The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1897-05-26
ELEPHANTS IN WAR,
MONSTER BEASTS ENLISTED IN
THE INDIAN ARTILLEKY.
they Move the BisGuns with Great.
est Ease-An Important Adj
dition to the British
Forces In India.

~ LEPHANTS have become one
n of the most important adjuncts
of the English army in India.
They are attached to the ar
;illery in every sense OF the word and
irag the biggest guns as if they were
feathers, keepinga steady pace with the
ramp, tramp, tramp Of the infantry.
They are no laggards at any time and
deep indeed must be the mlre and high
The barricade which they cannot walk
through or demolish. In one respect
The elephant in artillery is like Napo.
leon-he never knows defeat.
The officers and men of the Indian
army have for years been working with
the idea of making the elephant more
and more useful. At first the big beast
was used on the Notifications, for
hauling timber, and all kinds OF tasks
for which great strength, absolute
obedience and docility were required.
The elephant is not particularly in
tellisent beast, and therefore his pro.
gross has been slow along the lines
laid down by the disciples OF Mars.
Now he knows as we'll what to do RS
the best posted artilleryman and will
bring his gun to the regimental front
with as much precision as the yeriest
martinez who Yields the sword could
desire.
The particular use to which the eIe.
plant is put in the artillery line in
India, is as beast of draught for the
heavy batteries and for the guns OF
the siege train. These instruments OF
war are tremendous in size and ex.
ceedingly heavy. Until the regime
of the elephant, it had been the Gus
tom to have them drawn by long
lines OF bullocks. There was, how.
ever, mo end of trouble with these
beasts. They were hard to control
and SO many of them were required
that they proved a good deal of nui-
sance. So it is that the British artil.
leryman rejoices at the substitution OF
the elephant for the bullock. One
elephant will draw without effort o
piece of artillery which long line of
bullocks would have difficulty in NOV
ing at all.
Every one of these heavy batteries
which the elephant moves from place
to place consists of four 40-pounders
and two 6 and 3-inch howitzers.
While one elephant can draw, if nee.
essary, a single piece OF artillery, in
order not to strain him at all they are
sometimes paired or driven tandem.
For instance, in such q battery az the
one just described, twelve elephants
are utilized. These are not all en-
ployed in drawing the artillery at the
same time, for it is well not to work
an elephant too hard, because if that
is done, he is apt to become stubborn,
despite his usual tracsability. For
this reason the elephants are given
kindly usuage and under those cir
cumstances do all that is asked OF
them.
The elephant battery, or rather the
guns thereof, is always accompanied
by ammunition wagons and baggage.
Owing to the fact that the supply of
properly trained elephants is limited,
bullocks are still utilized as the beasts
of draught for the battery accompani-
ments. The fact that 262 bullocks
are required to draw the ammunition
and baggage forms striking contrast
between their powers and those OF the
elephants, for the gross weight of the
ammunition and the baggage is min
itely less than that OF the artillery it.
self.
The British artillerymen do not at
tempt to manage the big beasts that
draw the guns. To accomplish this
task, there is employed staff of
twelve mahouts, with twelve assistants.
the latter being under the command
of an official known as iemadar, or
captain. All are natives of India.
Then, besides the elephant company,
as it is called, there are with each bat.
terry a iemadar, six sirdars and 131
drivers, who care for the bullocks.
Therefore, it can be seen that a bat
terry OF artillery in India amounts to
something. In fact, it is little army
in itself, for every one of the natives
employed is supposed to be competent
and ready to fight if necessary.
Whenever it happens that the bat
terry is to be transported a great dis
lance, the railroad is used as IN aid,
if it can possibly be made available.
In such cases, it is necessary, Of
course, TO transport the elephants by
rail, and special cars have been made
for the purpose. These cars are in
appearance like the ordinary coal car
on IN American railroad, the sides
being about one .half the height of a
box car. At one end of the car is a
small house in appearance, with one
end omitted. In this little house sits
the mahout, or attendant of the ele-
plant, who sees that during the
journey he does not become fright
ened, and has no opportunity of in
juring himself. Over the rest of the
car is framework. There are three
steel posts at each side. Running
lengthwise and attached to these are
two sections of steel Of about the size
OF the ordinary pine board.
At the end, blocking UP an oppor
tunity OF egress, are two small steel
haans of the size of the seantlinn