Morning journal and courier., 1886-02-17
Jum bO,s Lone Widow. lErom the I.andan Field

The history of the expulsion of Jumbo, the great African elephant, from the Zoolog ieal Gardens, his transport to the United States, and his death, owing to his being run down by railway engine while walking along the line, are all fresh in the memory of my readers. MT. Bartlett, the superin- tendent of the Geological Gardens, has re- ceived letter from MT. Fly. A. Ward, of Rochester, U. s. MT. Ward writes as fol- lows
 1T am taking very careful measure of the skeleton, as to all the bones. The presence just now in my establishment of full grown mastdoon, perfect almost throughout, allows some very interesting comparisons. That Jumbo was at eeath young animal is evi' dent from the doosing of the cappings or epiphyses of all the longibones and of the cen tres of the vertebrae. His dentition, too, seems to indicate this. I should greatly like to know Jumbo's age, or any approxi- nation toward it which is sure within four or five years"
 There is no difficulty in acceding to MT. Wards request as to Jumbo's age. He was received in exchange from the Jardin des Plantes, Paris. I myself saw him the day after his arrival in the gardens, and went in to his den with Mir. Bartlett; he was then about four feet high, and the keeper, holding long handled broom in the usual manner, was scrubbing his back which was far be- heath him. He must then have been about years of age, and, as he arrived in 1865, he must have been at the time of his death about B or 24 years old. It is interesting to learn that although he had attained such size, he had not passed the period of growth as shown by the ends of the long bones (epiphyses) not being solidly united to their shafts.
 Alice, the large female African elephant, who, in the exaggerated language of the newspaper accounts of Jumbo's departure,
 was written about as being his bereaved and
 mourning bride, is at present in the Gardens occupying Jumbo's old den. She is of large size for her sex, and is not of amiable tenn per; but her magnitude has excited the ad- iniration of MT. Barnum, who, having lost Jumbo, will no doubt console himself with the possession of Alice, whom he will doubt less introduce to the American public as Jumbo's widow. She is truly a very mag nifcent and perfect specimen, in spite of her being minus the end of her trunk, which she caught in the chain placed around her foot, and by sudden impulse pulled away, leav- l ing soma six inches of it behind. She was l purchased by the society the same year that Jumbo was received, viz, 1865, being then 1 quite young.
 There are now in the gardens two very l fine specimens of the African species of ele- phant, which were presented to Her Majesty by the King of Abyssinia. The larger of the l two is about the size that Jumbo was when he first arrived at the gardens. It is inter esting to see the creature passing through I the tunnel connecting the portions of the 1 gardens north and south of the | carriage road. Looking to the roof and l noticing the marks still Tisible which Jumbo | made with his back before he acquired the l habit of stopping as he passed through, one | cannot help anticipating how, with good treatment and regular exercise, the young animal may become a second Jumbo to de- light the Londoners of the twentieth century, | when. But no; will respect the old aphor- ism which says, ''It is wiser not to proph- eSy unless you know