Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1879-05-29
aflistelIaueuns &eading.
An ELEPHANT ON A CRAZE

The elephant described In the following
narrative will be remembered by many Of
our readers as the one which was almost un-
governable when on exhibition at Yorkville
in 1856, only few days before it was killed:
Mr.. George F. Bailey is the manager of B.
T. Barnum's Circus Company, and Mr.. j. j.
Nathan is the general agent. They were
found yesterday afternoon in Mr.. Barnum's
office in Houston Street. On the wall, over
Mr.. Bailey's head, was picture Of six trakene
stations, and on the opposite wall was life
size showbill portrait Of "Miss Katie Stokes,
the daring equestrenne," done in attractive
colors In Mr.. Bailey's hand was an evening
newspaper containing Mr.. Henry Bergh's de-
nial that red hot poker had been driven into
the trunk of the Emperor, one of Barnum's
elephants. in the Central Park Museum, and
an opinion attributed to him (Mr. Bergh)
that there ought not to be geological collec-
ton in the world, since he could see no benefit
to humanity, no advantage to art, nor any
promotion of science in the confinement of a
miscellaneous herd of dumb brutes. Mr.
Bailey and Mr.. Nathans did not choose either
to deny or admit the use by their employs Of
a red hot poker to subdue Emperor. What
they did do was to justify it, provided the ele-
phant was in "craze" at the time.
"Let me tell you" said the former, "what
happened to George West, for the want of q
hot iron. I bought Bolivar, the finest and
largest elephant 1 had seen up to that time,
at GAINESVILLE, Ohio, in 1853. West was his
keeper. Bolivar was, for long time, very
gentle, but every elephant is treacherous. He
went with the show to South Carolina. Late
one night, while we were travelling, West was
riding little distance behind him, not ex-
pecting to meet anybody on the road at that
hour. The first thing he knew was that Boil
var had caught up horse on his tusks.
From the horse dangled one of the little carts
used in that part of the country. The driver
had tumbled out, but the horse and cart were
tossed into the.ditch beside the road where
the horse soon bled to death. West hit Boil.
var several cuts, and he seemed to yield, but l
said to him, George, that elephant will kill
you yet" I paid the man $40 for the loss OF
his horse, and we went on
1.-TWO or three days afterward, on q Sunday
morning, on the road from Camden to Lum-
berton, we came to a wooden bridge over
mill race. The millpond lay directly to one
side of the bridge. Bolivar approached the
bridge, but stopped with suspicious air be-
fore he stepped on the planks, as it doubling
the strength Of the structure. West, who
was on a horse just behind him, pushed him
little with his whip, when Bolivar turned
upon him, and catching the horse on his
tusks, tossed horse and rider higher than the
caves of the mill. Both fell in the millpond.
The horse was got out, but was so badly hurt
that I ordered him to be knocked in the
head. West swan ashore unharmed. In
the meantime the elephant stood with his
trunk hanging straight to the ground, as if
what occurred did not concern him in the
least. I warned West to beware of him, but
he said 4 guess he doesn't mean me- We
then took Bolivar below the mill, and allow.
ed him to ford the stream. West got one Of
the musicians to ride his horse while he start
ed to 60 on foot. Ho gave the elephant one
or two cuts with whip and the animal broke
into run, but at lna cross roads near at hand
be 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 high bank, and would have
saved himself before the huge beast could
have got under headway, but his foot slipped
at the bottom of the bank. The next mo-
ment he was dangling in mid-air on the two
long tusks. There was a fourteen.rail fence
on the other side of the road, but Bolivar
moved through it as if it had been made of
cobwebs. He did not seem to know where be
was going, but kept tossing West up and
catching him in the air as he fell. Her ran in
this way about a quarter Of a mile Then
West fell to the ground. What more Boli-
var would have done to the lifeless body l
don't know. There were two elephant dogs
with him, and one, the black one, Tige, I think
we called him, went and lay right over the
body-just spread himself out on it. Bolivar
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 ven
tured to approach the body we found that it
had been pierced thirteen times by the tusks.
West had all his clothes on when be was at
tackled, but everything had been torn from
1 I L. l. - IL