St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1879-04-25
An Elephant on a Craze.

Mr.. George F. Bailey, the present
manager of =. II. Barnum's circus com
pany, gives the following account of
the madness of his performing elephant
"BolivaI," and his subsequent shooting,
near Camden, S. c., in 1858:
bought "Bolivar," the finest and
largest elephant had seen up to that
time, in 1853. West was his keeper.
BOLIVAR was for Il long time very gen
tie, but every elephant is treachcrOus.
He went with Il e show to South Caro-
lima. Late one night, while we were
travelling, West was riding IL little dis
tance behind him, not expecting to
meet any ybody on the road ut that hour.
The first thing he knew was that
BOLIVAR had caught up horse on his
tusks. From the horse danyled one of
the little carts used in that part of the
country. The driver had tumbled out,
but the horse and the cart were tum-
bled into il ditch beside the road, where
the horse soon bled to death. West hit
''BOlivaI" several cuts, aud he seemed
to yield but | said to him, George,
that elephant will kill you yet" paid
the mau forty dollars for the loss of his
horse, and we went on.
Two or three days afterward, on a
Sunday morning, on the road from
Camden to Lumberton, we came to a
wooden bridge over a mill race. The
mill pond lay directly to one side of
the bridge. Bolivar" approached the
bridge, but stopped, with il suspicious
air, before he stepped on the planks, as
if doubling the strength of the structure.
West, who was on horse just behind
| him, ,Nn,laI an Heel, is
when suddenly "Bolivar" turned upon
him, and catching the horse on his
tusks, tossed horse and rider higher
than the ewes of the mill. Both fell in
the mill pond. The horse was got out,
but was so badly hurt that ordered
him to be knocked in the head. West
swan ashore, unframed.
In the meantime the elephant stood
with his trunk hanging straight to the
ground, us if what had occurred did
not concern him in the least. warned
West to beware of him, but he said :
81 guess he doesn't mean me-"
We then took "Bolivar" below the
mill, and allowed him to ford the little
stream. West got one of the musicians
to ride his horse, while he started to go
on foot. He gave the elephant one or
two cuts with whip, and the animal
broke into run, but at crossroads
near at hand he turned into the wrong
road. Forgetting his usual caution,
West ran ahead to turn him. No sooner
did ''Bolivar' see West in front of him
than he made for the man. West ran
for a high bank, and would have saved
himself before the huge beast could
have got under headway, but his foot
slipped al the bottom of the bank. The
next moment he was dangling in mid
air on the two long tusks. There was
Il fOurteen-rail fence on the other side
of the road, but "BOlivarn moved
through it as if had been made of cob
webs. He did not seem to know where
he was going, but kept tossing West
up in the air, and catching him as he
fell. He ran in this way about IA quar-
ter of mile. Then West fell to the
ground. What more "BOlivar" would
have done to the lifeless body | don't
know. There were two elephant dogs
with him, and one, the black one, Tige,
| think we called him, went and lay
right over the body just spread him
self out on it. The elephant looked at
the dog half a minute, and then, as if
unwilling to hurt him, turned away and
began to feed about the field.
When we ventured to approach the
body, we found that it had been pierced
thirteen times by the tusks. West had
all his clothes on when he was attacked,
but everything had been torn from him
but his boots and his shirt, which hung
to him only by the neck band.
sent back to Camden for a lot OF
rope, and we tried to slip moose on
one of "Bolivar's' feet, but every time
we would get it on, ready to be pulled
tight, he would slip out of it, or pull it
off with his trunk. 1t was getting late
in the afternoon, and as l did not dare
to leave him, the dangerous brute, alive
in that country, with nearly 1000 ne
groes swarming about, worth $500
apiece, determined to kill him. So
rode back to Camden where l found
about thirty young bloods lounging
about, dressed in their patent slippers
and white socks. They all came out OIL
horseback, at my invitation, for an ele