The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-09-09
Henderson & Hamilton.
CONSTANT WATCHING NEEDED.
1t is Not Safe to Leave Elephants Alone
All Night.

From Ainsley's Magazine.
Inc elephant men have to mind their
charges every hour of the day and
night. The bull" to use circus slang,
sieeps only about two hours and often
does that on his feet. One fool African
elephant-they can't be taught to do
anything, and the commonest saying
about show is that they are not worth
the hay they eat-has been known to
go three weeks without lying down at
all. The elephant is always figeting
about, always swaying that ridiculous
hulk of his, which seems to be cast in
his brothers cast-off breeches, always
picking at something with his trunk.
he might loosen his stake and run wild.
He must have something to do to &C.
cupy his mind, and so bales of hay
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
ne 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 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 poor dumb brute suffer decreed
that the bull hook" must not be used
They didn't have to be with the ele-
plants 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 elephant to time
about as soon as feather buster would
stop a cyclone. The dull hook" Is
shaped like a boat hook 1t has
straight point. This is to jab where
the skin is tenderest, near the root of
the tail 1t is a sight well worth see
ing to witness Patsy Forepaugh (his
name is Mears. but he was with Addie
Forepaugh so long that people hardly
know what his right name Isl get the
elephants to bunt the wagons up from
the basement of the Madison Square
garden. He is the boss of all the herd,
a short, stocky little man with quick
eye-he needs it in his business--and
something about his looks which says
that II you want to get into fight
with him you had better make your
arrangements to spend about six weeks
in the hospital.
The workmen get the wagon slowed
around, so that it will go up the in
clined plane. Then they scatter like
trash before a 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-
gether, now" They make curious
noises They sometimes whine so that
you can locate the very spot 1t 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 cornet for the first time
They shuttle up to a wagon, put their
foreheads against it and up it goes.
Patsy trots behind them, making vic
ious downward jabs with his hook,
while he shouts: "Hooyah! hooyah"
They scull their way along the incline
plane and toddle down again for more.
Once l saw a wagon half way up come
rolling down, while the elephants
turned tail and ran, trumpeting with
terror. A lion inside, angry at having
his sleep broken, roared, That was all
Rooney and John wanted to hear. They
fled, Patsy after them with his hook,
and though they snufffed and breathed
hard. they had to come and push that
wagon up. Perhaps they will treasure
that up and some day-well some day
they are sure to get him.