Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1892-05-19
IN 4 QUICKSAND.
AN ELEPHANT SWALLOWED WHOLE
BY TREACHEROUS MUD.

The Unavailing Sagacity of the Doomed
Creature-Calm in the Midst of Dam
ger, the Intelligent Brute Grew Fright
ened Only at the Very Last.
did l ever see an elephant die?" said
The keeper, repeating a reporters ques-
lion. well, did and didn't"
How was thatY asked the reporter,
feeling for his notebook.
Il did not see him actually die" re-
piled the keeper, without the vestige of
smile He was living when l lost
sight of him. He was swallowed alive" :"
This is going to be pretty stiff yarn,
keeper" remarked the reporter, as
shade of disappointment crossed his
face. II guess won't need the note
book. You saw him swallowed alive,
eh? l always thought you were an an
tiquity, l never suspected you to be an
tediluvian. What did it, q megslo-
saurusi'
Never heard of such a thing" said
the keeper gruff1y. This was quick
sand.'
"Oh, a quicksand! Go on, old man"
responded the reporter, delighted, as he
pulled out pencil or two Tell US all
about it."
at was in India" said the old keeper,
where learned good deal about ele-
plants, never thinking that it would
come useful to me in after years. Ele-
phants are common beasts of burden
there, and on this day heavily loaded
one was crossing a shallow but broad
stream by wading. The sagacious brute
had refused to step on the badly con-
structed bridge which the natives had
erected, but his instinct did not warn
him of dangerous quicksand which the
water concealed, near the farther bank.
81 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 eArsplitting.
suggested that bundles of turf and
branches be thrown to the elephant, and
this was done. The old fellow, SEEM
ingly aware of his danger. took each
bundle with his trunk and thrust it
under water. Then with a mighty ef-
fort dragging up one foot out of the
sucking sand, he would put it on the
bundle of fagots and press it down. He
got 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
farther 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 up 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. cannot help thinking Of
an elephant as person; no one can who
has been with them and witnessed their
intelligence as much as have.
collecting some floating boards which
had been thrown out to him, he made a
sort or raft of them with his trunk and
rested his big head on 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 curled it back over his fore
head. 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 at the mouth in their |
frantic Indian way of expressing sorrow.
The tears came into my own eyes as |
looked at the old fellow and knew there |
was no help for him.
CAS- the water covered his eyes his |
courage gave way at last, and he uttered |
a piercing scream of fright through his |
trunk and repeated it several times. 1t |
made my blood curdle, 1 tell you. Have |
you heard horses scream in burning |
building? 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 moth
ing else of him was visible. Its length |
grew less and less, and finally the water
poured over the top Of it. l
"One more bubbling, choked, gasping |
scream threw the water out again into
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. Icould
have watchede dozen natives swallowed
up in the same way without feeling half !!
rs bad about it. New York Tribune.