Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1901-09-04
BIG BDE|EAu)S Fight
A thousand Spectators Watch a
Battle Royal Among the
Bisons.
Giant Buiialos Fight for Leader
ship Of the Herd at the
New York Zoo.
Brown Beauty and Antonio in
Mortal Combat..T The Strue-
Gle Described.

Gle Described.
New York, Sept. Ain the presence Of
a thousand spectators two bull buffalos
Brown Beauty and Acknowledgment 8
lordly battle in the range of the zoolog.
ical park in the Bronx yesterday at.
ternoon. Antonio fell desperatel,
wounded. and Brown Beauty is king OF
the herd.
1t was struggle of the giants, anc
while it lasted the other buffalos with
ionesexception stood at respectful dis.
lance to watch the combat The excep.
ton was Bonita, the mate of Brown
Beauty. Fearing for her lord and mas.
ter, she tried to aid him in the fight
but he did not need her assistance.
To those who know the ways Ct the
buffalo this struggle was not mex
pected. In the park are two full grown
sbuffalos and two calves. Their range is
IN the southeastern part of the zoologi-
cal garden. Among the buffalos, as
among all the animal families, there is
one king. Brown Beauty has been king
but Antonio aspired to the throne.
4 Nearly all the buffalos were obtained
from Buffa1o Jones'" and animal deal.
er who makes his headquarters in OK.
lahonla and is known from the Ric
Grande to the Platte. Brown Beauty
and Antonio have been in captivity two
years. Until recently there was no dis
pute In the herd as to the leader.
ship.
Antonio OF late has shown a spirit OF
impatience and aggressNeness he never
displayed before. There has been
grumblings and low hellowings in the
buffalo herd for the last two weeks-the
thunder before the storm-and the COWS
and calves have been uneasy and fret
ful, for they knew what the sounds por-
tended
Keepers have been watchful, but the
trouble was so long In developing that
they were misled. They thought the two
big bulls would continue to growl men
acingly, and never go beyond that 1t
was not until yesterday that Brown
Beauty was angered beyond endur-
ance
He had surrendered the choicest graz
ing ground to the aspirant for the king
ship, had answered challenges with dis
dain and had avoided as we'll as he
could the presence of his rival but the
gage of battle was thrown down when
Antonio sought to drive the leader away
from Bonita. Then Brown Beauty real
lied he had to fight or resign his title.
1t was at o'clock on the afternoon
that the encounter began. The two
bulls. massive shaggy monsters. below
ing their defiance with all the energy
their great lungs permitted, withdrew
from the herd and with tails flirting,
heads bobbing and sides heaving, can
tered to an elevated plain near the CEN
ter of the inclosure
Then paving the earth until they had
raised clouds of dust they. charged. The
sound of the crash as the two big bulls
came together could be heard long
distance. Their horns locked and they
bent their great backs in mighty eff
fort to force each other back or get on
opening for another move. The below
of the bulls as they struggled was heard
half mile away. The oc.er animals
took up the cry and the park resounded
with the growls of the beasts.
While the buffalos were STRUGGLING
Keepers Mulvihill and McEnroe got
long pixies. and, jumping into the inclo-
sure, ran to separate the combatants
The bulls were too intent upon tneiI
own affairs to pay an attention to the
proddings from the keepers. but the
move of the two men seemed to be con-
sidered by Bonita as detrimental to
Brown Beauty. and she dashed out from
the herd and made for the plateau to
join in the strife. Both keepers had tc
abandon the effort to separate the bulls
and turn their attention to Bonita Re.
luctantly and with many attempts to
evade them, she was forced back.
While the keepers were thus engaged
there came a sudden turn in the tide oil
battle between the bulls. The two big
fellows had backed from each other and
prepared for charge. Brown Beauty
was the more agile. Antonio was blow.
ing hard BY quick turn of his head
Brown Beauty impaled his rival, one oil
his horns entering Antonio's eide ant
sinking deep.
Slowly but steadily Antonio was
forced back Then, weak and suffering
he fell AS Brown Beauty drew off t.
charge again Antonio wheeled and me-
his enemy bravely. but the force of the
others weight knocked the wounded
bull down. He rolled over. not c.,ct
alone, but twice. He had been driven to
the edge of a declivlty, and az he rolled
the second time he tumbled down in the
dust and dirt below. Brown Beaut,
was king.
Out of the mouth of the victorious
bull great below Of triumph pro.
claimed the end OF the combat Then he
pawer the earth again and seemd to
look for other rivals who might care to
engage him in battle. The crowd OF
men and women without the enclosure
cheered. They had seen struggle OF
giants.
Antonio suffers from wound twelve
inches deep and three and one hall
inches in diameter. Every care will BIZ
given to him and 1t is expected that he
will recover.
s5s Puniah Eil;nino R.na;xe