Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-04-06
LIONS, HYENAS and KANGAROOS
Their Transfer to Rock Creek
Valley.
SOME AMUSING INCIDENTS
The circus has come to town!

the caravan all the way out through town
and down the long hill which leads to the
beautiful Enclosure which will some day
contain one of the finest collections of ami
mails in the world; some LAY, but not quite
yet.
1t was just before noon when the. big
wagons. gorgeous with paint and gilt fig
ures. SO reminiscent of band wagons and
steam: cailiopes. started out for their long
trip. Each wagon told the wondering COM
munity that Forepaugh's show was the
greatest aggregation of animals and at
fractions that the world mas ever seen, and
as they came up 18th street and across the
avenue. many people stopped to wonder
what Ii was all about, and many We're the
queries which were tossed to the men who
were seated up aloft with the drivers. The
men were for the most part the keepers
and employees Of the Geological Park, and
inside The cages they had confined a prec-
star attractions all through the coming
summer. They have been deposited by the
Barnum circus, and will make their homes
on the shores of Rock creek for some time
10 come
On the Way Out.
Say. boss! Whacher got in there?"
Then passing a new house in course of
erection: Say. you don't happen to have
no hod carrier in there, do you?" This
from hricklayer. who was waiting i'm
patiently for his assistant who was all
eyes for the passing show and hone for the
work III hand.
But inside were neither hodcarriers nor.
oricklayers. The contents were king and,
presumably. queen of beasts, a few n.y.
enas. mixed assortment of kangaroos,
a hardest. wart hog, a porcupine and
enough others to make up rather a job lot
or geological specimens. They started from
Bridgeport, Conn.,, where the Barnum show
winters. for the capital last Wednesday
night and arrived here yesterday morning.
They came through in Original packages"
that Is to say. in the cages in which they
are accustomed to being exhibited before
admiring and peanut-eating multitudeS
and while they did not seem to enjoy their
trip particularly. the sides of the cages
being on SO that they could not note the
scenery, they were none of them any the
worse for their experience. as all of them
have been in the show business long enough
not to mind railroad ride. With them
came one of Barnum's most experienced
and capable lion tanners who looked after
their physical comfort en- route and as
sisted in the work of transferring them
from the train to the Zoo. AS the cages
were dashed aboard couple of the spe-
cially designed fiat cars that are used. for
circuses when they are on the road very
little difficulty was experienced in unload
ing them. A Star reporter accompanied the
unique procession out to the Zoo. but be-
You'd the enthusiasm that was shown by
the small boys along the way the trip to
the park was rather devoid of interest.
Four horses were hitched to each wagon
and they had about all they cared to do
going up the 14th street hill beyond Flor
Ida avenue.
Their New Hotel.
Head Keeper Blackburn was ready and
waiting when his new guests arrived at
the Zoo and the preliminaries had already
been gone through with. Quarters had
been assigned to each and put in readiness
III ~ IN VII fha
arrivals. The elephants sent over word
from their house offering assistance in the
way of carrying trunks, but this was de-
clined, as the new animals were travelling
light" In his capacity host Mr.. Black
burn offered them the best at his disposal,
but the travellers were unwilling to enter
at first and some of them required more
than little urging.
Inquiries were made as to whether each
room was fitted with gas and water and
Mr.. and Mrs. Lion said that they did not
care to stay unless they could have con-
Meeting suite with private bath. Mrs.
Lion is very fussy lady, and although
not very old she has very fixed and defn-
lite ideas as to the Difference that is due
to her and her royal spouse. She insisted
on having her meals served in her room,
although she graciously admitted that
some of her friends who were here year
ago had told her that the hotel sets
first-class table. Their royal highnesses
were in the forward end Of the first coach
that drove up to the door, SO that the three
hyenas who shared the coach with them
had to be escorted to their rooms before
them.
Now, it Is no easy thing to move a trio
of hyenas when they are satisfied to stay
where they are. They have to be treated
with courtesy and consideration and must
be very carefully watched lest they make
a break for the woods. One needs expert
ence in handling guests like these Those
who lack this experience should really not
,;,,to ,s,i hI-a lou
ever Mr. Blackburn showed them at once
to the lift" as an Englishman would say,
which was a rather crude makeshift, but
it answered very we'll 1t was nothing
more than big box with sliding grated
doors al either end. 1t was lifted up TO
the level of the cage and supported on
trestle. The two doors, the one in the
END of the cage and the in the box,
were put close together and cage and box
were tied with stout ropes so that there
might be no misunderstanding. Mr. Hy-
ena was then driven into the box and be-
fore he quite realized what was going on
he was lifted up by dozen men and car
ried into the animal house. He was as
signed to a room next to three capybara
from South America. and it would i,e hard
to find three worse frightened members Of
the pig family than were those same capy-
bara when the latest arrival began scurry
ing around his room looking for the wash
stand, kicking because the gun did rot
have a chance to shine in, because dinner
wasn't ready, because the bed did not
head to the north, and generally comport-
ing himself like traveller for New York
dry goods house.
In With the Lions.
And the lions did not care very much
about coming, either. They showed their
objections in such a decided manner that
the trainer who had come on with the
show, Alfred Yurkewitz, calmly got in
with them and persuaded them with
great rawhide whip. Yurkewitz was an
apprentice of Blackburn's when the latter
was the chief lion tanner with Barnum's
eli Gus, and consequently he knows his bus
mess all right. Blackburn called him
"Dutchy," but he made the lions walk
Spanish in great style, and they We're soon
safely ensconced in quarters near those of
French, one of the older lions at the ZOO
One is not so surprised somehow at seeing
a man in a lions cage at a circus, but it is
CHASTITY sight to see the same perform
ance in broad daylight out under the trees
and amid familiar surroundings; but he of
the foreign name walked in with this
precious pair as if it were the easiest thing
in the world. When Mr.. Lion was finally
locked in the box and was being carried
along, he was the maddest individual in
the District. He tossed about and bit and
cocoa with rich chocolate flavor