The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-01-25
SAVED BIZ THE oIRAFFE.

fession."
SAVED BIZ THE GIRAFFE.
A. Old Cireus Ma.'s story ors Remarkable
Midnight Rescue.
whenever I look at q giraffe" said the old
circus man, as no stood for . moment In front
Of the giraffe cage. 1T makes me think Of an
experience 1 had once in tho old days whom
circuses FUSED to travel BIZ the road and not in
spacious train, Of their own as they do now.
I'VE had showed one day in q big country
town. aud after tho night perfor nance 70
struck tents As usual and packet up and start
cd for the town where we were Tn show next.
some twenty-five miles distant. II was midnight
when we got started. Along about 2 O'Clock
In the morning. when we had made. I should
say. about six miles, we saw through the trees
ahead. OF to the right. q glow of light. and l
rode on ahead to SEQ what 1t was. The road
along there lay through \ big stretch OF woods.
but . little further on II took . bend TO the
right, and when I got 10 the bend l saw about
q quarter Of q mile further along on tho right
hand side Of tho road q house aHre. and In
about half q minute / was alongside of II.
1T was . two-stcrv. square. frame house.
standing not very far back from the road. and
without any verandas or porchcs.o any p~rojec-
tons wha,ever. but lust the steps from tho
front door. The house was all afre on the
aide toward me ne I came up. flames coming
out Of the sccond-story windows. and Just no.
ginning to curl out around the caps Of the win
dows on the first story, and: the folks In the
house were oil ut the second-story f:oni win.
dows furthest from the side of the house that
was burning most. still ] couldn't SEQ why
they didn't como down tho stairs and out tho
front door. but I did SEQ q minute later whom I
got o little nearer and looked In below and saw
the house WAS all afro down stairs, and the
on . foundation that reached four or tive feet
above the ground, so that 1t would have been a
jump Of fifteen or twenty feet from the win
they Just stood there. huddled together at
Two OF the windows. hole ling.
A tho time the circus WAS coming along.
and by this time the centre pole was halted
abreast OF the house. Nobody could get a centre
pole Up any . quicker 4. n snsa we ., Sra al i but wo II S1 s had
rested against tho roof of tho house and boon Q
foot or two away from the windows, and IL would
they were. tn try to reach that distance from.
the windows 70 slide down It. to say nothing
G Sh, 5s' f Ss,is 81 i ssan s .Ss D0, .ns sa way .D: so i ! Roi:
Tered TO the folks TO hold on. and then I start
ed the centre pole on and rode back along the
I'VE had at that time the biggest giraffe 1
ever saw, one that stood about eighteen feet
most docile and intelligent girane / ever know.
HIS cage Tssn,t very far from the head OF the
tho rest of tho procession keeping moving all
tho time. but when We got the giraffe csge W
it's own accord. because everybody was inter-
ested. and IL SO happened that 1t halted with
ef the .,n house. .H and every blessed dT animal had
his nose up at the grating in the side of the
cage looking out at III: burning house. aud al
tho people In the windows and seeing US ma
n9uvrs tho giraffe Gaze. And there WASH,
an everlasting sight OF time to lose. now
s sinninr ee 6 come ass out Ie 81 IS. front Tsss slEs.Sy a ss
stairs and down, on the other side OF the from
door. on the end Of the house toward the burn
moro or less lurtd.
opened the girane', cage and let hin
bars of Tying uapczes. and to pick them OF
and this was . cinch tor him: but the biggest
stand just what was wanted OF him. W
sheered the grizzly bear cage wagon out Of II,
road and Up ,SI:,asly near 2 the corner Of 2, p,
two grizzlies in tho cage looking on with tn
'..Tn.rs wa. . man and his vito and fou,
turned the Girafie loose he reached over ant
ciIisq ms and MD hen SM ' he swung his I head AM
the little one on top Of the grizzly bear cage
folks as they came and hand them down Z
men on the ground. Then Old girany swunI
AROUND again anu IlIpcu out huOtncr Cnilu hut
swung that over 10 the bear cage. and thei
the other two. ono after another. And thel
he reached in and picked up the woman ant
landed Der there safely. and then he reaches
for tho old man. He was a big. solid man
w-ixhinG- 2ao or 24o., and 4 made III,
clear of the wtnGow sill. and tails tim3 h
didn't land his freight on the bear care
He made a blum at It, but he Just missed II
and then he just let his neck bend over lk
the bending OF . bough OF treo and lalde
the man gently on the Rrou.id. when tn
giraffe lifted his head up again after shat h
winked Just once at me-, only once. but.
could SEQ that wink plainly by the light OF I'll
burning house. r
well, We got the giraffe back into his cage
and then we got that and tho grizzly bear Gag
back into the road, ana then 10 Jto vi by an
saw tho house burn down: we couldn't do any
thug TO save II. and It didn't last long: The
70 put tie rolks the giraffe ha saved into tn
band wagon-it was cold-and wo covere
them up with buffalo robes; we had BURIAL
ropes In those 1avs-and then We took ther
along and left them ut tho hous~ Of the neayos
neiGhbor; in fact. some OF the neighbors he
come up in time TO see the giraffe lift tho las
Of them out OF the window.
THAT was a long time ago. but to this da
I never 500 . giraffe without thinking of ho'
the old elghteen-footSr lifted those people GU
Of the second-story windows OF the burnin
house."