Omaha daily bee., 1888-09-13
BESS AND RUDE,
An Illustration of the Strong Attach
ments of Elephants and Dogs.

New York Sun: "Nothing is more
curious and interesting among the
many strange things to be noted in and
about a menagerie," said the veteran
manager James NJ. Nixon, ethan the
devoted affection that elephants fire.
q%uently demonstrate for dogs. The big
pa~chyderms form no other attachments
so strong and enduring, and the dogs
seem to reciprocate the feeling.
One of the best illustrations that I
ever saw vas the love between Bess and
RUDE. Bess was a female elephant that
we had in the Barnum show in 1884,
and RUDE was Il setter dog. Bess was
never easy when Rube was out of her
sight. Herkeen little eyes would follow
his every movement if he was frisking
about, and if he disappeared she would
utter a little scream that would bring
him CALAMITY back to her in a hurry.
She never seemed so happy as when he
was lying asleep on the hay in front of
her, with her big trunk waving over
him. One time RUDE got sick. She
took the best care of him that she knew
how in her e%lephantine way. She made
II bunch Of hay about a loot thick and
large enough for him TO lie cOiled upon
and in some way made him understand
that he should lie down on it.. Then
she deity worked her big trunk around
under the bunch of hay so as to make it
up, with him on it, as a woman takes
up a sick baby on a pillow, and there
she held him and gently swung him to
and fro all night long, rocking and
lulling him to sleep. In the morning
he was well again, and Bess appeared as
happy as a mother who had nursed her
child through a spell of illness.
while we were showing in Boston l
happened to mention to a group of re,
porters one day the strong affection
Bess showed for RUDE. They evil
IDENTIFY considered it a circus fairy
story and were not delicate in saying
so. Very WE'LL said, If any OF you
poubt it just get RUDE away from Bess a
little distance and hurt him slightly,
enough TO make him yelp.' | hadn't
any idea that they'd do it. and | didn't
stop to think of where Bess might be,
and whether she was chained or not.
The fact was that she was at the timo
going through a'rehersal in the ring,
loose, and RUDE was sitting upon %
folded carpet some way off. The
reporters left me and strolled
out into the canvass. Pretty soon
they edged around to where Rube was,
and one of them gave his tail a twist,
which the dog instantly remarked
loudly, Bess, at the sound of his yelp,
wheeled around in the ring, threw up
her trunk with a shrill scream of rage,
and started for those reporters. They
flew. There was no time for explana-
tion, argument or dignified leisure. The
forty or fifty employees who We're stand
ing about ran too. Bess stopped at
Rube, and when she saw that he wasn't
seriously hurt, she Gained right down,
walked back to the ring and went on
with the rehearsal.
when we were going to Lowell from
Boston, RUDE, who had a sore foot, was
put in II OF the baggage wagons and
sent on ahead. When they came to
start the elephants for the march Bess
missed her pet and broke outin open re-
bellion. She stood and trumpeted for
him. snorted, aud tramped around in
excitement, and would not be driven.