fear is the only
thing to cultivate in them. Kind
ness, such as you would extend to
a dog or 3 horse, does them no
good. They are liable at any time
to harm you if they are not kept in
subsection. They must be pun
ished Immediately after the ofense,
whatever it may be, is committed.
Chieftain cut up little rough the
other day. 1 had him overthrown
and chained, and then wasned
-: III a hoopnoia until / waa