Daily Los Angeles herald., 1883-06-08
AN ELEPHANT KEEPER.
Animal Stories by q Talented Liar
Who Knows His Business.
is. I. MORNING. JouasAL.l

forming bears" said George
Horstingstall. M. A.. for twenty
wears, and have educated score
Of lions, tigers and hyenas. Five
years ago / opend q school for
elephants. / am now head mast.
err Of the elephant academy in
Barnum's show. My graduates
are in tho circusaes and menage-
RES scattered over the country.
They are doing me great honor
We stick our head in the
lions mouth to SEQ what he knows
mot what he eats. A thousand
times l have held my head there.
have looked down an elephants
throat half as often. | will tell
you II menagerie secret There
is no danger in placing your head
in lions mouth. Whenever n
trainer performs this feat, which
always makes the audience shud-
der, he puts his fingers in tho
animals nostrils. The impulse
OF the lion then is to open his
mouth wider, and he strains his
Jaws TO that end. He doesn't
want to close his mouth. A lion
grows affectionate to an old train
err, Just as an old tabby cat does
towards a spinster who pets it.
81 think any good trainer
might sleep in cage of lions
with IMMUNITY. | used to sleep
with four gigantic bears, using
the largest of them, male, for a
pillow. That Daniel managed to
get out OF the lions den alive is
no miracle to me. I warrant he
had Mt some time travelled around
Palestine with q side show.
"Now an elephant never grows
sentimental. 1t may be kind to
you for years and then at last
strike you dead without provoca-
ton or a moments warning.
When trainer is buried up to
his shoulders in an elephants
mouth. and helpless, the great
beast, by the slightest pressure of
his jaws, might smash in the base
of the mans skull. 1t is extremely
dangerous to put your head in an
elephants mouth. ! have dared.
my fate that way thousand
times, but | have given it up, and
doa't think / shall ever try it
again.
"You have never met with an
accidentP'
ga few. These fingers were
taken off by o leopard. This
hand was chewed to pulp by a
hyena. The flesh was clawed
from my right shoulder by lion.
A tiger bit through my left arm. T"
But where did you get that
limp ~
"Oh, that is nothing l fell
from a balloon. Going into tigers
dens and letting elephants step
over you grows tame after time.
1 uued to long for excitement.
For three years Imade ascensions
in n hot-air balloon"
"You have fought with
animals"
Eyes, l fought an elephant
once. We were going through
Wisconsin, The night was cold.
l Embossed the chain from his
foot and let him come up to the
stove to warm. We were in
freight car together. l had been
using the hook as a e-poker.
The animal saw / didn't have it
and attacked me. He picked me
up and threw me with great vio-
lence against the side of the car.
An attendant with me got up to
the car window and threw him
self out, though the train was go
ing at the rate of twenty miles an
hour. The elephant approached
me. He had tusks three feet
long, and was next in size to
Jumbo. 1 eluded him. I fought
with him. A cold sweat covered
me. The desperate contest last
ed an hour and a half. AT
length l got heavy pitchfork,
stuck it through his trunk, pin
Toned his trunk to the wall of the
car. Then l got o chain around
his leg. | fell to the floor. The
long agony was over. Had it
lasted five minutes longer | must
have died of exhaustion. Some
time after the owner of the circus
with which l was then travelling
sold this elephant to another
show. / said to the elephant
trainer of the latter when he came
for the animal: "King, you
watch him; he's dangerous.
l thought the new trainer would
be careful for a while and then
grow careless. Sure enough he
did. He believed in ruling
elephants by kindness, and would
never strike one of them FOR al
low one of them to be struck.
When the new elephant got so
bad that he wouldn't mind, the
circus manager once tied him up
to q tree in the woods and whip
ped him. While the whipping
was going on, King sat on a log
and clied like a school boy. On
Sunday the animal stuck his
griat tusks through Kings body
and killed him.
"The most interesting animals
! ever had were four trained
bears, which went with Lent't
circus. All four lowered way
above my head when they stood
~ 4 Al