Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1890-07-10
A GREAT ELEPHANT.
A CHAPTER IN THE HISTORY
OF TIPPo sAHIB.
While Fording the Delaware River
He Charges Raft 100 Feet Long
and 40 Feet Wide.-A Novel Sight.


He Charges Raft 100 Feet Long
and 40 Feet Wide.-A Novel Sight.
Billy Manson, an old circus man, de-
scribes in the New York Sun an exciting
and funny experience with famous old
Tippo Sahib, one of the biggest and ugli-
est elephants ever exhibited in this coun-
try. He says:
"At the time speak of this elephant
was travelling with the Van Amburgh
show, which was a celebrated one
fifteen or twenty years ago. Old
Tip, as we called him, was a chronic
kicker, and stood no fooling from any
one. His trainer had to be constantly
on his guard, for the elephant had dis
posed of one or two gentlemen whose
pluck and ability to handle Tippo had
led them to take charge of him, and he
was plainly keeping his eye out for an
opportunity to add another one to his
score. Old Tip never passed day with
out doing something to keep up his record
as pachyderm of strong individuality
of character, and the incident am going
to relate was one sufficient in itself alone
to mark this elephant as beast with
ideas of his own, and will mighty
: enough to carry them into execution, no
matter what the consequences might be
to himself or to others.
1--WE had been giving a day and nights
show at Port Jervis, and the next day
were 10 astonish the natives of Pike
county, Pa, by pitching our tent at
Milford, the county seat, seven miles be-
low Port Jervis. To get to Milford we
had to cross the Delaware River at Port
Jervis. At that time the bridge across
the stream there was reported to be in a
decidedly shaky and dangerous condi-
ition; in fact, it fell down two or three
days after we were in Port Jervis, and the
managers of the show concluded not to
trust ponderous Old Tip on the structure.
The river was fordable quarter of mile
Iorso below the bridge, and the elephant
was taken to that spot to wade across.
The time was early in the morning, and
when Tippo Sahib got to the river bark
he made the grand kick of his life and
refused to go any further. He swung his
trunk around viciously and threateningly,
Mapped his big ears, klnked his tail, and
roared and worked himself into a first
class rage. His keeper coaxed and prod
lded and prodded and coaxed the old man
killer for more than an hour without
succeeding in inducing him to advance a
step, and then concluded to risk the
bridge. Tippo seemed to divine his
Keepers intention, and then his contrary
spirit came uppermost. He Immediately
made rush for the river and started for
the Pennsylvania shore at such rate that
lhe almost drowned the keeper with
the water he splashed upon him. He
was mad all through. The bottom of the
river was rough and stony, and the un-
certain footing added to Old Tips fury.
The river was at what they called raft
ing freshet. The elephant had got about
half way across the stream, trumpeting
savagely, and deluging himself and all
around him with showers of water, when
suddenly a raft hove in sight above the
ford. 1t bore Immediately down with
its unsuspecting crew toward Tippo Sa-
hib and his mounted escort. The ugly
brute saw the strange-looking object ap-
preaching, and he stopped and gazed at
it with angry surprise. Tippo had trav-
elled bit in his day, and seen great
many curious things, but he had never
seen raft before. He was in fighting
mood, and seemed to think that raft Of
logs was about the thing for him to tackle
just then. Waving his trunk and giving
a trumpet blast that made the hills around
there more than echo, he turned his enor-
nous front up stream and awaited the
charge of the raft. Tippo's keeper was
in canoe, which local oarsman was
plotting across for him, and he sank his
prod in the big beast with all his might
and at every vulnerable spot he could
reach, in efforts to start the belligerent
elephant ahead and out of the rafting
channel. The only result was to increase
Old Tips fury, if that were possible, and
to fix him in his determination to have
round with the audacious raft.
Before the men on the raft discovered
and understood the-situation the raft had
made half the distance between the
bridge and the ford. As soon as the ma
ture of this most unusual obstruction in
the channel became apparent to them they
were terror stricken. There wasn't
man among them, from all accounts, who
hadn't had more than one hand-to-hand
fight with bear in the lumber woods, and
looked upon that as child'splay; but they
drew the line at elephants. and each man
bent himself to his oar and pulled as he
had never pulled before to steer the raft
away from its direct course in the chan
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