Connecticut western news., 1889-10-30
ADVENTURE.

l was acting as shipping clerk in the office of the Liverpool and Calcutta Steamship line at Cape Town, and among the helpers in the big ware house were two or three fellows who were called s'Half-Hots." They were a mixture of white and black, but not mulattoes. The color was more like that of the Chineman, and their yer nacular was queer mixture of Eng fish and Dutch. These fellows were as servile as slaves to ones face, but as revengeful as fends behind his back. The old clerk had been in fear of them and had put up with their faults, but l walked them around pretty lively from the first day, and at the end of the first month had plenty of cause to discharge them. I had the power to hire and discharge my own help, having at times as many as twenty five men in the sheds, and so nothing was said about these three going away. They made no protest to me, but a Boer who as acting as my assistant warned me that I had best look out for myself for the next few weeks, as he had overheard them threatening vengeance.
 Two days after the discharge of the men an English ship, which had been around to the east coast and up the Bay of Bengal collecting wild animals for the Royal Museum at London, put into Cape Town in distress. She was leaking so badly that she had to go in- to dry dock, and she had to be lightered of almost everything before she could pass over the gate sill of the only dock at her disposal. The animals were stored in one end of our big ware house, which was building 200 feet long by 100 feet wide. There was one big African elephant and two medium sized ones from India, together with two male lions, three tigers, four or five hyenas, several wolves, couple of bears, half a dozen snakes, couple of partners, and large number of monkeys. All but the elephants were in cages, and these were placed in 8 row at one end of the building, and the elephants far enough away so that they could not reach the cages or eact other. They seemed peacefully in chned, although strangers to eacf other, and the beasts and serpents haG been so shaken up at sea that they were glad to secure rest and sleep.
 It was in summer and the weather was very hot. The warehouse wa only one story high, built of brick, ant the many windows in it were doubl, guarded to keep out robbers. Stou iron bars ran up and down, and out side of them were heavy wire screens This enabled us to leave all window raised day and night and keep tn building ventilated. In the centre O the building was cupola, furnishing further light and ventilation, and a the east end little room had bee partitioned off for my office. Thi room contained sleeping bunk and
 hammock, and slept here and too my meals at hotel. There was n watchman inside the house, but on was stationed on the wharf outside At midnight of the night of which
 am now going to write there was
 full moon, and the interior of the bi warehouse was almost as light as day I had been asleep for an hour and
 half, when was suddenly awakene by trumpet blast from the big el' phant. He was chained by one fot to ring bolt in the floor, and stoo broadside to one of the windows an about ten feet away. He trumpete as if highly angered, and as I droppe out of the hammock I heard him tus ging to break his chain. On that sic of my office was large window, and had no need to open the door to & what was going on. I saw the bi fellow tugging and straining, and l made the building shake with h trumpeting. don't think I had bee on my feet half a minute when h chain snapped and he was free, al then it struck me that the situation w
 an unpleasant one.
 My office was opposite one of u
 big doors of the warehouse, but nine