The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1889-10-18

low had the eyes of lynx and, wheel
ing from his first charge, he seemed
determined to hunt US all down. Each
one of us dcdged on our own account,
thus distracting his attention, but he
finally pursued one of the natives so
closely that the man had to take to a
tree. He didn't have his choice,
either, and was unfortunately driven
to shelter in q tree about as large
around as mans body. He was
barely out of reach when the mad
brute arrived at the trunk. was in
a much larger tree about forty feet
away, and could plainly see the move
ments of the beast He was an old
bull. carrying large pair of tusks,
and he was mad all over He tried
hard to push the tree over, and though
he could not succeed, he shook the
native around so as to give him bad
fright.
In order to call the bruts of fired
at him several times with q revolver.
Each bullet hit him, but Ct course did
no damage. He, however, refused to
leave the tree. and after standing for 6
moment in thought he put his shout
der against it, surged forward. and.
after swaying back and forth half a
dozen times, the tree broke short off
about ton feet from the ground The
native was expecting it, and as the
top crashed through the trees he
caught at limb and pulled himself
into large tree. The elephant soon
became aware of his escape, and like
wise recognized the fact that all of us
were out of his reach, and. after
trumpeting his disappointment, he
slowly retired and gave us opportunity
to come down. We left the grove as
quietly as possible, and made haste
back to camp We must move at once
The rogue elephant does not travel
about much. and his being in the
grove was a menace to us. Should he
discover our camp he would attack us
offhand We at once hitched up our
teams, struck our tents, and removed
to a grove four miles away. While
not entirely safe here, We might es-
cape observation. On two sides of us
the approach was marshy, while on
the others it was rather broken. Next
day after our removal it rained,
and none of us left the grove.
On the morning of the second day,
just as we were rolling out of our
blankets, a Cry from half dozen
natives alarmed the camp. AS l rose
up and saw them looking to the west,
l turned my eyes in that direction,
and beheld sight which made my
hair stand on end. That ''rogue''
elephant was on the plain about half
a mile away and making a bee line
for our camp. He was swinging his
trunk in an angry way. and his speed
was something terrific. Three o.
four of us sprang to our rifles, but he
would have been among us before we
could have fired shot had not an &C.
cident happened. He Charged at us
over the marshy ground, and two
hundred feet from the wagons the
gAound grew SO soft that he
sunk to his knees, tioundered ahead q
few feet and then rolled over on his
left side He was out of breath with
his run and his fall, and then was the
time to take him. AS he lay there
roaring his dismay and anger, we got
out the ropes and chains and dashed
for his legs. We got nooses over both
hind legs and carried the free ends to
the nearest tree, and then we had the
old fellow for sure He was so mad
that he actually shed tears, and he
trumpeied until he tired his machine
out After we had him fast every
man cut a stick, and for two hours we
beat every part of.the beast we could
reach. Moreover. we walked on
him, kicked him, called him
names, and degraded him in every
possible way. This was by the advice
of the natives. who said it would soon
break his spirit and cause him to give
up All day long the monster lay on
his side in the muck. boiling over with
J.
night there, too. and next morning his
spirit was broken. We cast the moose
free from one leg, got a pry under his
hip, and after an hours hard work
put him on his feet and got him to
solid land. The fight had all been
taken out of him, and he would cover
whenever any one shook club at him.
When the natives washed him up a
dozen great scars were revealed on his
shoulders and TANKS as proofs that he
was a fighter, and my head man, who
had lived in the elephant country all
his days, computed the beast age at
one hundred and ten years.
No animal becomes docile and
tractable as quick as the elephant.
He must first be conquered by fear,
and when once he gives in you have
only an occasional tantrum to look out
for. We kept right at our captive.
logging and bulldozing and giving
him to understand that we were boss,
and at the end of three days he was
as humble as pie. We could make no
use of him as hunter, as we had no
rig. and as none of the men had had
and experience in driving an elephant;
but we should have no trouble in get
ting him to the coast, and he was worth
several thousand dollars.
1t was ten days after his capture
that one of our scouts brought word
that a troop of elephants had appeared
in the forest. We had suspected this
by the uneasy movements of our cap
tive. 1t did not seem possible that he