The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1895-09-25
ABOUT ELEPHANTS.
BELIEF THAT THEY ARE ENDoWEa
= WITH SUPERIOR INTELLIGENCE.
They Have Mental Qualities Not Possessed
by Other Animals Interesting Stories
About Them-Tho First One brought to
This Country,

by Other Notwithstanding Stories
About Them-Tho First One brought to
This Country.
Elephants never go to sleep without
leaving one of the herd awake to keep
watch and give warning in case of in
trusion. Go into the big menagerie tent
of the show any night after the ele-
plants have gone to sleep, or go into
one of the elephant cars on night run,
and you will find that, no matter how
quietly and stealthily you have entered,
the eye of one member of the herd is
upon you.
Conklin believes, as do most all ele-
plant keepers, that the animal can I'M
derstand what is said to it. Indeed,
trainers assert that it has more intelli-
genee than any other animal, and that
it is the only one that can be taught to
mind by word of mouth, without other
cues. That it is endowed to limited
extent with reasoning powers is certain.
One German philosopher thinks he has
| discovered that this mental development
is due to the fact that in tho trunk tho
elephant possesses a prehensile organ
similar to the hand of man. The hand,
he asserts. has played more important
part in the development of the human
intellect than any other agency, since it
brings its pessessor into more intimate
| relations with the external world than
any other organ. Some menagerie man,
with more practical observation than
the German professor and smaller
bump of theorizing, has pointed out that
the only flaw in this reasoning is that
if 1t is correct the gorillas and ehimpan-
ices ought to have higher mental de-
yelopment than man, because they have
four good hands instead of two, and any
one of the four is stronger than the
eight hands of four men.
Well authenticated stories of the
sagaoity of elephants are so numerous
that it is never necessary to resort to ex-
aggeration to say something interesting
about them In their wild state the
leader Of q herd has been seen when APP
preaching swampy ground to extend one
foot to try its solidity before trusting
his weight to it. When satisfied of its
| firmness, he would go confidently on,
and the whole herd would follow in
| single file, cautiously stepping in tho
| footprints of the leader. so that when
the entire herd had thus passed the
| ground would look as if a single animal
had gone that way, The same trait Of
caution is preserved i'll tho domesticated
animal. The action is not the result Of
training, but brute instinct always dis
played and bearing striking resem-
| blance to reason.
When Jumbo tried to butt fast
freight off from tho Grand Trunk tracks
in an effort to save the baby of the Bar
mum herd, Tom Thumb, and lost his
| life i'll the attempt, it was said that his
action gayo unmistakable evidence of
reason, though it was poor testimony to
his Judgment that he SO greatly under
| estimated the forco of the locomotive.
In the matter of the food value of diff
ferent materials the reasoning power Of
the elephant is very faulty, however.
He will eat almost anything that comes
his way. IL canvasman leaves a coat
or vest hanging on quarter pole with
in reach of an elephant the big brute
will edge over toward it and watch an
opportunity when unobserved to touch
it with his trunk Then he will begin
to haul it toward him, putting i'll rolls
of hay and chewing them between times.
AS soon as the garment is at his feet tho
elephant will put one of his ponderous
five hoofed pedals on it and begin to
tear it up, rolling tho pieces i'll his
trunk and stuffing them into his mouth.
The sole of shoe is just as good for
him to chew ON as wisp OF hay, and
his natural instinct of mischief inclines
him to prefer that which he knows 10
forbidden him.
The first elephant brought to America
for exhibition purposes was Old Bet,
and it has often been remarked that tho
American circus was built on her shout
ders. Different accounts fail to agree in
regard to the date of her importation,
which is placed all the way from 1776
to 1888 by different writer's of old timo
"reminiscences Old Bet was brought
over in the ship America, Of which Cap
tain Crowningshield was master, and
she landed, according to the harbor rec
ords, in Philadelphia in April, 1893.
She was but feet high, and tho sum
of $40, 900 was paid for her, the largest
price that had been paid up to that time
for any animal, either here or i'll Eu-
rope. She was first exhibited in PhiIa-
delphia and astonished the public daily
by drawing the corks from 30 bottles
of beer and drinking The contents. On
the goth of June, 1899, she passed
through Now York on the way to Bos-
ton.
Old Bet had been bought on the COM
munity plan by n number Of farmers of
Putnam county, N Y, at tho instance
of one Ludwig Bistadler, each mortgag
ing his farm and putting $500 into tho
venture They exhibited her untler wag
ON sheds at hotels by putting piece Of
side canvas up in front of the shed. Tho
admission was 25 cents for adults and
12R cents, or York shilling, for chill
dren This gigantic geological institute,
as the caravan was called, Travelled east
as far as Pawtucket, H. l., where tho
elephant, IN spite Of its docile DISPOSE.
ton, was shot and killed. AS the Gin
stitute" contained no other attractions
the show closed The same proprietors
then imported second elephant, which
they also called Old Bet, and they en-
larged their exhibition by adding to tho
collection lion and a two horse cage
and one monkey in box strapped ON to
the hind end of tho lions cage. The
second Old Bet landed in 1888. Follow
ing her to these shores the next pachy-
derm to arrive seems to have been Mo-
gul, very big fellow with long tusks,
who was burned Oh the steamer Royal
Tar between st. John s and Portland, |
Chicago Inter Ocean.
The New Vigiiantes.