The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-05-20
ROGUE" ELEPHANTS.
What Makes Them Mad, and How
They Are Treated in Asia.

They Are Treated in Asia.
.. From the New York Times.
The fate of Tip, the rogue" elephant,
who ON April 30 tried to kill his keeper.
William Snyder, in the elephant house in
Central Park, will not be decided until
tomorrow, when the attention of the park
commissioners will be drawn to Tins
murderous propensity
The question of how TO destroy Tip has
been widely discussed at the menagerie
IL is generally admitted that a bullet will
not be used The structure of his skull
anu the position of the brain, behind
massive walls of bone. would compel the
services both of an experienced elephant
hunter and an anatOmlSt to secure other
than cruel and lingering death bv a
| shot in the head, and a sure cardiac shot
would be matter of chance, unless an
expert handled the tirearm. A wad of
gun cotton ignited on the forehead has
been suggested but the difficulties with
this method would be the attachment of
the wad and the structure of the skull al
ready spoken Of
General opinion favors poison, and hy-
drocyanic acid appears to be the surest
death agent One plan is to administer
morphine II large dose in sugared wa
ter, and when the stage of narcotism ar
rlves to give hypodermic injection of
hydrocyanic acid behind the left foreleg
and as near to the heart as possible The
acid would do doubt act quickly, but no
one has been found to tell how the aka
lold would affect an elephant.
With Tips fate in the balance, interest
attaches to rogue" elephants and Incl
dentally, to the literature of Proboscidea.
The term rogue" according to authori-
ties, while it fits Tips case, is a misap-
plication. The right term is must"
The true rogue elephant is a beast ex-
PEELED by its fellows from a herd, bad
brute soured by ostracism. Such wan
dering concentrations of blind ferocity are
rare, both in India and Africa, and it is
just as well that they are exceptions in a
race of animals whose sagacity and tract
ability are wonderful.
Popular fallacy is responsible for the
term pachydermatous applied to indi-
viduals that are not susceptible to shame
and oJher emotions, the idea being that
they are elephant-hided. The fact is that
even Iipis thin-skinned, so far as nerve
sensibility and the skin are concerned, as
pug dog, and persistent and inquisi
tive fly would cause as much irritation
and distress and would be detected as
quickly by the one as by the other. Tip
like all his race, has been ruled by fear
rather than by kindness. The most do
Gle of elephants at times, requires a prod
or some such reminder that it is under
subsection from It's mahout, or keeper.
In the East Indies, where tame ele-
plants are classed as intelligent machines
and are invaluable adjuncts to civil en-
glneerlng and transportation, "roguev
elephant is as much dreaded as an out
break of cholera, a tornado, oA man
eating tiger. Its very sagaCity makes it
all the more dangerous, and once started
on a career of destruction and life-taking
its methods appear cynical in their
pertinaeity and ingenuity. OF such
"rogues" there are the wild beast ex-
cluded from communion with its fellows
and the domesticated animal in the con-
dition of must" The latter is more
dangerous than the other, because it's
spell of blind fury generally begins in
densely populated nelghbOrhoods.
East Indian o1icial statistics, however,
prove that, as a rule, where one person is
killed by an elephant nearly forty are de-
stroyed by tigers, leopards, bears, wolves,
and hyenas Exceptions alter these data.
In one instance tame elephant, which
had been docile for years, became demo-
niacal and tore away trumpeting to the
woods. Before it was killed it had raw
aged a community and killed thirCy-tive
persons.
In India the condition known as must, "
which is synonymous with madness, is
heralaed by an eXudation on the forehead
or the bull elephant and swelling of the
temples. Such an animal in captivity is
shackled, and caution is observed in APP
preaching it. Occasionally elephants with
chronic bad tempers are found, but they
should not pe elassed with those who are
periodically dangerous, like Zip, or the
wild outcasts which are also known as
"solitaries. " A typical rogue ran
amuck near Jubbalpore in 1915, and is
spoken of as man-eater, because in kill
ing some of its victims it took them in it's
mouth and tore them to pieces.
Many of the rogue elephant stories
from Asia are based on the doings of
either oSJracised beasts or those who es-
capped from captivity, VINO in haunting
agricultural neighOorhOo1s 10 feed on
crops devastated plantations and killed
people who came in their way. One
which wandered in the Doom district for
fifteen wears and destroyed rice fields and
killed many persons was the property OF
the government, and never ria itself Of
chain which itearried when it escaped.
Its presence near the village was known
by the clank OF the broken letters. An
such marauding brutes are simply preda-
tory and vicious, sleeping IN the Jungle
during the day and ravaging at night.
They are not ''rogues' proper. or ele-
plants suffering from periodical fury.
I. Cruelty sometimes makes elephants
''rogues" In April, 1886, the Pal Mall
Gazette published this story to illustrate
what d hitherto docile animal did when
goaded TO furyt
.'While an elephant was being ridden
by its keeper in the district of Sultan
pore. in Dude, the animal resented prod
ding with spear by pulling the man
from his back and throwing him some
distance away Fortunately, the man
fell in hollow, and remained there, un-
discovered by the elephant, who went 10
a neigh boring village. There ne chased
an old man into a house, then broke down
the walls, pulled the man out and dashed
him to pieces. -,
The same night the elephant knocked