Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1879-08-29
SHOW ELEPHANTS.
Where They Came From and How
They are rrained-TheIr Queer Habits
and Doings.

and DOings.
"There are about fifty elephants in
this country ut the present time" said
and the trainer of the ten mountains of
of the Cooper-Bailey show. The first
elephant ever brought to the United
States was by Hack. Bailey in 1924.
1t was called BETSY" and is known in
the profession as "Betsy the First" IL
New York State and New England. 1t
was greatnovelty. The owner Travelled
with it at night, and it was always ex-
hibited in a building erected over it.
The old-timers tell about the great ex-
element itcreated throughout the coun-
try. The news of its coming would go
before, and whole villages would turn
out and spend the night along the road
side in the hope of seeing the creature,
only known to them through pictures
and the works of travellers. What they
generally beheld was a great shapeless
mass, covered with tarpaulins, swinging
along through the darkness, carefully
guarded by attendants, who kept the
curious people at a distance 1t was not
a very big elephant, and came from
Upper India. 1t was anything but ami
able, and had habit of tearing out the
side ofits house and starting off on go
as-you-please" excursions. This was a
fatal folly of Betsy's. One night Betsy
was out near Albany, New York She
was mad about something, and venting
her rage in the exasperating shrek pc
culiar to an elephant. She got into a
plucky farmers yard. He saw the mon
ster. 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 bullet pierced
her heart. She sank to the earth and
died, moaning piteously. Her keeper
arrived. She was stuffed, and l believe
some museum has her now.
"Where IRE most of the elephants
fromP"
"All those prior to 1850 were from
Upper India The bulls were wild,
restless, wicked creatures. Most ofthose
now on exhibition are Ceylonese ele-
plants. They are much more tractable
than their brethren of the North. There
are few African elephants, but they are
not desirable, as they certainly lack
amiability, Prior to 1865 there were
few shows that had more than one ele-
Dhant The first caravan of four was
made when Cooper and Bailey went into
the business. One of these was the
world-flmed Columbus, the largest ele-
phant ever living in captivity. 1t was
eleven feet five inches in height. l will
tell you something about training ele-
plants. Stewart ,;raven, who is now
living quietly on his cattle ranch in
Texas, was the inventor of a new system
of handling elephants, and he actually
broke every performing elephant now
before the country, with the exception
ofthe seven now with the Sells Brothers
show. which is over in Illinois. That
batch trained myself, Craven broke in
the celebrated Hannibal and Romeo. In
1870 James Kelly, proprietor of the Lon
don show, sent Bill Shannon to Ceylon,
and Shannon sent him back ten ele-
plants. They were brought to Philadel-
phia in 1872 and broken by Craven.
Five of them were sold and the other
five came into my charge. They were
we'll broke when l got them, but
trained them to their wonderful ring
performances. An elephant is u
treacherous, cunning and very intel
ligent animal. He forms no attach
ment for his keeper He will, how
ever, become deeply attached to a dog
or other animal. There are three dogs
with my elephants, and Babe, my best ele-
phant (Chieftain is my largesO, has a pet
camel called Dick. The camel will stand
bv her side for hours in contentment,
and Babe actually fondles him with her
trunk. In handling elephants fear is the
only instinct to cultivate in them. Kind.
ness, such as you would extend to dog
or a horse, does them no good. They
are liable at any time to harm you if
thew are not kept in subjection. They
must be punished Immediately after the
offence, whatever it may, is committed
Chieftain cut up little rough the other
day. had him overthrown and chained
and then I warmed him with hoop
pole until / was very tired and he was
yery sore. Their skin is very tender,
and they feel the punishment. The
usual pcrsuader is a short. instrument
shaped like bill hook. This punctures
the hide, and is very valuable article
to keep on hand when you are bossing
elephants. Teaching an elephant tricks
is exactly like teaching any other ami
NAL. 1t requires only mastery of the
brute. The first thing to do is to get
into the elephants head what you want
done, and then to escape punishment he
does it. Put bell in the grasp of an ele-
phant's trunk and teach him that every
time he drops it he will be prodded, and
he will quit dropping it. Then there is
a way to reach an elephant through his
stomach. worked for months with the
animal that mounts the highest pedestal
in the pyramid. put his foot up there,
and he soon learned to go up after it,
and then it dawned on his brain that |
wanted him to go up there; that if he
did 90 up he escaped punishment; and
now he never thinks of baking, and
hardly ever needs punishment"
The professor told me about how one
of the elephants picked up a colored
boy who was making up her bed in
Kansas City and tossed him gently into
the candy stall; how, when he was try
ing to give sick elephant a quinine pill
at Gilmore's Garden, in New York, she
was angered at the pain he caused hel
and threw him thirty feet against a can
vas screen, which fortunately broke the
fall, and related the details of the killing
of Keeper Williams in Connecticut by
Romeo about three years ago; told how
when an elephant kills a keeper, it al
ways tramps upon and mangles th,
body; and the elephants all being asleep
he concluded to go back to the hotel anC
do likewise. AS he passed out he sale
to an attendant, eff the wind begins tt
blow hard come and wake me-" In ex
planation he stated to the reporter tina
elephants always got very much excite'
during wind storm.
One more question the reporter asked
and that is whether it is true that ri
elephant will not lie down when unde
roof. The professor said that it wa
true of bull elephants. who would STAN
on their feet all winter, being afraid t
lie downs. Louis Globe Democrat.