The Anaconda standard., 1899-08-02
ELEPHANTS ARE VERY ERRATIc.
Showmen Risk Their Lives Every Time
They Approach the Pachyderms.

charges every hour of the day and
night. The bull" to use circus slang,
sleeps only about two hours, and Of
ten does that on his feet. One fool
African elephant-they can't be taught
to do anything, and the commonest
saying about a show is that they are
not worth the hay they eat-has been
been known to go three weeks without
lying down at all. The elephant is al
ways fidgeting about, always swaying
that ridiculous hulk of his, which
seems to be clad in his big brothers
castoff breeches, always stirring up
strife, and always picking at some
thing with his trunk. He must have
something to occupy his mind, and so
bales fhay are always at hand to be
doled out to him. He must be always
scolded and talked to and told to keep
out of that or get back there or come
out where he can be seen. When he
isn't being talked to he is being raped
on the nose with a ''bull-hook." An
elephant has a hide about an inch
thick, temper that is as uncertain
as the toss of a coin, the cruelty of an
Apache, and the destructiveness of a
tornado Some wise and kind hearted
men in New York, who couldn't bear
to see a poor dumb brute suffer, de-
creed that the ''bull-hook' must not
be used They didn't have to be with
the elephants all the time The men
who did either hid the hook part in
their hands while the agents of the S.
P. c. A. were around or displayed
broomsticks that would bring an ele-
phant to time about as soon as
feather duSter would stop cyclone
The bull-hook is shaped like a boat
hook 1t has straight point This Is
to jab in where the skin Is tenderest
near the root of the tail. 1t is a sight
well worth seeing to witness Patsy
Forepaugh (his name is Mears, but he
was with Addie Forepaugh so long
that the people hardly know what his
right name is) get the elephants to
bunt the wagons up from the base
ment of Madison Square garden. He
is the boss of all the herd, short,
stocky little man. with a quick eye
he needs it in his business-and some
thing about his looks which says that
If you want to get into a fight with
him you had better make arrange
ments to spend about six weeks in the
hospital. The workmen get the wagon
slowed around, so that it Will go up
the inclined plane. Then they scatter
like trash before broom. Here comes
Patsy, walking along with two ele-
plants, their attitude seeming to say,
I'VE don't want to- while Patsy seems
to say, This one right here. All to-
sether now They make curious
noises They sometimes whine so that
you can locate the very spot it comes
from, and other times not so unlike
the last pedal key of a church organ.
Oftenest it is like an amateur trying
to blow a cornet for che first time
They scuffie up to wagon. put their
foreheads against it and up it goes.
Patsy trots behind them. making vic
ious downward jabs with the hook,
he oh h Ia
They scull their way along the inclin-
ed plane and toddle down again for
more. Once / saw a wagon half way
up come rolling down, while the ele-
plants turned tail and ran trumpet
ing with terror lion inside, angry
at having his sleep broken, roared
That was all Romey and John wanted
to hear. They fled, Patsy after them
with his hook, and though they snuffed
and breathed hard they had to come
and push that wagon up. Perhaps
they will treasure that up some day
well, some day they are sure to get
him.
A long time ago a boy in Charlotte,
n. C., sat up to see the circus come in.
A vicious old elephant, Chief. was be-
ing let out of his car. He took a sud
den fit of anger against a keeper a
man by the name of King, and just
smashed him against the side of the
car.
King gasped out, Turn Mary loose.'''
and died. Mary was the mother of the
herd. Chief started on the run, trum-
peting with fury, and the people that
had come to see scattered like SPAR
rows. Mary pursued and caught up
with the runaway in the courthouse
square. She tore the handle out of the
town pump and belabored Chief with
that till she got him back to the
1rNr hot l.A tl,.a., ,.rI l.
boy of elephants. He now has the
contract for supplying 1925 worth of
hay and feed for the horses and ele-
plants of the circus, and he it was
who said to the writer:
Look out for that fellow. He's got
a record of nine men-unless you'd
like to make the tenth"
But old John, Why. there wasn't
a bit Of harm in old John, was there,
John? Nice old fellow. Shake hands.
Pretty big hand, isn't it? Want to
see if there are any peanuts in my
pocket?"
1t gave one the horrors to see the
great gray serpent of trunk winding
about the mans waist.
Every year when this show gets to
Charlotte all hands take a day off and
go in procession to the cemetery, the
band playing Chopin's funeral march
and the elephants shuffiing in the
lead. Chief isn't there because they
had to kill him in Cincinnati. He got
too wicked. There is an elephant
carved on the big marble monument
The elephant men take their chances
every minute of having one like it for
$40 a month and board. At the end
of the season they promise themselves
and each other that they will never
look at an elephant again. But when
the times comes for the show to come
out of winter quarters and the per-
formers meet to practice and work off
the winters fat and stiffness the bull
men show up too. AT least one of them
comes of good family and has a col
lege education.
viii BE Given a Benefit