The Vinita daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1902-1913, 1903-03-05
ELEPHANTS MAD SEASON.
Two Months During Whi.gh Trainers
Have to ne Extremely watch
ful Of the Animals.

From February / to All Fools day
every elephant trainer in the United
States watches his huge pets vigilant.
~. 1t Is the season in which elephants
60 must, or mad, says the St. Louis
Post Dispatch. For two months the
jungle fever rules the pachyderms, an
instinct which has survived centuries
Of domestication, and which ofttimes
causes the tamest brute to become
crazed. In Indian jungles during the
must season the elephant herds COM
mingle. and the lordIy bulls fight for
supremacy. In the circus winter quar-
ters and in the menagerie the solitary
elephants are very likely TO 60 mad.
"Once must. always mad" says Steve
Lawrence, q man who has handled ele-
plants for 20 years, and has the rever-
ence Of mahout for the elephant
folk" Lawrence has bnown dozen
elephants who have gone mad. He has
oficiated at the execution Of two mad
elephants, and was acquainted with
most Of the man-killing elephants who
achieved a CORY notoriety.
There was Sport said Lawrence,
"a huge brute 80 years old, that was
executed at Baltimore three years ago.
He was hung to a gibbetior the murder
Of two of his trainers. The gallows
was railroad wrecking derrick. A
half-inch hawser was placed in the pull
ley At the end Of the long arm, and a
moose tied around Sports neck. The
other end Of the rope was attached to
. switch engine. and as it backed away
the elephant was pulled to the top Of
the gibbet and left suspended. He
died in eight minutes, and didn't make
much fuss about ii. either.
1--WE hung Jolly. mean sick elephant,
IN the same manner. Jolly was
cross brute, but never killed her man.
While the animals were in transit from
Scranton, Pa, to Baltimore, the door
of Jolly's car became loose. and she
fell out. The train was stopped, and
we recovered our elephant. but she
had suffered dislocated shoulder. We
decided to XIII her, and did SO with a
rope.
Charley. man-killing elephant.
which once was the star Of the Wal
lace company's herd. killed several men
before he was executed. He stamped
Henry Hoffman. at Peru Ind. and dlater|
drowned q keeper who had taken him
70 the river for a bath. The brute OBJ
jected to leaving the water. and the
keeper struck him. Charley twined his
trunk around the man and held him
under the water When the man
ceased struggling Charley left him and
walked ashore. Charley was hung, a
double murderer
II knew Topsy. the man killer. ex-
ecuted in New York lately. well. She |
was the original baby trick elephant. |
md was the most docile brute In the |
Forepaugh herd. Thousands Of Cir
rus-goers have seen her perform. AS
she grew larger the sense Of her pow
sr came 20 her. and she began to show
,er temper. I lost track of Der dur
ng the last five years. but heard that i
he had killed man in Texas. and had I
pangled many persons.
"Never trust an elephant. / have
rained them. slept on their legs. and
'Iaced my life in their keeping thou.
aid times. yet ] know they cannot be
rusfed.
Madness comes to them stealthily. +
The keeper never realizes that his pet
: must until he is caught in the in
xorable trunk. and. perhaps. dashed
. death.
"A man killer slays in two ways. He
osses his victim high in the air, or
laces him under his feet and stamps
is life out. There Is possibility Of
seape in the first instance. hut none
'hatever in the latter case.
"February and March are the dam
eroas months for elephant handlers.
81 have never heard Of any mad
lephant being cured. Once must, al
'ays must the Indian proyerb, /
" experience supports. The brute
hould be killed the first time he runs
muck. He can never be trusted, and
o matter how tame he may afterward
ppear, he is but waiting his chance
, kill man.
Il can trust lion, but I have NJ
nth in the elephants character. he
apt to prove as treacherous as his
atural enemy. the tiger"
why Dead River. T.