Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1899-10-23
CONSTANT WATCHING NEEDED.
1t Is Not Safe to Leave Elephants
Alone All Night.

The elephant men have to mind
their charges every hour of the day
and night. The 'fbull," to use circus
slang, sleeps only about two hours and
often does that on his feet. One fool
African elephant they can't be taught
to do any thing and the commonest
saying about a 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
fidgeting about, always swaying that
ridiculous trunk of his, which seems to
be cast in his brothers cast-off
breaches, always stirring UP strife and
always picking at something with his
trunk. He might loosen his stake and
run wild. He must have something to
do to occupy his mind, and so bales of
hay are always ait 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 here, or come out
where he can be seen. When he
isn't being talked to he is being raped
on the nose with "bull hook" The
elephant has a temper that is as un-
certain as the toss of a coin, the
cruelty of an Apache and the destruc-
tiveness of tornado. Some wise and
kind-hearted men in New York who
couldn't bear to see poor bunb brute
suffer decreed that the ''bull hook"
must not be used. They didn't have to
hN Ixyith 20 al 1tcH oil %hn tiY1oo
The men who did either hid the hook
part in their hands while the agents of
the Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals we're around or dis
played broomsticks that would bring
an elephant to- time ABOUT as soon as a
feather duster would stop a cyclone.
The bull hook is shaped like a boat
hook. It has a 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 CHS name is Mears, but he
was with Addie Forepaugh so long that
people hardly know what his right
name is) get the elephants to bunt the
wagons up from the basement Of the
boss of all the herd, a short, stocky
little man with a quick eye-he needs
it in his business sometimes
about his looks which says that if you
want to get into a fight with him you
had better make your arrangements to
spend about six months in a hospital.
The workmen get the wagon
slowed around, So that it will go UP the
inclined plane. Then they scatter like
trash before a broom. Here cones
Patsy walking along with two ele-
plants, their attitude seeming to- say,
eve 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 it comes
from, and at 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 wagon, put their fore
heads against it and up it goes. Patsy
trots behind them making vicious
downward jabs with his hook, while
he shouts: "Hooyah! hooyah!" They
scull their way along the inclined
plains and todd1e down again for more.
Once 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