The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-06-01
TWO NARROW ESCAPES.
Colonel Rice's Experience With an Angry
Elephant and Lion.

L.
Colonel Rico's Experience With an Angry
Elephant and o Lion.
Speaking of escapes from death
recalls my experience with the muir
derous elephant Romeo Had been
little slower in my movements 1
would have been his eighth victim,
said Colonel Rice refectively. Zone
day was directing the ARRANGEMENT
of some canvas men and unwittingly
ventured "a couple of steps backward
and within range of the death deal
ing elephant, which at once raised
his trunk slowly with the purpose of
giving mo Il settler. He would have
succeeded i'll killing me had not Il
young elephant near by trumpetcd
an alarm. and, like lightning, at
once sprang forward and out OF dam
ger from tho murlerous blow of the
trunk by such Il small distance that
Oh the back of my head l felt the
wind oocaSionel by its descent. Aft.
er that experience Romeo was al.
ways kept chained by all four legs.
The young elephant which had
saved mo wus rewarded with cundy.
1T is not surprising that eventu-
ally | essayed the role of lion
tanner, y continued the speaker, land
under the ablo tutelage of Franco
nelli, the best lion tanner ever saw,
and who, by the way, subsequently
met his death in IL lions den in tho
city of Havana. After having twic,
accompanied tho fearless Franco
nelli into the den of Richard III, tho
largest and fercest African lion
ever exhibited III this country, it
was at Vincennes, Ind, that | ut
length determined to enter the den
of tho beast alone. Clad in tinsel
and spangles, ut the afternoon per
formance, amid an outburst of music
by tho band, I boldly approached
the lions cage, opened the barred
door and entered unharmed. The
great brute, which was lying upon
the floor ut the farther end of the
cage, seemed to not heed my pros
ence other than by Il glance of sullen
Indifference, so that l deemed my
first attempt at entering Il lions
den a success.
But my assurance of success was
littlo premature, and fortunate
was it for mo that beneath the cage
was 10 furnace in which glowed red
hot iron rods and that trusty attend
ants were ut hand to effectively WELD
them upon the lion if necessity dc.
manded, else another page would
have been added to the bloody his
tory of the king of the forest and
another name to his list Of victims.
After IL three minutes stay III the
lions den made IL par ing salute 20
the treathless ,tudience;nti prepared
to leave the cage. As hacked to
ward the door l observed, to my
horror, that the lion II I'll almost inn
perceptibly risen from he floor, pre-
paratory to springing upon me. AL
most overcome by tho grave danger
Of my situation, cOntrivcd to sig
nal the attendants to thrust the
heated rods i'll between me and the
bloodthi1sty brute. Scarcely had
done SO when the great tawny crca-
ture hurled itself upon me and, bury
ing its claws i'll my shoulders, bore
me to the floor
Il felt the hot breath of the lion
i'll my face as he opened his huge
jaws preparatory 10 sinEiu, his
fansS iii my throat, and Il horrible
death was but brief second distant
when tho redhot irons were brought
into play and used SO effectively
that the brute was forced to retreat
to the far end of the cage without
intiicting further injury upon me.
was hulriedly drawn from the cage,
none the worse for my thrilling ex-
perience save badly shaken nerves,
lacerated shoulders and q tatteretl
tinsel jacket. AS hurried behind
the curtain the band tTiunplantly
played See, the Conquering Hero
Comes1 and noticed that panic in
the audience had heen narrowly
averted. And what became of
Richard Ill! Oh, he lived to kill
Franconelli few months later!"-
Los Angeles Times.