The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-10-24
From the Billboard.

From the Billboard.
 1" HE publication Jf an article on
 Jumbo in thu Billboard of July
 \ 23, 1910, has started the wheels of contention rumbling again, and from number of sources have come replies repudiating statements made concerning the life history of the fa- nous animal. The point involving the greatest controversy in the premises Is Where did Jumbo die?" There are many who aver that Jumbo was killed at Chatham, Ont, but documentary evi- dence recently coming into our posses sion claims St. Thomas, Ont, as the place where the noble animal met his death We are In possession of certain old papers, furnished by Mrs. James K. Davis. wife of Jim Davis, at that time foreign purchasing agent for the Bar nun BaiAy show, which establish this fact and make further denial use less Jumbo was killed at St. Thomas, Ont.
 Who brought Jumbo to American This question Is also one over which few persons who should have excel lent knowledge of the early history of the Barnum Bailey show have dis puted. In order to stop all further wrangling on this subject, the Bill board reproduces on this page letter of introduction written to MT. James R. Davis by P. T. Barnum, the day be- fore MT. Davis sailed for Europe. To him belongs the credit of having safe ly transported Jumbo to America. It was MT. Davis, and he alone. who Is entitled to the distinction of having Jufmbo's coming to America announced
 in all the American papers. Upon his arrival in London. and after nego- tiations for the transportation of the animal had been completed, Mir. Davis wrote the notice for the London papers, decrying the sale of Jumbo to Barnum & Bailey. His purpose was to arouse sympathy in England, and interest on both continents. This was masterly piece of advertising, as all the New York and other big city papers carried excerpts of the path stories printed in the English papers. In further sub stantiation of the claim that MT. Davis was the man who brought Jumbo across the ocean. we print an interview which appeared in the Chicago Herald, dated September 20, 1885: 1T went to Lon- don for Jumbo in January, 1SS2," said MT. Davis. Some time prior to that had been over there negotiating for the purchase of the animal. but the Geological society, which owned him. would not fix any price. Finally I 1ao r1 to soon as they decided upon a price. When we received a message saying that we could have Jumbo for $10,000, we cabled at once, accepting the offer, and was sent after him. When they gave us price, they supposed 1t would be impossible for us to remove Jumbo from the quarters he had occupied dur ing IT years, without seeing horse or a vehicle of any kind When I reached London had special car constructed upon a set of trucks. It was really a big box on wheels. weigh ting 12 tons. without the trucks, and costing $2500 You see, we had to transport Jumbo II miles. from the gardens to the docks I will venture. to say that it was the largest amount of live weight ever transported. It was a shifting weight,
 unlike stone or boilers. and was very hard to manage. Just think of 10 tons of shifting weight rolling along
 road in 12-ton ear"
 Another interesting newspaper arti- cle on the subject of Jumbo appeared in the Chicago. Tribune, dated Septem- Der 21, 1885. part of which Is as fol- lows: MT. James R. Davis, for many
 wears foreign agent for P. T. Barnum,
 is in the city. The friends of MT Davis
 know him as Jumbo sobriquet he
 won for conducting all the negotiations which resulted in Barnum's getting the
 late giant elephant of that name. MT.
 Davis told Tribune reporter some