The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-08-09
ELEPHANTS HIS 100000.
4 Pres, Agent Tells Of che Difficulties Of
His SsNltNg.

Perhaps you think tho lie Of press
agent is an easy one" said one OF the pub
iicity men the ether day. " If vou do. just
hurry up and change your opinion.
Yes. they all have TO work hard. Pretty
nearly every one OF them has particular
pet hoodoo. too. Never heard Of that,
did you' Well, they nearly all have hoo
docs Ny hoodoo is elephants
Il can't have anything 10 do with an Gle
plant without getting into trouble. Yet
have been around elephants throughout
my career. Three or four years ago. when
I began dispensing publicity, had 70 act
as a sort of advance agent besides doing
my regular press work, and one of my
most important duties was TO lay out the
routes Of all the parades.
Now. the great thing in laying out par
ade routes for an animal show is to select
a course that will take the parade through
the residential section. The ordinary small
town, especially in the East, is apt 10 have
several bridges. That's where the trouble
begins.
Il suppose you've heard that elephants
are mighty ticklish about crossing bridges.
Well, they are more than ticklish They
ticular point. Of course always picked
out the route that had the fewest bridges
and the strongest bridges, but invariably
had hard luck.
when the parade had got we'll across
one of my bridges and was about to cross
another and get into the best part OF the
town, the elephants always threw me down
hard. The big fellow Of the herd always
stopped at the bridge and turned up his
trunk and then baked. Every other
elephant always did the same. and the
parade either had TO choose another route
or split in two. You know that If the big
elephant who weighs two or three tons
won't cross the bridge, the very smallest
little baby elephant in the herd won't go
near it either.
Finally, 1 threw up the job of laying
out the parade routes. / guess the show
people weren't so sorry, either.
Il ought TO have ad the hoodoo in mind
! the other day when got the hardest blow
story begins with me talking TO the boss of
| the show about our mutual desire to break
into print and get ourselves popular. Of
| course, mean that we were trying to cook
| up some scheme to boom the show,
we were still cndgelling our brains when
"A
walk around the grounds. The beast GER
tainly looked sort Of furnished.
She ought to have a bath said the
boss, casually
Then he shouted in bantering way to
| the trainer and asked him why he didn't
| give the beast dip. The trainer said that
| the elephant had never been in the water
since the show started. l thought that
| | certainly saw my chance and said
Why not take her down to the water
and give her n good bath? lean get pictures
of the act and write the thing up. It's a
great scheme.
The boss agreed and it was arranged
| on the spot that the affair was to come
on with great solemnity and proper ac-
! compartments the very next morning.
Early that morning I sent word to all the
newspapers that the great female elept ant
salt water bath and that ii would be good
story.
well, We waited and waited for the re-
porters. They didn't come and we waited
some more. Then. as they still had not
arrived, started out to investigate. What
found out was really the last blow on the
| elephant question as far as am concerned.
1T seems that the first reporter to land
! from the train had sauntered carelessly
| into the first animal show in the place.
That, Of course, was the show that was our
bitterest rival.
The careless reporter struck my rival
press agent at the gate and casually asked
when the elephant was going TO take her
dip in the ocean MY rival tumbied in a
second and five minutes later every ele-
plant of the rival showand they had
| five--was down at the beach.
-0f course. the rival show got the whole
story and we, who had planned the whole
thing. didn't get lire in the newspapers.
Now, when anybody says elephant to me
I'm going to run