The Cook County herald., 1899-01-14
ELEPHANTS &. j 81: Il \ !, In WAR.
MAKING THE GREAT RRUTEs,
CHARGE THE ENEMY. /.
Anciont Queens Disaster - Hannibal's
= Famous Journey Over the Alps Re-.
suited Sadly for the Animals - Only
Ono Survived the Winter. b. sS22 tS22 ',E r.

Nowadays when men engage in war
and wish to make Improvements in
their mode Of fighting they begin to
cast about for some new sort of ma
chine, but wh hen the world was younger
and they didn't know much about me-
chanics, the favorite scheme was to
hunt up some new kind Of animal and
train 1t to help them fight. Even now
we haven't given up the plan alto
gether, but war dogs and horses and
pigeons are not half so important as
guns and railroads and telegraph lines,
says the Philadelphia Press. Let us
take the biggest beast of all-the ele-
phant. He is really wonderful fight
ing animal; he almost seems to have
been built for that very purpose His
thick hide is like armor; his tusks are
like heavy lances; his strength and
weight make his impetuous charge al
most Irresistible, and his back is so
huge that wooden towers filled with
soldiers can be carried on it. His very
aspect is terrifying, and before the
rush of a. long line of these enormous
creatures any troops fighting with no
better weapons than swords and bows
and spears are fain to break and run.
Besides all this the elephant enters
into the fight with great zeal and relish
provided he himself doesn't get too
seriously hur t-and his great intelli-
gence makes it easy to guide and con-
troll him up to certain point. But
here came the drawback, for a crazed
elephant is about as dangerous to his
own side as a powder magazine in the
midst Of fire. If by any mischance he
doesn't defeat the enemy he is pretty
certain to defeat his friends.
The first use of the elephant in war
is older than history. The earliest
mention of it, probably, is in the gro
tesque legend Of Semiramis. This in
genious Assyrian queen made war upon
India, and having no elephants of her
own, made lot of dummies Of wick
erwork covere I'D with hides, and mount
ed them on camels. At first the real
elephants were greatly disturbed, not
dummies as by the obnoxious and un-
accountable S nell of the camels, and a
panic seemed imminent. At length,
however, they charged, the queens
dime museum monsters went to pieces
with crush, and elephants and cam
els alike tram pied down her troops in
general sta impede. You needn't be-
lieve this stof fy unless you choose; but
those who invented it knew all about
war elephants-that is plain. Alex
ander, many centuries later, had bet
ter luck. When he invaded India and
defeated Porus, he also vanquished
vast army of elephants. The immense
beast ridden by Porus himself-so runs
the tale-was a creature of such intel
ligence that he reached back with his
trunk and pulled the darts from the
body Of his wounded master; but the
orientals had a great gift for story tell
ing. as you may see in the ARABIAN
Nights" They also informed Alexan-
der that beyond the Ganges there were
no fewer than 5000 fighting elephants
waiting to welcome him; and the con-
querer wept, but went no further. Sub
sequently the Romans had some highly
exciting experiences with these de-
vastating paehyderms. The first spe-
cimens they ever saw were brought
over by Pyrrh in number
and as the whole menagerie, bolted
straight at tn EN- with lifted trunks and
loud trumpetings they didn't at all en-
Joy the show. In two great battles
they were ira implied under foot by this
military circus troop, but the third
they managed to turn the charging an
imals by a skillful use of darts and
firebrands-and Pyrrhus left Italy in
haste.
The most famous users of this ami
mated artille ry, however, we're the
Carthaginians. It was chiefly by
means of these brutes that they de-
feated and captured poor Regulus,
whom they afterward treated with
worse than Spanish barbarity. A few
years later, at Panormus, Hasdrubal
advanced against the city with 140 of
them in his battle front. But the Ro-
mans had now learned how to deal
with them. "A multitude of men, sta
toned along the walls and the moat,
showered the creatures with javelins
and arrows until they bristled with
darts like pincushions stuck full of
pins, and, will with pain, they dashed
through the ranks of their own army,
spreading hay voc. It is said that 1000
men were sla ughtered in the rout that
followed. Most of the elephants were
rounded up and corraled by the vic
tors, and 104 of them were taken to
Rome. Notwithstanding all this, the
elephant battery was a favorite branch
of the serYice with Hannibal, who used
it with notable results in Spain. On
one occasion he stationed line of ele-
plants along the bank. of river, and
when the Spaniards attempted to cross
the eager brutes ran up and down the
shore and destroyed nearly all who
ventured to emerge from the water.
Soon after. as everybody knows, he
marched a train Of thirty-seven ele-
plants across the Alps into Italy The
worst difficulty observation-disclosures
it was a terrible ordeal all the way.
was In the final descent through steep