Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1901-08-13
HE COWED THE LION.
THE Darby 8ELTED ALL THE FIGHT
OUT OF MONARCH.

Laughable Manner In Which the Big
md Ugly Circus Animal Was Re-
turned to the Snowman After n
Railroad Smash Up.
'It's queer how animals will act in a
railroad wreck" said the boss canvas
man. "Now there wus tn Saberlee
wreck. Six cars wus in tn ditch an
half o. tn shows dens wus under 'em.
There wus one cage o. monkeys mash
ed fat that we knowed of, an lot o.
tn other animals had took t tn woods,
little animals, Zebras an wolves an deer
en- such like. Nothin t do any harm
exceptin tn big lion, Monarch. His
den wus bottom up in little puddle o.
ditch water, with a hole stove in it big
enough L let out n COW, an Monarch
himself wus gone with the little ami
mails.
well. it wus all off with maxim tn
stand that day, so we put up tn runs,
got tn cookhouse outfit down on tn
ground, had breakfast an started in t
dig tn stuff out o. tn ditch. TIL rail
road company's wreckin crew come
along L help US, an we'd got purity well
under way when n tall, black buck
darby come out o. tn woods an stood
round rubberin.
Nobody paid any attention t him fer
awhile, but by'n'by Mack. tn chande
lier man, spoke t him, kind o kidded
him about bein handsome. er some such
CUFF. 1t wus Missouri, an he wus real
black buck. Didn't have anything t
say back-didn't say anything at all, in
fact, fer awhile. Jes' shuffled round in
his cowhide boots from one foot Z tn
other an grinned bashfullike. By'n'by
when he saw we didn't roast him hard
he kind O took courage.
"'Did any o. you gemmen losed gi-
raffe?' he says.
'Giraffe? Mack says. NO; we new
er owned no such thing with this trick.
WhyY
"'Well, boss. All done foun' some
thin up in NAH 'tato patch this mawn-
in, an All lowed as maybe hit 'longed
L you ALL
''AIack got interested. Wot does it
look likeP
"'Lawdy, boss. hits mos monstrOus.
Nevah did see no sech ole thing befoh,
sab. Big cat vahmint. with yaller eyes,
an hit done come a-snahlin an a-spittin
at me soon as All got out o. bald
"'Where is it? says Mack.
"'Oh, All cawt hit all rightly. Done
put rope roun' hits neck an tied hit
t nah cabin
$50 an git it an fetch it down here
says Mack. Then tn wreckin crew got
a tackle roun' another den, an we for
got all about tn darky.
Maybe it wus 20 minutes, an maybe
it wus half an hour when we heard Il
noise over on tn road amongst tn trees
"a noise kinder like a niger drivin a
mule or like SOmethin bein driven. 1t
come nearer an louder an louder an
nearer. Everybody stopped work an
listened, an tn ole man himself come
out o. his car with his napkin hangin
roun' his neck.
"'What is that? he pipes up in his
snappy way. Who is that out there?
Go an see what that racket is, some o.
you boys. Hurry up. now
Nobody paid any attention t him,
an tn noise got nearer an nearer. In
n couple o. minutes a cloud o. dust
sailed out from behind tn trees. When
it got within Il hundred yards o. tn
track. it cleared up bit. an there wus
that big, black niger with a rope in
one NIT an n piece O. fence rail in TIL
other. On tn other end o. tn rope wus
Monarch.
"Of all tn mean, Sneakin, under
handed cat animals that ever travelled
with n circus Monarch wus tn worst
an a powerful fighter when he had any
sort o. show. Sometimes we'd put our
hands on tn canvas cover o. his cage
when he had L run over tn train, an
there never wus a time. day or night,
that he hadn't slap ready fer you.
''WeH, that darby wus a-lammin
him with his chunk o. fence an tall1in
mule talk [ him wuss than anything
you ever saw in tn south.
"'Cm on long heah. you yaller
eyed devil he wus sayin. 'Ah dom
know what you is, but you ain goin
snahl ner spit at me, nohow. C'm on
long theh, you big sassy vahmint,' an
with that he'd lam him with his piece |
o. fence an let drive with his cowhide |
boots.
''An you kin bet your life Monarch |
wus a-comin. never saw a critter so |
cowed as he wus. Why, when that mig |
ger brought him right in amongst us |
there wus nobody that took tn trouble |
t open up gangway, an reckon any |
young one could IA took him by tn |
scruff o. tn neck an turned him over |
on his back. He wus jest great, over
grown pet tomcat, with all TIL fight an
meanness walloped out o. him.
WED yanked his den up ON TO tn |
road bed with tn hole in tn end |
butted against wagon. TIL door wus
open, an when Monarch saw his happy |
little home waitin there fer him he
jerked tn rope out o. tn darky's hand
an bolted inside it He couldn't get |
fur enough inside, either-went away
up in tn fur corner an tried t hide
Saberlee shut tn door an spoke to him,
but Monarch wus tn worst whipped