The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1893-07-05


Bridge and. Was killed.
Three or four times in my ca = as a
circus man 1 saw enc or more -.ephants
set loose and raise Cain. but 1 never saw
one turned loose but once. and then it was
TO save the SHOW. and he did
Thus said a MichIgander who was wait
ms FOR his train at the Third-st. depot the
other day. OF course he was asked Tor the
. details. and he continued;
1t was a good many years ago. wien
De Haven had the greatest show on
earth His was the first American circus
10 make a South American trip, and he
made barrels OF money. He put the price
of admission at about 80 cents in our money.
and we took dye-wool. hides, blankets. and
lots of other things in place Of money. l
was at the door once when l took in four
good horses, and again when / took IN ten
fat cattle. People would come for forty or
fifty miles to see the show, and if they had
no money we stood ready TO accept almost
anything else The menagerie tickled them
most to death. and the circus performance
just raised the roof. Our performers were
looked upon as something more than
mortal, and the girl who rode bareback
and jumped through hoops coul1 have had
her pick Of millionaires for a husband.
I'VE had four elephants. one of them
very big fellow who now and then had ugly
and dangerous moods. He didn't take to
the people at all. and on their part they
evinced the greatest fear of the elephants.
/ don't suppose one person in thousand
had ever seen one before. When we got
TO Lima, in Peru. old ajax as called
him, had a fit Of the sulks. i was superin-
tedent of the menagerie and when we
came TO make ready for our street parade
il was reported TO me that Ajax refused to
so out. / found him standing very quiet
which you may set down as a dangerous
sign in any elephant His trunk hung al
most mOtOnleSS his eyes were half-clOSe1,
and now and then mis- tail switched in
vicious way. There was plenty of signs that
that he was OF and ! gave orders that
he should remain behind. He was chained
by a fore and hind leg 70 stakes driven
IN the ground am his driver rem ilnei
with him. keeping his weather eye ops n.
I expect that Ajax was further stirred
up by being left out Of the parade, for he
was proud old chap and wanted To head
the procession on all occasions When we
returned he showed his temper by knock
ing over a horse, which came within reach
OF mis- trunk. and for a quarter OF an holr
he kept trumDeUng and Straining at his
bonds. We let hum alone and by and 10y
he quieted down.
I'VE got in from the parade about noon
Everybody had had dinner and we we~e
getting ready for the ? o'clock perform
ance when one OF the canvas-men got
INTO row with native on the outside
We never could find out just how It started
but the native drove knife into our ma
and was promptly shot by another can
vas-man and then the row began. Our men
were driven into the tent. and though the
police came up and tried to quiet things
they grew worse. mob began to gather
from every direction, and in less than half
an hour fully 800 natives most of whom
were a tough lot ana ready for a shindy,
formed for a rush. Every man Of them
armed,sand the intention 10 annihilate the
whole outfit was freely expressed. tn 3
mob had formed to the east of US in a wide
men TO oppose 1t, and things were look
ing blue when old Ajax began To trumpet
into a state of fury 1t suddenly occurred
TO me that the elephant might save us
and without consulting anybody l ran over
and slipped off his chains, and yelled TO
stand clear.
If the elephant hadn't been so excited
he would have been the death of me l
worked at the chains. but it was he
gave me no attention. When / cast him
loose he made straight for the opening AMI
the crowd. He was mad all over and more
dangerous than three wild locomotives
Screaming with rage and finging his
trunk about he dashed into the crowd
and what happened will never be forgotten
in that old town. The crowd was panic
stricken at the sight of the monster, bdI
the people were wedged in an could not
move quickly. Ajax used his trunk As a
soldier would, club or musket. and he
just swung right and LETT, and cleared the
way through and then came back. Now
him over the heads of the crowd and
again he smashed one flat by a blow on
the head. TWAS sever or eight min ties
before the last man got out of his way,
and then he turned his attention to otehr
things. There was a bronze staue in
street set up in honor Of some military
aside. He uprooted four or I'VE shade
trees tore down several awnings and de-
mOiShed an iron fence and no one dared
TO interfere with him. Among other things
he picked up horse tied u a post
wrenched him loose and flung him full
thirty feet through the air"
How did il end?' was asked, as the
man paused 70 reii3ht cigar.
VOL, he worked his mad off and came
back to the tent of his own accord. and for
the next two months was the best natured
elephant in the business. He broke about
men killed and about forty more or less
rumpus. There were seventeen or eighteen
hurt We expected blooming row with
the city officials bat We're asreeably dis
appointed. They got the idea that the ele-
plant had gained his liberty by accident.
and you can be sure we didn't give
couldn't be shown that we had sought re-
venge. We had simply gathered to de-
do. took four or five days to get through
with 1t, but we came out on top at the
end. and for the next six months Ajax was
the greatest drawing card in South Ameica.
After got out of Lima used to hang
a placard on his sides which read: This
elephant killed 100 men at Lima and tore
down twenty-five buildings and you
couldn't hire a native TO go within ten feet
of him. Poor old chap, he returned with
us safely 10 fall through bridge in Nir-
ginia and meet his death on the rocks be
low. 1t was, perhaps, well that he did
so, however as he had been sulking for
several days and had made break for
the wagons ahead of him. 1t was a mar
row highway, hemmed in by a dense forest,
and had he run amuck he would have
created damage to five times mis- value.
Don't long TO see an elephant get loose,
my Geographically big fellow who is ach-
ing to make things hum. He isn't as long