Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-07-01
ANIMALS AND THEIRKEEPERS
THE PERILs OF THOSE WHO CARE
FOR BIG BRUTEs.
Not Many Men Reckoned as Fully
Competent In the business I'm
This Country.
From the Chicago Tribune.

1
ent. First he threw him in the river and
then he stamped the life out of him. Ia
rather play tag with one of my tigers than
! try to get away from an old bull elephant
ones he goes on a rampage"
THE trouble u.s." said the elephant man.
that an elephant costs 50 much money
| and fellow hates to kill him on Usually
| they wait until he does something. and then
| II is too late. Once an elephant goes dery
he doesn't know his keeper from a side OF
| sole leather. He just wants to kill some
| thing and he dent care what IL is. The
reason so many keepers get killed is that
| they think old elephant they haze 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 IL time to prevent him killing half
| a dozen men. You weren't with the show
/ then? George had been in charge Of him
| for five or six years, and Tom had never
| shown any particular signs of going danny,
although he never was nice-tempered
| brute.
One boiling hot day, when we just had
| the sidewalks up around the animal cages,
Tom knocked George down with his trunk
and tried to kneel on him and crush him.
| Fortunately. George was quick his pins
and he managed to roll out of the way OF
the trunk under one 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 week after Tom went
| daffy again and chased one of the tenders
about half a mile over the prairie. Then
We finally decided that we would have to
| kill him. He was well-trained and was
worth matter of 5000, but 1t was him or
| half a dozen of the boys. We got Tom
| into A and fastened two chains around
| his neck. One of the chains was hitched 20
big tree standing some distance at one
| side of the car. The other had a big hawser
| fastened to it, and put nearly one hum
| dred canvasmen to work pulling at it. with
| the help of a block and tackle arrangement
| that multiplied their strength by at least
| five. gave the signal for them to pull. ana
| 1t took fourteen minutes to strange the old
brute.
Killed Parade.
DO you remember Sam the big tiger
that killed George Martin. his keeper, down
| at Maysville. KY. in 1898? There were
two big tigers in the cage and George was
riding with them during the parade. He
had been doing Che turn for long time.
He had been out in Australia with the show
and he knew both OF those tigers well. He
| rode downtown with the parade and they
were almost back to the lot when the acci-
dent happened If you have ever been down
to Maysyille you remember you pass under
a covered bridge just before you get to the
lot. 1t was just there that Sam broke
loose. George told me about IL before re
died. He was sitting there and both Of the
tigers were lying down. AS they drove I'M
der the bridge one of the hind wheels
SO that he was thrown from his seat. lie
was carrying club, and as he fell forward
it fell on Sans back. That seemed to
make the tiger furious, and he jumped on
George and caught him by the shoulder.
George was done for before they could get
to him.
Did you ever travel with one of the old
wagon shows? fellow got better acquaint-
ed with his elephants than he does now. L
knew one old bull in those days who was
regular practical joker. He had found out
! hat ha s1n in snn
scared to death of him, and he used to take
advantage of it every time he got chance.
| If we were driving along road. for in
stance, and he saw bunch of steers graz
ing in a pasture behind barn in the dis
tance he would drop behind the rest Of the
column. Then he would gather up much
dust in his big trunk as he could carry and
make a sneak up on them In the cover OF
the barn. When he got within charging
distance he would tear out on the run. blow
the dust up in a cloud and trumpet for all
he worth. The cattle would run like
devils were after them and that old rogue
elephant would come back to the road ana
paddle along behind the rest of the column
as peaceable and quiet you please. But
IL you tried to stop him from playing his
little Joke on the steers he would be mean
and ugly for week"
None Escape Accidents.
There are probably not more than fifty.
or at most a hundred, competent and ex-
perenced animal men In the country. They
selves. The business seems to descend from
generation to generation In the same fam
fly. Not of them, whet her he looks
after the elephants or the big cats escapes
more or less bruises or scars. But there
is something about the life which seems to
be fascinating, strange X may appear TO
the average man. 1t is the consensus OF
opinion among the fraternity that most
serious accidents which occur in the ham
ding OF wild animals OF any kind are due
common cause is the fact that all men who
are employed around animals get careless
Long immunity makes them reckless, and
they take chances which would brighten
novice half to death. AT first they care
full never to enter the cage OF lion
tiger without the proper weapons and I'M
less assistance is near at hand. But sooner
or later they go into den without any
thing with which to protect themselves, and
some big cat takes advantage of the oppor-
tunity to even up old score The second
among the causes is the reluctance of ami
NAL owners to kill or dispose of a valuable
animal even after it has shown its DISPOSE
ton a man killer In the case of rogue
elephant It is a difficult matter to get him
out OF the way, even when a deliberate at
tempt is made. Unless the proper weapons
and excellent shots are at hand a full
grown elephant will stand being shot at for
an hour OF more without showing signs Of
giving up the fight. Several cases are on
record where a rogue elephant, after hav-
ing been chained down for execution, has
broken loose from his bonds and driven his
executioners to seek places of safety.
The chances which an elephant man is
forced to take were never better illustrated
than in the case of big Charley" the
brute which killed Hoffman at Peru. Ind.
on Thursday. Hoffman had been with him
for years and the brute had often shown
great affection for him. Hoffman was a
man subject to moods, and at times he had
been known to lie down in front of his huge
charge and half in fun ask the elephant to
kneel on him and end II ALL
Come on, Charley, he would say; I'm
tired of 1t all Life is not worth living
kneel down me and end H.
But Charley" would coil his trunk around
him and lift him up to his feet Then he
would trumpet with satisfaction and Hon.
man would give him a choice morsel 20 eat.
Almost every man who has to do with ele-
plants or other tremendously heavy ami
mails has been more or less seriously In
jured by them by accident. One of the old
est elephant men in the business was al
most crushed to death in game of ele-
plant otban. He was In the elephant
barns one night when a big tusker tackled
a somewhat smaller brute and gave him q