The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-05-20
BIG BRUTES AND THEIR KEEP
 FRS.
Perils of the Men Who Care for Ele- phants and Other Powerful Brutes.

l pnantS and other PoWerful Brutes
 Well" said the old elephant man, q
 see that Big Charley has got Henry al
 last"
 yves" answered the animal superin-
 tendept.,. First he threw him in the
 river and then he stamped the life out
 of him. I'd rather play tag with one ol
 my tigers than try to get away from an
 old bull elephant once he goes on q
 rampage"
 "The trouble is,' said the elephant man, that an elephant costs so much
 money and fellow hates to kill him
 off. Usually they wait until he does lsomething, and then it Is too late. Once
 an elephant goes daffy he doesn't know
 his keeper from side of sole- leather.
 He just wants to kill something and he
 don't care what it is. The reason go many keepers get killed is that they think an old elephant they have taken
 care of for fifteen or twenty years must
 remember them, and they go in and try
 to make him keep quiet. We only got | Tom, the big tusker killed down in | Texas last summer in time to prevent
 him killing half dozen men. You
 weren't with the show then? George
 had been in charge of him for five or
 six yeats, and Tom had never shown
 any particular signs of going daffy, all ! though he never was nice-tempered
 brute.
 | One boiling hot day when we just l had the sidewalks up around the anil maj cages Tom knocked George down with his trunk and tried to kneel on him and crush him. Fortunately George was quick on his pins and he
 managed to roll out of the way of the
 trunk under ohe of the low cages. He spent the rest of the day making Tom realize that he was the boss He made the elephant kneel down and stand up on his hind legs, and he thought he had won the day. But about a week after
 Tom went daffy again and chased one of the tenders about half mile over the prairie. Then we finally decided that we would have to kill him. He was well-traned and was worth mat ter of three thousand dollars, but 1t was him or half dozen of the boys,
 We got Tom into a car and fastened two chains around his neck. One of the chains was hitched to big tree stand ing some distance at one side of the car. The other had a big hawser fas- tened to it., and we. put nearly hun dred canvasmen to work pulling at it, with the help of block and tackle, ar rangement that multiplied their strength by at least five. I gave the fourteen minutes to strangle the old brute.
 Do you remember Sam the big ti- ger that killed George Martin, his keep CT, down at Maysvile, Ky, in 1893? There were two big tigers in the cage, and George was riding with them dur ing the parade He had been doing the turn for long time. He had been out in Australia with the show and he knew both of those tigers well. He rode down town with the parade and they were almost back to the lot when the accident happened If you have ever been down to Maysvile you re- you pass under covered i bridge just before you get to the lot. It was just there that Sam broke loose. George told me about 1t before he died. He was sitting there and both of the tigers were lying down As they drove under the bridge one of the hind wheels | struck a big stone and raised the cage | up, so that he was thrown from his | seat. He was carrying a club and as he fell forward it fell on 'Sam's' back. That seemed to make the tiger furious. and he jumped on George and caught | lim by the shoulder. George was done | 'or before they could get help to him.
 Did you ever travel with one of the ,ld wagon shows? A fellow got better acquainted with his elephants than he loes now. I knew one old bull in those lays who was regular practical joker. He had found out that the cattle out in he country were scared to death of him and he used to take advantage of it ev- ary time he got a chance If we were Irving along a road, for instance, and le saw bunch of steers grazing In a pasture behind barn in the distance 1e would drop behind the rest of the column. Then he would gather up as much dust in his trunk as he could car y and make a sneak upon them in the 'over of the barn. When he got within .harging distance he would tear out on he run, blow the dust up in a cloud lnd trumpet for all he was worth. The 'attle would run like devils were after hem, and that old rogue elephant would ome back to the road and paddle along behind the rest of the column as peace I lble and quiet as you pleast. But if 'ou tried to stop him from playing his title joke on the steers he would be nean and ugly for . week"
 There are probably not more than flf- y, or at most hundred, competent nd experienced animal men in the ountry. They form close corporation r caste by themselves. The business eems to descend from generation to in the same family. Not ne of them, whether he looks after the lephants or the big cats. escapes more r less bruises or scars. But there is about the life which seems to e fascinating. strange as it may ap- ear to the average man. It is the con ensus of opinion among the fraternity hat most serious accidents which oc- UT in the handling of wild animals of