Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1908-10-18
BIGGEST ELEPHANT IN
CAPTIVITY is DEAD
OLD AGE CARRIES OFF JuM5o's
RIVAL
Pachyderm Was Not So Tall as Bar-
NUNS Monster, hut Weighed
More-Had Killed
Two Men


biggest of elephants. died recently in
his prison house at the Philadelphia
geological 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 big chain, he
stood there all day long, year after
year, his huge bulk swaying from side
to side, his clumsy feet scufting slowly
on the floor.
| He was kept a prisoner because he
wasn't safe. He had fairly mild eye,
had Bolivar, but somewhere in the huge
| head was bad" streak. Twice dur
| ing his career, before he was chained
up, the bad streak flared up into vi
ciousness and he trampled the lives
out of two men.
| No one knows how old Bolivar was.
Until recently it was believed that he
was 81 or SO years old. When Adam
Forepaugh, the circus man, bought him
thirty years ago, he was told that the
elephant was q years old. But he may
have been any age up to 100 years,
which elephants often attain. He
died of old age. the animal doctors
think.
The pachyderm's huge skeleton will
| be set up in the Academy of Natural
Sciences, and near it will be the hide
stuffed in the semblance of life.
Bolivar began to show signs of old
age two or three years ago. But 1t
was not until couple of days ago thai
his appetite fell off. Until then, day
and night, he kept up his swaying ana
his munching of hay, for healthy ele-
,,Ha &c F-lu n II his ygs4lSaful hours.
The only signs of illness were rheu-
matism, which sometimes caused the
venerable monster great sufterlng.
Even then he continued to support his
great weight upon his feet, and seldom
lay down except at night.
But in the afternoon he began to
show unmistakable signs of illness.
AS evening approached he lay down.
and it was for the last time. The kind
ly Zoo officials gave him every posi-
BILE attention, and thought that his
early retirement was due to his rheu-
matism and determined to give him
relief from the burden of bearing the
weight of his colossal body upon his
legs.
All day work was pushed as rapidly
as possible upon the erection of a der
rick and the making Of mighty sling
with which to raise the elephant to
his feet and sustain the greater part
of his weight. His ancient consort and
companion had been removed from the
| cell into an adjoining one in spite OF
his mute but unmistakable protests, in
order to make room for the derrick
and sling.
At O'clock, however, when every
thing was in readiness to hoist him,
his stentorious breathing told DR..
Brown that it would be useless. Slowly
and gently his life ebbed away, and
in half an hour his restless body was
still.
Old Trainer in Hospital
It is a curious coincidence that the
only man whom Boliver acknowledged
as a real master is lying PROSTATE in
the Presbyterian hospital, battling with
the white plague, a struggle that may
, have but one ending. That master was
Eph Thompson, a giant colored man,
who was for many years the head ele-
plant keeper for Adam Forepaugh.
1t might also be said that he had
another master in young Adam Fore
paugh, but his mastery was one OF
fear whereas the mastery of Eph
Thompson was one of affection. Young
Forepaugh did not care to handle Boil
liver except when it was necessary dur
| ing the absence of Thompson. He could
do it, but it was risky from the start,
and in later years very hazardoysf'
Such thing as fear of an animal was
/
| ever, and Boliver knew II and respect
ell his courage.
Boliver had never forgotten young
Forepaugh. He lives in this city In re-
tirement and makes an occasional visit
to the Zoo. Always Boliver had shown
that he had known him. but there have
| been no efforts made to see II ne
would still respond to orders from his
old master The probabilities were
| that he would not.
Bolivar, an Asiatic elephant. was
bought by Adam Forepaugh in 1878.
The rule among elephants IS that the
| bigger the animal is the better Its tenn
per But Bolivar was an exception to
| this rule 1t is certain that he had
never killed any one before he came 10
America, for once an elephant Kills Il
man he will kill another at the hrst
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
veteran Snowman had him for nine
years before he became murderous. IN
the spring of 1883 he killed 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.
approached too close. The curling tip
! of the great trunk seized him, and an
instant later the mighty foot of Bolivar
| had crushed the mans head out of all
| human semblance.
Thereupon, Eph Thompson was put
in charge. He had nothing to do but
to watch Bolivar until the show re-
turned to this city to its winter quar-
tiers at the eastern end of Lehigh ave.
nue. Arriving there, Forepaugh sent
Bolivar in heavy chains to the Zoo,
where he remained prisoner for twen-
| ty years. -,
Compared with Jumbo
Bolivar was undoubtedly the largest
and heaviest elephant ever seen out
side of India or Siam. Jumbo exceed
ed him only in height over the front
shoulders and head. He was higher
across the rear quarters than Jumbo
| His body was at least 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 prob
ably not more than one-third as large
as Jumbos, for the African elephant
| has enormous ears.
| Boliver was weighed in 1882 upon q
railway scales and he balanced at $500
pounds. He was weighed again just be-
fore he was brought to the Zoo and