The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-05-16
ELEPHANT SWALLOWED.
Tale OF an Eye Witness-Una
Sagacity of the Doomed Brute.


! Tale OF an Observation-Disclosures
Sagacity of the Doomed Brute.
From the Neto York Tribune.
| did ever see an elephant die" said the
keeper, repeating a reporters question.
well, did and l didn't"
"How was thatF' asked the reporter, feel
| ing for his note hook.
| II did not see him actually die" replied
| the keeper, without the vestige Of a smile.
HE was living when lost sight of him.
/ He was swallowed alive"
| This Is going to be pretty stiff yarn.
| keeper, remarked the reporter, as a shade
OF disappointment crossed his face. II
| guess l won't need the note book. You
| Thought you were an antiquity, l never
| suspected you TO be antediluvlan. What
| did it, a megaloSaurusm
| Never heard Of such a thing" said the
keeper grufily. This was a quicksand"
10, a qmcksand! Go on, old man" re-
| sponded the reporter delighted, as he pulled
| out pencil or two. Tell us all about it."
ut was in India" said the old keeper,
where learned a good deal about ele-
| plants, never thinking that it would; come
| useful to me in Barnum's menagerie in after
| years. Elephants are common beasts Of
burden there and on this day a heavily
loaded one was crossing a shallow but
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.
II was attracted TO the scene by the shouts
| OF his owners, five Indian merchants, whose
| wares he carried from one bazar to another.
| They did not know of tho quicksand and
could not understand why their elephant
| did not come out of the stream which he
had almost crossed. When they learned the
predlcament he was in, their howls OF grief
and despair were earsplitting. l suggested
| that bundles of turf and branches be thrown
to the elephant aud this was done. The old
| fellow, seemingly aware of his danger, took
each bundle with his trunk and thrust ii
under water. Then with a mighty effort,
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 a 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.
| Oaly his head showed now and still the old
| fellow was the only calm and collected in
| dividual in the crowd. l cannot help think
| ing of an elephant as a 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 sort
| Of raft of them with his trunk and rested
| his big head on them. 1t was no use, how
| ever. He was doomed and we knew it,
Before long the water covered his mouth.
Then he lifted his long trunk and curled 1t
back over his forehead. The water filed
his ears and he tapped them vigorously for
a 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 groveled 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.
"As the water covered his eyes his courr
| age gave way at last and he uttered pierre
ing scream Of fright through the trunk and
repeated it several times. 1t made my
| blood curdle, tell you. Have you heard
| horses scream in burning buildingl 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 Visi-
| BILE. Its length grew less and less, and
| finally the water poured over the top of it.
| One more bubbling, choked gasping scream
| threw the water out again into high jeb
| but that effort was the last. The stream
| quickly filed up his only channel to the air
above, and the old elephant was buried be-
fore he was dead. could have watched a
| dozen natives swallowed up in the same way
| without feeling half as bad about it."