Daily Republican. [volume] ([Wilmington, Del.]) 1874-1890, 1885-12-28

Head Keeper Byrne, at the Z,ologiosl
Garden as Fhilsdelphia had . thrilling
experience Wednesday with one OF his
pets-the large hippopotamus. The
animal has jsrge double cage and on
one side his comforts arc provided for
in large water font The habits OF
the large beast are such that he spends
. great deal more Of his time in the
water than hs does ont of 1t, much TO
the Disgust Of the gardens patrons.
The keeper raised one OF the iron bars
In the hippopotamus' cage, and, climb
ing In with Q stick In hand, proceeded
valiantly TO investigate the reason why
the animal stayed under the water 80
much. He crossed . narrow plank
bridge over the basin near the wall and
began prodding and splashing around
with the stick in the search for evidence
of animal existence beneath.
He hAd the pleasure OF discovering 1t
quicker than he expected and the OPP
portunity Of looking, for the hrst time
In his Hfe, down into the horrid depths
Of . hippopotAmus' jaws The big,
clamsy beast became angered. Hts
largo head bobbed up from the surface
Of the water at . point whore 1t effect
uslly cut of keeper Bryne's retreat
The keeper saw this with dismAy,
aud, what was worse, the large beast
was slowly waddling over toward him
with Jaws open wide. There was only
one avenue Of escape left TO tho i'm.
prisoned keeper, . narrow eight foot
ladder ON the wall on the side Of the
basin, and 1t 10 said that no science
could calculate the fractional interval
Of time It took the keeper In his terror
70 mount to the top.
Tho hippopotamus did not drop The
siege, however. He moved over toward
the ladder and kept his mouth open fol-
called Justify for help, which did mo-
disturb tho animal IN the least. HI.
eyes looked with eager satisfaction a
the frightened keeper crouched on tn,
top OF the ladder Mr.. Bryne looked
hopefully over the wall into the mex
Q Age, where there Ia q small but naughty
African zebra, which has The wors
r. pu alton for kicking in the country.
He Is said to be capable of kicking
the life out of . man inside Of ter
min utes, and the keeper on the top O
the ladder thought twice before tempt
ling fate in that direction. After callinl
for nearly an hour Mr.. Byrne ATTRACTED
tina attention of the under keeper II
charge Of the elephant house.
Say, get mo out of this, won't You
please. said the head keeper ,imploring
ly, Gashipg glance ct his subordinate
with one eye still on the terrible opel
LAWS beneath him. "Call him away
lquick. won't You ?" repeated tn
keeper
"Why don't you get over the othe,
Icaae?' asked the rnan who lme to th,
rescue.
"Why. thst zebra's In there-I say
him." said the eeper on the ladder.
Then the under keeper made vigol
GUS efforts to COAX the hipuopotamu
lover to ward the bars but 1t require
great argument to move him. MI
ByTne tried to scare him away b.
making faces and shouting at him, bu
the animal wouldn't scare. He jus
stood there expecting big dinner, an
i. IL the head keepers fingers had not bee
frozen to the ladder he might have &c
. lit.
After the lapse OF an hour and a ha
) the hippoposamus was coaxed back {
the bars with tempting morsels OF foot
ard the Imprisoned keeper was give
one more chance of life and prospe,
J LOT eating his Christmas turkey oDt
mora. He has resolved to give the hi
4 popotamus the cold shoulder after tn
: and will not again make any ATTIC mpt
I fraternize With him.