The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-05-01
"Mandarin" Kills Three Men.

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 One of the more recent instances of bad elephants was Barnum & Bailey's fa- nous clown "Mandarin." who killed three men and maimed fourth, and was finally stranged by a steam winch on board the steamship Minneapolis, just before the menagerie reached New York harbor from it's tour abroad As fl tall, gaunt, hungry. five-year-old, Man darin had joined the show thirty years ago. had grown into a splendid. intelli- gent gray mountain of good nature, and never showed even a trace of uglness until the circus was doing France. Flap ears cooked forward. trunk swing ing restlessly and little eyes growing more and more bloodshot, the fine fellow stood. ceaselessely swaylng his six tons from side to side. The animal, how ever, showed no inclination toward ug-l lness until a substitute trainer was dup ed into putting the tricky old rascal through his paces. The man laid himself flat on the ground to have the elephant walk over him. exactly as the big clown walked over men thousands of times be- fore As usual the beast advanced, head bobbing with every step; he lifted his ponderous foot, let 1t hover over the man, then with a shrill trumpetlng of fury planted 1t squarely on the unfortu- mates chest with all the pressure Of his 1000 pounds. Blasting madly. the animal started on a rum picked up hyena cage and smashed it, with one blow or his trunk broke the back of a mule, and would have cleared out the show were it not for a pair of equally huge tuskers that were brought in on run to butt and prod the crazy one back to his senses.
 In the old days. likely, the huge police men would have been made to rope ana throw and tie the mutineer and he would have been scared with red hot crowbars and sledge-heads until he "squealed as a signe of submission-or else. died under the torture. But the modern way of handling bad elephant is to fill him up with opiates Mandarns spell yielded to the treatment; but within six months It returned, worse than before. This time stable boy who was cleaning the rogue's stall. was the victim. Without an instants warning the crazy beast sent forth a scalp-raising trumpet call, like flash wound his big trunk, raised the lad on high, hurled him to the floor, smash ing every bone in his body, ran him through and through with ihs tusks and was just kneeling on the 1ifeless thing when assistance arrived With elephant hooks, crowbars, axes pitchforks, and rhinocerous hide whips. the beast was beaten off-and never squeal out of him.
 There was a consultation on the spot as to whether elephants should be led forth to strangle the villain. In fact. the moose of cable-rope for the giant throat and the blocks and tackle and elephant harness with which the tame beasts were to choke the murderer, were gotten ready. But the circus was on the point of moving to another town and just then had no time to bother with the execu- tion. And thereafter, as If his appetite were appeased by the murderous spree, Mandarin became a model of propriety and earned respite. As precaution' however a four-inch leather covered chain was passed around the gigantic barrel, and chains running from this sur cingle. between the fore legs, were con nected with the tusks, thus forming a martingale that prevented the free use of the head Double chains were fas- tened around the fat hind legs, and so the rogue stood remorsefully until he was put aboard the Minneapolis
 There an intoxicated longshoreman' not knowing the character of the dangerous animal, ventured near him, began to tease. and finally entered the big. crate like cage The giant simply threw his full weight against the intruder, crush ing him instantly. The trumpetings of rage aroused keepers and trainers, and one of the former, a negro, ran with up-