The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1892-09-24
AN ELEPHANT SWALLOWED WHOLE.
Tale OF an Eye witneas-Unaya a..
gacity OF the Doomed Brute.

AN ELEPHANT SWALLOWED WHOLE.
Tale Of an Eye-witneas- -Unavailins sa-
gacity Of the Doomed Brute.
aDid 1 ever see an elephant diees
said the keeper, repeating the N. T.
Tribune reporters question. swell. I
did and didn't"
"How was thatp" asked the reporter.
feeling for his notebook.
II did not see him actually die" re.
Piled the keeper, without the yestige
OF smile. He was living when I
alive" J - -
This is going to be o pretty stif1
yarn, keeper" remarked the reporter,
as shade Of disappointment crossed
his face. Il guess I won't need tho
notebook. You saw him swallowed
alive, ehp Ialways I thought you were
an antiquity; never suspected you to
be antediluvian. What did it--a
megalosaurus?"
sNever heard Of such thing said
the Keeper, gruflly. "This was a quick
sand"
"Oh, quicksand! Go on, old man,s
responded the reporter. delighted, as
he pulled out pencil or two. .Tell
US all about it."
1t was in India,n said the old keeper.
swhere learned good deal about
elephants, never thinking that it would
come useful to me in Barnum's menar-
erie in after years. Elephants are
common beasts of burd on there and
on this day heavily loaded one was
crossing shallow but broad stream
by wading. The sagacious brute had
refused to step on badly constructed
bridge which the natives had erected.
but his instinct did not warn him Of q
dangerous quicksand which the waters
concealed near the farther shore.
II was attracted to the scene by the
shouts of his owners, five Indian mer-
chants, whose wares he carried from
one bazaar to another. They did not
know of the quicksand and could not
understand why their elephant did not
come out of the stream which he had
almost crossed. When they learned
the predicament he was in their howls
OF grief and despair were ear-splittinp.
suggested that bundles of turf and
branches be thrown to the elephant.
and it was done. The old fellow.
seemingly aware of his danger, took
each bundle with his trunk aud thrast
it under water. Then, with mighty
effort, dragging up one foot out Of the
sucking he would put it on the bundle
OF fagots and press it down. He got q
lot of them under him in this way
with more skill and precision than YOU
would think possible, but the soft sand
took them all in and still let him down
further into its depths.
His master procured small boat
and poled it out to him. Then they
took all his load of goods off, put them
in the boat and brought them ashore.
This lessened his weight good deal.
but the sand was by that time above
his shoulders and soon his entire back
was covered by the water Only his
head showed now, and still the old
fellow was the only calm and collected
individual in the crowd. l cannot
help thinking of an elephant rs a per-
son; no one cap who has been with
them and witnessed their intelligence
Sas much as have.
collecting some floating boards
which had been thrown ont to him. he
made a sort of raft of them with his
trunk and rested his big head upon
them. 1t was no use, however. He
was doomed and we knew it. Before
long the water covered his mouth.
Then he lifted his long trunk and
hurled it back over his forehead. The
water filled his ears and he tapped
them vigorously for time. Soon it
reached his eyelashes and then his big,
burning eyes, just at the waters edge,
took on pitiable expression. They
seemed to beseech aid and succor from
those he had served SO long and SO
faithfully, and his masters fairly grow
eled in the dust as they yelled to their
gods and frothed Mt the mouth in their
frantic Indian way of expressing sor-
row. The tears came into- my own
eyes as ! looked at the old fellow aud
knew there was no help for him.
AS the water covered his ewes his
courage gave way at last, and he ut
tered piercing scream of fright
through the trunk and repeated it
several times. 1t made my blood cur
die. tell you. Have you heard
horses scream in burning buildingP
1t is almost human. So was the old
fellows death-cry. The end was close
at hand. His long trunk still waved
wildly above the water, but nothing
else of him was visible. Its length
grew less and less, and finally the wa
ter poured over the top of it. One
more bubbling, choking, gasping
scream threw the water out again i'm
to high Jet, but that effort was the
last. The stream quickly filled up his
only channel to the air above, and the
old elephant was buried before he was
dead. could have watched dozen
natives swallowed up in the same way
without feeling half as bad about it, !.