The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-02-01
A FoREPAUGH STORY.
~ha Famous Sacred White(washed)
Elephant.
From he PaHGdelDhia Record

F5oYl he Philadelphia Record.
MA showmen who Travelled with the late
dam Forepaugh or were intimately
.couainted WITH him for many years, have
-,,,n-Iess stories to tell about the veteran
,ir,us man and his long career under the
,.,vas. Perhaps one of the most interest
re tales is that which gives the real history
- ,bs famous white elephant which is now
On historic animal, but whose artificial color
las long been well known to those vino
-rare attached to the Forepaugh show. An
ia circus man, who was in Adam Fore
,,epph;s employ for many successive seasons.
tells the story thus:
THE FAMOUS wHITEwASHED ELEPHANT.
,eWEen Barnum announced that he had
nrocured a sacred white elephant, Adam
Forepaugh made up his mind that he must
have one at once. Not long afterward he
acclaimed that he had secured genuine
VI tie elephant from Siam with extreme
difficulty and at a cost Of $4,000. This So
called sacr, white elephant was merely a
small elephant worth about S3,5 o, that had
been painted with preparation devised by
= man who used to work for Barnum at
bridgeport, Conn. OF course, the elephant
was not pure white, but a dull gray,
and in a manner that can hardly be
accounted for, even eminent scientific
men who examined the animal were de-
ceived into the belief that the color was
really natural, notwithstanding the expen-
diture of an immense sum of money by
Barnum's people in their endeavors to prove
tine elephant bogus. The elephant was
touched up with the preparation about
every other day, and on Sunday it was
fixed up for the coming week. On Monday
morning the elephant always appeared sur
prisingly bright, but along toward the end
of the week tue color became so dlngy that
visitors often asked which was the white
elephant.
BAD BREAK WITH THE SIMAEsE EN-
BASSY.
''In 1854, when Forepaugh had the white
eleph ant in his show, an embassy from
Siam visited this country for tour through
the states. The Siamese and the show
Glanced to be in Chicago at the same time.
and Forepaugh's agents saw a chance to
work the foreigners for a big card. The
attend the show, take look at the sacred
Siamese white elephant. and thereby get a
big advertisement out of it. After
four days of hard work the agents
succeeded in getting the embassy
TO visit the show. They passed
the white elephant without comment,
watched part of the performance and thea
went out, pausing in the menagerie tent to
take another look at the elephants. Adam
Forepaugh. in his shirt sleeves, sto1d at the
gate, and, seeing the Siamese gentlemen, he
rushed up to them, gave the Slamese Prince
who led the party a rousing slap on the
back and said: There, now, prince. amt
that the kind of elephants you have in your
countrym The foreigners, none of whom
understood English except their interpreter.
looked at Mr. Forepaugh in amazement at
his familiarity. and then quickly departed.
The agents who had worked so hard to get
Samese visitors into the show nearly
tainted at what Mr.. Forepaugh did.
SCRUBBED OFF THE PAINT
THE white elephant appeared on the bills
and in the show until interest in the animal
began to flag, and then it was suddenly an
nounced that the sacred creature had died,
having been unacle to stand the climate
Mr. Forepaugh fixed his loss at $50, 600, and
an admiring public gave him its sympathy.
The truth of the matter was that tie ele-
plant was washed off and turned III with
the herd. It has been with the show ever
since, being billed Of late years as John L.
Sullivan, and doing a boxing act in the ring.
The once famous white elephant is now in
winter quarters at Front street and Lehigh
avenue. Barnum's white elephant was no
more genuine than this one. They merely
sandpapered off the rough outside hide until
1T began to saow pink"
a SHARP EYE FOR LITTLE THINGS.
From all the accounts of those who know
him well Adam Forepaugh was tremend-
GUS worker. He was up early and late, -
said one of his old agents yesterday, land
he was content any time with four or five
hours of sleep. He gave his personal at
tention to every detail of the business, and
never a bill was paid without first being
E-.l x,g,rlL xv T., l..
days ne was butcher, and up to the very
last season he cut up with his own
hands all the meat that was fed to
the animals or eaten by the employees.
He would leave anything to go to the cook
tent, even if he los hundred dollars by it,
Although he had $50 to 300 horses, he knew
every one by name, could tell its age with
out hesitanon, and When he bought it and
how much he paid, even down to saying
whether he got a halter with the horse or
not. And he kept all of these things in his
head. In buying a horse he would walk
once around the animal, say how much he
would give and walk way. That was all
there was to it, AID he would never change
his offer a penny.
SwINDLED BY AN OHIO FARMER.
when he got the best of a bargain he
would whistle all the time until the next
stand was made. If he lost anything he
would be sober and quiet for an equal
period. 1t was not often that he got taken
in, but he did occasionally. When we were
going into Cincinnati some years ago he
saw a load of hay, AMI bargained for it at
Sl2 ton. We were paying SIS a ton under
contract, and the prospect of saving So
plea ed the Guv'nor-everybody about tue
show called him Guv'nor. The load
weighed $500 pounds, and for some reason
the farmer made ont bill for $26. Mr..
Forepaugh Q. K. d it hurriedly and sent
the man to the treasurer for his money
The bill was paid and the farmer disap-
peared. Only a few moments later Mr..
ForeDaugh discovered that he had been
swindled, and shouted for somebody to stop
the farmer, but. of course, he had got out
OF the way. 1t took the Guv'nor week to
get over that experience.
NEVER CAUGHT IN A CORNER.
Il never saw Adam Forepaugh in a
corner that he could not wriggle out of, and
have seen him il some pretty tight places.
lie was the greatest emergency man ever
saw. and you never could catch him at a
disadvantage. Some years ago we had the
snow out in Ohio. and we opened the me-
nagerle on Sundays, giving no perform
che no. L.