Omaha daily bee., 1908-08-23
BOLIVAR, RIVAL OF JUMBO
P~hilRdeIphia's Monster Elephant and
Man Killer Dies n Prisoner
at the Zoo.

Bolivar. biggest Of elephants, died in his
prison house at the Philadelphia Zoologi-
cal Gardens. He never had a rival In
captivity except Jumbo, and Jumbo. while
taller, was lighter than Bolivar. The
Philadelphia monster weighed six tons.
For twenty years the big fellow had
been confined within a small Enclosure at
the Zoo, and for twelve or fifteen years
he had not been allowed even to pass
out OF his cell into the little yard. one
foot shackled with a big chain, he stood
there all day long, year after year, his
huge bulk swayirg from side to side, his
clumsy feet scuffling slowly on the floor.
He was kept a prisoner because he
want safe. He had a fairly mild eye,
had Bolivar, but somewhere in the huge
head was a bad streak. Twice during
his career, before he was chained up,
that bad streak flared up into viciousness,
and he trampled the lives out of two men.
No one knows how old Bolivar was.
Until recently 1t was believed that he was
81 or IS years old. When Adam Fore
paugh, the circus man, bought him thirty
years ago, he was told that the elephant
was Il years old. But he may have been
any age up to 100 years, which elephants
sometimes attain. He died Of old age, the
animal doctors think
1t is a curious coincidence that the only
man whom Bolivar acknowledged as a
real master is lying PROSTATE in the Pres
byterlan hospital, battling with the white
plague, a struggle that may have but
one ending. That master was Eph Thomp-
son. a giant colored man, who was for
many years the head elephant keeper for
Adam Forepaugh.
Bolivar, an Asiatic elephant. was bought
by Adam ENropappb IN 1879 The r1ila
among elephants is that the bigger the
animal is the better IFS temper. But Boil
var was an exception to this rule. 1t is
certain that he had never killed any one
before he came to America, for once an
elephant Kills a man he will kill another
at the first opportunity offered.
For an elephant who had not reached
what Is known as the 'musth' period,
when he becomes dangerous, Bolivar had
an unusually vicious temper. The vet
eran Snowman had him for nine years
before he became murderous. In the
spring of 1888 he killed a man who was
tantalizing him with the lighted end of a
cigar.
Accustomed to stretching forth his
trunk to take peanuts and candy from
persons visiting the circus, Bolivar
touched the hot end of the cigar. OF
course he refused a second 'proffer, and
| the unfortunate man. in his eagerness to
again burn the big fellows trunk, APP
preached too close. The curling tip of
the great trunk seized him, and in an in
slant later the mighty foot Of Bolivar
had crushed the mans head out OF all
human semblance.
1t was only a question Of time before
he would claim another victim, and he
did. Ordinarily, showmen regard death
as the only safety from a bad" elephant,
and almost any other showma would
have condemned him. But Adam Fore
paugh was very proud of Bolivar and
wanted him to be seen in real captivity,
where his enormous and symmetrical pro-
portions might be viewed i'm safety by
his townsmen of this city.
Thereupon, Eph Thompson was put in
charge. He had nothing to do but to
watch Bolivar until the show returned
to Philadelphia to its winter quarters at
the eastern end of Lehigh avenue. Ar
irving there, ~Forepaugh sent Bolivar in
heavy chains to the Zoo. where he re-
manned a prisoner for twenty years.
Bolivar was undoubtedly the largest and
heaviest elephant ever seen outside Of
India or Siam. Jumbo exceeded him only
in height over the front shoulders and
head, He was higher across the rear quar-
leTS imam JUMBO. MS DOuS WAS at ledSI
a yard longer and a foot wider and deeper
than Jumbo's.
He was of the Asiatic species, with
greater intelligence and brain of double
the size of that OF the African species,
to which Jumbo belonged. His head was
very big and square. His ears were
small and shapely and probably not more
than one-third as large as Jumbo's, for
the African elephant has ears.
Bolivar was weighed in 1852 upon a
railway scale and he balanced at $500
pounds. He was weighed again just be-
fore he was brought to the Zoo, and had
fretted away about 500 pounds. For two
or three years after he came TO the Zoo
he continued thin and scraggy, but i'm late
years he took on vast weight, and as
nearly as might be estimated his weight
a year ago was 1000 pounds.-PhiIadel-
phia North American.