The Forrest City times., 1910-08-19


 include such immense foreign animal firms as the Hagenbacks. IL Is paving business as indeed. all businesses where the demand eyceeds the supply The demand for wild beasts is far greater than the supply, and as 2 consequence prices are good. and the dealers men of wealth The extent Of this demand may be appreciated when one con sders that most of the great cities in the United States have zoologica parks or menageries and that the animals are constantly being purchased by them Then there are private collectors and circuses and the like. that are ready to pay Che highest prices for desirable animals The ani nal dealer who could secure and bring to- this country three or four gortllas would make a small fortune. But no dealer has eyer succeeded in do- ing this The gorillas die in few weeks In can tivtyi they could not stand ocean trip for a day
 rusty old German liner mmbers noisiIy into Quarantine, and then lies motionless on the tide An officer. with broad, red. bewhlskered face stands at the head of the companion ladder and he smiles peculiar smile as husky screaming ululation rises from below. The animals get ting hungry" he explains; you know have several hundred of them on the tween decks. Want to them? All right" Iu another minute probably the most competent animal in the world is at side. He Is not trainer, or even tanner, he Is more. He is sort of animal cook, and his special business Is the personal manage ment of wild animal tours He receives them lions, tigers, leopards elephants. everything else -at Hamburg where they have been brought fresh from their native wids, and not only super Intends their shipment aboard vessel bound for New York but he sails with them to make sure that they arrive safely and in good health. And be sure that if the tiger gets off on his diet and needs nice fresh live rabbit to tone up his sys- tenn. this man will be aware of the fact almost before the tiger is-and. ergo nice big jumping bunny Is sacrificed in accordance with the pre- pf wild haoSf la a1i one can never tell just when the big boa Is go- ing to rouse from his last gorge. when he does he wants toothsome young goat, and he wants 1t quick It Is part of the animal mans duties to anticipate the boa's appetite with all possible expedition.
 He Is a quiet, uuassuning man. with stoop shoulders and bushy whiskers and he leads the way to the tween decks without word Per aaps the uniutiated may believe that tour through the animal section of a freight carrying vessel is an unimpressive experience We'll let them try 1t and seei This can be said at the out set-it is somewhat different from menagerie II means something come into close proximity to a hundred and odd wild animals that have been ruthlessly snatehed from their lars in Africa or Asia, or elsewhere, and clapped into little barred boxes. not as large as dry goods cases. slammed tn and out of dark holes in the vessels of several seas on the way to Hamburg then finally placed &n the stygian tween decks of a German hooker.
 The swinging cross of the North Atlantic have not improved their tempers. or their nerv- ous systems and the visitor at Quarantine is quickly impressed with that fact The howls and whines and the barks cease abruptly the stran- gers enter. For they bring the smell of land and the great beasts snin inquiringly and hungriy. too.
 The cages lined both sides of the gloomy space. with little passageway between the boxes. Per haps this passageway three feet wide. not more. The cages were piled two and sometimes three deep. In the bottom cage. for instance, would be a tiger. in the next above smaller ami nal say. leopard lynx. and above that a parrot, or bunch of neerkats Think Of it, A threefoot passageway with ferocious animals stretching along for no feet all sides. Talk about nightmares The reporters hair stiffened out like many pieces of wire, and he wished most fervently that he had come It more agreeable he felt to see these animals in me nagerie where the cages are ample and the bars inch thick
 Better keep in the middle of the aisle" says one of the animal men, these fellows sometimes reach out for you"
 Words such as these of course. hardly tended to reassure
 It really too dark to much. One caught view of the cages stretching away in gloomy perspective until lost fn the darkness, Of