Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1891-02-23
AN ELEPHANTS FUN
MISS FANJaON GETS LOOSE AND CLIMBS TO
TaE SECOND FLOOR.
She Was After Diuasr-Ths Residents Unhurt, ba.
Frightened Hs,i 0Ut Of Their Wlts-A Little
Black Baby EgloYsd 1.-THE Bea I
Spends the Night in the Hall.


r Spends the Night in the Hal.
New YORK, February 22.-Miss Fan
chon is Of a gentle and playful dis
D poSitiad. She is only II years old
= weighs a trine less than two tons
and has a slender and graceful trunk
: But to-day she did certain things thai
right-minded elephant would hay,
considered improper.
FanchOn belongs to Herman Reiche
the animal dealer, who keeps her with
some of his other pets whom he is
training for the stage in static al
l41 East Iifty-seyenth street. On the
second floor OF the dwelling ia front Oi
the stable lives George Brown the
cOlored keeper. with his wife and three
children. About 10 o'clock this morn
: ing Mr. Heiche came around 10 the
stable aud asked Keeper Brown 10 20
down town with him on business The
keeper locked the front door aud they
lett the buiding Mr.. Brown hopes
he may drop dead If lac didn't fasten
one end Of the thick strap. which is
always around one of Miss Fanchon'S :
hind legs to the ring in the floor Of
her stall.
When Mr.. Brown left the building
Mrs Brown was in the kitchen geeting
dinner. A few minutes after II o'clock
something required her presence In the
bedroom az The head of the stairs,
where two Of her little children We're.
The third child, boy baby, was sitting
on the floor in the parlor. Fanchon
usually takes her lunch at II o'clock.
Eleven o'clock came and no lunch, and
Fanchon began TO reflect. Then some
thing happened which will never be eX-
planned in this world unless llamas and
zebuS learn to talk. Fauchon walked
out of her stall. She did not break the
strap, for when Keeper Brown returned
il was still on her leg and the iron ring
was still in its place in the floor. Fan
chOn opened the door and walked out.
In the course Of her education she had
had lessons in going upstairs. Here
were stairs, and she resolved 10 go up.
No mortal saw her 90, but she got there
and made straight for the bedroom.
Mrs Brown heard a slightly unusual
tread on the landing and opened the
door and shrieked. The elephant stood
still in surprise. Mrs. Brown rushed
back into the room and seized the two
children in her arms. Fanch0n grunted.
With mild surprise in her eyes, she
looked at Mrs. Brown for moment,
and then. as il rcSentng the manner in
which her friendly advances were re-
ceived, she turned. and walked slowly
toward the kitchen. At the open
parlor door she stopped and looked in.
There, in the middle Of the room, sat
the little black baby, who, upon seeing
it's strange visitor, laughed and shook
itself with glee and crawled on all fours
hastily toward the door Fanchon
looked pleased
For a mOmeut--a long mOment-she
stood undecided whether to stop and
play with the baby or 90 on and inveSti-
gate the smell of dinner which had
brought her up stairs. The smell from
the kitchen conquered She picked the
pots off the stove, didn't like them, ap
parently, and tossed them over into a
corner. There was cupboard, in
which the crOckery was kept, on one
side Of the room. fanchOn opened the
glass doors of this with such force that
the glass was shattered to bits. She
shifted about here, but found nothing to
eat.
Ont of sheer deviltry She placed one
end Of her trunk in i corner Ol the shell, |
and with one Swoop cleaned out the
whole shelf. The crockery flew out and
broke into hundreds of pieces on the !
floor. A big washpan fell out of the |
cupboard, and Fauchon stepped Oh ii.
II yielded To her tread like pasteboard. |
and was crushed into Shapeless mass.
Then fanch0n became angry.
She picked mp 4 chair and whirled IL |
at random around her head, and woe |
unto whatever it struck. The gas pipe |
was bent, the stove pipe was smashed.
the walls were scratched and the table |
was broken 10 flinders, and no one can
tell what might have happened il Fan
chon had not stepped on the chair and |
crushed it into pieces.
Presently two colored men who work |
i'm "A neighboring stable entered the |
house. They found the keepers wife |
in the bedroom with the children almost |
paralyzed with fright Mrs. Brown
implored them TO take the horrid ele-
phant down stairs.
That's easier said than dore," vouch-
safed one OF them. "lou'd better wait |
until your husband gets home
The two colored men fouad police
man. but he refused TO interfere, deem
ing that the law had not been violated.
Fanchon remained at the kitchen win
dow looking down upon the crowd for
nearly two hours.
At 1850 o'clock Mr.. Reiche and Keep
er Brown came back. Fanchon recOg-
niZcd her keeper and followed him.
The keeper started to walk down stairs,
but here Fanchon stood still. The
keeper ordered her To follow him in
vain. Brown ran up stairs and got he
hind Fanchen lie put his shoulder To
her rear aud pushed, but lanchOn did
not bulge. 1t was soon plain that, al
though l'ahchon va, perfectly able to
walk 40 stairs, 10 was phy sically impoS-
sible for her 10 wall; down again. Be
sides. she had had ~ lessons ia going
down stairs To push her down would
have been at the risk of her costly
neck.
So there was nothing 10 do but to
build an incline OF boards over the steps
extending far out into the courtyard.
1t was impossible to build the incline to-
day. so Fanchon had to remain upstairs
all night. She went comfortably to
sleep in the hall with her keeper beside
her. The rest of the family went to
hod