The Butte inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1901-1912, 1901-05-07


not get out of the car door until tho
gang plank is taken away. He then
drops to his knees. and, wriggling his
get his front feet out and upon this
ground.
The floor of the car is about five fee.
above the ties of the roadbed. but this
does not keep Badly from reaching the
solid foundation of earth without mishap
or trying delay. Once his forefeet are
on the ground he draws his body for
ward. allowing his hind legs to drag
along the ear floor. In this way he is
soon able to get one hind foot out, and
then the rest is easy. -
All the other elephants of the herd
look up to Old Badly as a sort of adj
wiser and protector. He seems to feel
this and has quite as much to do with
bringing to book any of the family who
so out of the way of right doing as
their master and trainer. Herr Souder.
In fact. Herr Souder claims that Old
Badly can understand English as wen
as a man. at least when it i. spoken
by him. At the winter quarters of the
show in Baraboo. Wis. Old Badly is
never chained and is depended upon to
look after the herd. Last winter one
of the wild girls of the elephant fam.
lily. who has an uncomfortable appe-
title for cigarettes. named Laura Jean
Libbey. got away While Old Badly was
mapping and made a trip to a cigar shop
in the center of the village. She had
been there before, and as soon as the
tobacco dealer saw her he began to
supply her with cigarettes. which was
the wise thing to do to keep the shop
b.in Cd . Old
Baldy missed his charge he tore from
the building in double quick time for
the tobacconist's shop. where he knew
the truant could be found. He grab bed
Laura Jean by the ear and twisted it
until she cried in pain. Then he picked
III, a long iron poker and belab bored the
truant all the way back to the winter
barn.
Another member of this interesting
family. one of African origin. with big.
fam shaped ears and little head. had 4
great habit of stealing. The keepers had
tried every way to break him. During
performances he would reach out his
Trunk and deftly take handkerchiefs.
belt buckles. etc. from unsuspecting
visitors. He would run away every
could from the villagers and hide the
stolen articles in all sorts of places about
the animal quarters. When Old Badly
was called upon to take the wrongd oer
III hand he let him escape two or three
times and then furtively watched what
was done with the things purloined.
One frosty morning after the sinner had
returned from his stealing trip Old
Haldy ran him into corner and beat
him fiercely with small stake. Then
he took him by the ear to the place
where the stolen articles We're hidden
and made him take each in turn back
to the place from where it was stolen.
After that Old Badly refused to let him
eat for several days any of the bran of
which the elephants are so fond. Since
this heroic treatment the African ele-
plant knows the difference between
mine and thine and will not even
indulge the little dishonesty peculiar to
his kind of dipping into his neishbor' S
luncheon.
Still another and possibly more re-
lnarkable proof that Old Badly has
something besides bone back of his ex-
pansive forehead. or at all events a sort
Of intuition that guides him rightly
is found in his keepers story of the way
he helped him to build up fortune.
Two winters ago Herr Souder con-
ceiVed the idea of having Old Badly per-
form upon colossal piano.
Badly seemed to have an ear for rhyme
and time and it was thought this could
be turned to account. After Old Badly
had been practicing upon this big plan,
| keyboard for time he learned to picl,
out tune.
That an elephant should have the
toothache is one of the things that have
probably come under the observable fol
/ few people. One of the biggest elephants
With the Ringling show is paradoxicalls
named Babe. This huge animal las,
winter got very uneasy and troubled hel
| keepers She didn't eat muo II and looked
as if the way of things didn't suit her
/ Now, While the elephant is usually
/ locked on by the crowd as a good ma
tured beast, as "a matter of fact When,i
! sets in tantrum it is the hardest %
all to manage and is more anxiousl,
Watched by those in charge than an!
other animal in the menagerie There
/ fore it was that when Babe began tt
sulk the management got worried and
| good deal of time and talk were use.
! in trying to find out the cause and brns
the big beast back to her former placit
/ mood. The Ringlings winter their shov
! al Baraboo. Wis. which is the cher
ished birthplace of the family. and
humble barber of that town it was tina
solved the difficulty. He said that Bah
! had the toothache.
~
This my have been guess. but
whether or rot, Mr. Alexander thought h
could find out. 1t took a lot of proddin