The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1903-05-14

petted and handled from cubhood up
and pays no attention to it. Men are
thrown off their guard by this good
nature, while in reality the beast is
! just as treacherous and ferocious as
| his forest-bred cousin, and is bound
sooner Or later, to try his strength
with man.
For instance, Nine. Gertrude Plan
ka had a cage-born lion, Rex, which
she had fed and tended all it's life. 1t
| slept in her room at night and went
out on the street with her. She could
handle it with perfect confidence,
and in her act in the show it was in
ReX's mouth that she put her head.
And yet he turned upon her one day
and nearly killed her.
Lions will ''go bad" to use triSn-
er's expression. From decently
quiet, good-tempered beast, one will
suddenly become bloodthirsty and
possessed with a desire to kill. Ele-
plants "go bad" in the same way.
Although so intelligent and helpful
to man, an elephant that has turned
lOS never NC uStu again.
The fury that possesses wild animals
at such times seems almost like that
of natives of some of the South Sea
islands when they run amuck" and
try to kill every one they meet. Jum-
bo H., one of Mr.. Bostock's elephants
which died at Cleveland a short time
ago, was a very great rogue" He
had killed two men and badly injured
another within the last six years. 1t
was always necessary to keep him
anchored down to about $50 pounds
of iron. 1t is said that he was 1870
years old, and that in his native coun-
try, India, he used to be used for
tramping condemned criminals to
| death.
One would hardly think that the
| awkward shapeless seals and sea
lions that one sometimes sees tioun-
dering about on the stage could be at
all dangerous, but their bite is both
poisonous and extremely painful.
Charles Judge, one of the Hagenbeck
trainers, is badly Scared with seal
bites. Te seal, though it moves on
land with painful slowness and aw,k-
wardness, has a very quick motion of
the head and neck. The creature
grasps a hand or finger, sets hi
teeth in the flesh, gives his head q
quick twist around and pulls out
jagged lump of flesh bodily. The
seal is a very intelligent animal, and
can be taught to do many things.
They come when they are called,
play ball, play musical instruments
in seal orchestra, fan themselves,
and. in fact, will perform almost any
trick that can be taught animals.
One great element of danger in en-
tering an arena filled with animals
of one kind is the fact that they I'M
derstand each others language. They
can conspire together. If one feels
ugly his voice will stir up the rest.
Their cries when Gagged have different
sounds at times. II two have been
Gagged together and are separated
their lonesomeness sounds in their
roar. If a new lion is brought in
every lion in the place knows it. He
roars, they all recognize new voice,
and every cage echoes back defiance,
wonderful concert to be heard in
the midst of civilization. When that
sound is heard in the tropical forest
tNe woods suddenly become silent.
Everything else hunts cover.
People sometimes think that the
presence of such vast crowds must
excite the animals very much In
reality they pay no attention at all
to people, because they are so ac-
customed to them. But let horse.
COW, or any other object with
which they are not familiar be led
past the cages and every animal
would instantly be alive with curios-
ity and eXcitement.-New York Tri-
bune.