Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-05-20


and thin till his keeper shouted to him to
stop.
One big old tusker. a trick elephant, too.
thus walked a circus wagon clear into the
tent and kept on pushing even after the
lcanvas had begun to rip. till he had in
\volved everything in wreck.
1t has always seemed to me that ele-
bhants at work are as easily frightened as
horses, and quite helpless under condi-
T"tions that differ in any way from those TO
which they have been accustomed.
Cunning enough they are. Lots of them
learn to pull their stakes and free them
selves; and they know that they will get
a beating for it they do it furtively. But
of all the elephants that were confirmed
stake pullers.' l have only heard of one in
fifteen years that tried to conceal his crime,
and that was little Modoc, a very much
spoiled baby elephant belonging to cir
Gus herd. For long time the keeper had
suspected that some one was stealing oats,
so one night he hid in the elephant house
and watched When all was stu he saw
Modoc pulling his stake.
After he was free of the ground he
slipped the leg chain over its taperlng point
and wadded to the corner where the oats
were stored He filed himself, guzZllng
just like porker, till he was swollen WIN
the stolen grain. Then he waddled back
to his place in the elephant lines, worked
the stake through his chains again and
drove it down with his foot.
All other stake pullers of which learned
seemed to have exhausted their ingenuity
No other did what little Modoc had done
Trying to Poison Big Tip.
When Big Tip, one of the several Big
Tips that have gone bad, took TO man
killing in the Barnum & Bailey winter quar-
tiers in Bridgeport, elaborate preparations
were made to kill him with cyanide of po-
tass,um When l saw the prisoners put
down their menu of carrots, apples and
other deicacies Immediately in front OF the
vast animal where he stood in his chains. L
suggested that they might arouse his sus-
picion. The spell of the wise schoolpoy
elephant was strong upon me then. They
laughed, and openly put poison capsules
into the carrots and apples while Old TIP,
sulkily wagging his ears, looked on; ana
when they threw the stuff at him he took
il every time.
He didn't swallow enough poison to have
any effect on him. because the elephant mas
a mighty sensitive organ of taste, and ms
tongue detected the poison. So he chewed
up carrot after carrot and apple after APP
pie spat the pieces out and ground them
into the floor with his foot. But during
several hours he never refused bit of the
stuff 1t was evident that all the unusual
preparations, meddling with his food in
front of his eyes and the resultant pad
taste did not awaken in the grand beast
chain of reasoning sufficient to lead MIN
to suspect anything.
They've hanged many elephants since then
more than half dozen, all because they
went bad. Tigers and lions. even when
trained will go so wild at times tnat nave
seen them try their best to break out ana
kill some one. But they get over 1t ana
are as safe. as they were before Win
MY Lord the Pig Mountain 1t is dlherent.
He may sulk at.times and refuse TO WORK,
but if he goes beyond that and becomes
violent he is put down as hopeless. lie
is crazy then and sure to need the eXecn-
toner sooner or later and the longer II Is
DELAYED the more likely he Is to dispatch ms
attendants TO the happy huitIS siou''UH
ahead of him
Now. it has often struck me that if the
elephant were as clever as the legend mas
him he would have at least an mixing OF
the fact that he is so far superior III
strength to the puny two-legged animals
that bother him, and that he Wouldn | De
so slavishly docie. But the reverse IS uue'
There seem to be only two states LOT tile
eIephant-one which is oX-like obedience
and the other which is sheer muruefous
mania.
A Tender Brute
He is a tender brute, for all his tonnage.
His heart fails him when he gets the worst
of anything 1t isn't uncommon for one OF
these colossi to peak and pine away from
homesickness or something similar.
For this reason it is always an expert
ment to buy adult elephant IN lnoia
and transport him to America. IL ne 1eeIs
too bad about it, the ton and half OF
fifty-year-old flesh may fret itself INTO a
decline as if 1t were 142-pound damsei
fresh from boarding school,
Even If he doesn't worry himself INTO
melancholy 1t is hard to accustom an ola
fellow to the sights and sounds of America
When he is brought from the snip II Is
necessary usually to shackle MN lore' az
and amidship. The sight of skyscrapers
strikes sudden terror to the heart or the
mammoth A factory whistle or a trolley
car will stampede him.
Apart from their appetite, elepLaht9
civ
as brook trout. Trout cost dollar
pound in the big cities. Elephants rule at
about 30 cents a pound. If man has
fancy that way, he can buy very soou
Indian elephant standing, say, SIX ana d
half feet high al the shoulders, and weigh
ing ton and three-quarters, for s2ooo
But he couldn't buy an African elephant
for that sum, and even II ne PAID more ne
would have a hard time getting one and
keeping him after he got him. very SIM
pie thing is in the way.
The Indian elephant is more or less do
mesticated before he is shipped out OF the
country and of that domestication the
most important item to the animal buyer
is that he has learned to eat dry food
grain hay and other fodder The big, UNI
calmly, long-legged, ugly African. however,
needs green food He has never eaten any
thing else for elephants aren't caught and
tanned in herds in Africa as they are IN
India When a man wants an AFRICAN ele,
phant he has to go into the woods and hnd
him.
Subject to Collie.
Now. tender as the elephant Is IN his
mental feelings, 1t doesn't compare with
the tenderness of his poor stomach. He
gets collie and he seems especially inspired
TO get his worst doses of collie on ship
board on stormy nights. when the vessel IS
pitching and it is much as mans lite
is worth to enter the big passengers IN
closure That makes him about as I'M
comfortable baggage as a traveller can
transport.
And with all his thick skin he is thin
skinned thing when it comes to climate
Four of them froZe to death in one night
in the harbor of New York under the light
from Liberty's torch because the Their
mometer happened to drop pretty low be-
fore they could be taken off the ship.
One favorite and famous old story of
the books about elephants is literally true.
The are most utterly afraid of mice and
rats Twice l have seen rats and mice
thrown among herds of the big creatures
and each time they went nearly mad with
fright But it very evident that the
fear inspired by the vemin was not so
much a physical fear and horror as the