Los Angeles herald., 1905-08-20
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is little opportunity now for the former
excepting where one has an abundance
Of money and can take 1t up merely
as pastime. There are too many pro-
fessional animal hunters now to make
the business a profitable one.
"When hunter starts into the jun
giles of India, taking with him from
eighty to 100 coolies to act as beaters
and packers he has not the least idea
whether he Is to be gone two months
or two years, provided Of course he
goes with the determination to bring
something back as a result Of the trip.
"Take for instance tiger hunting
After the lair and the drinking pool
have been found, the trap carefully pre-
pared and other details accomplished
there are seven chances out Of ten that
all the work will be in vain. The tiger
has smelled rat and has made off.
Granting that all goes well. 1t is often
question of six weeks or more of
tedious waiting before the capture is
made. The rest is easy. The tiger has
been fairly caught in the blind pit
which you have carefully constructed
near his drinking pool. He is entangled
In the nets which the hunter has
brought along for the purpose and with
out more ado he Is hauled out by doz-
en- of your coolies and placed on one of
the movable cages which you carry
with you.
Many Narrow Escapes
Naturally, one has a good many
narrow escapes from death in my pro-
fession. really couldn't say which one
has been my nearest approach to drop
ping animal training for all time, but
year ago at Paris 1 guess I came as
near to 1t as I ever have or expect to.
"It happened at the Paris hippo
drome last September. I was in charge
of Bostocks animals then and we ar
rived at our destination one night at
about 10 o'clock. I had three elephants
in my charge. / was told that would
find a place for them in the cellar, so
1 drove them thither. Old Liz, an ele-
phant which I believe is the largest
animal now on exhibition, had been
chained In the dark hole for several
months and was in an exceedingly
ugly frame of mind. I attended to the
animals I had brought with me and
then started in to lead "Ltz" to the wa
tering through. I had heard that Liz
had the habit of trying to kill her keep
ers by falling on them, so was pre-
pared for that, but she caught me in
another way. I had loosened the chains
on three of her legs and was at work on
the fourth when she wheeled and
caught me under the arms with her
trunk. was entirely helpless. A sec
ond later she had me in the air. I
knew her purpose was to kneel on me
and she would have been successful
but for the fact that because of her
close confinement her trunk was stiff
and in lifting my body she threw me
against the wall of the cellar, letting
go her hold. I sustained two broken
ribs, but had no complaint to make.
Another Adventure
eat another time was in the arena
OF the hippodrome in an elephant act.
The stunt was for me to lie fiat upon
the floor and have one of the animals
lie down beside me. so that its body
was entirely over me. never could
quite make out whether or not 1t was
intentional or not, but when the time
came the elephant numbered over, it's
three tons of bulk escaping my body
by couple Of inches. The audience
enjoyed the act but 1 didn't The old
fellow came entirely too close for COM
fort that time.
"There is no such thing as getting
on the good side of an animal. Sooner
or later they win turn on you, and
the elephant. whose reputation outside