Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1911-05-18
THRILLING MOMENTS IN
CIRCUS MEMS CAREERS
From the Philadelphia Ledger.

From the Philadelphia Ledger.
Go to a man who earns his daily
bread and lodgings by doing h~air-rais-
Ing stunts and ask him to tell you OF
the most thrilling moment In his ca
reer! Should it cause any surprise
that the deeds OF which he speaks are
Of things Homeric?
A reporter penetrated into the green
room" of a circus which is now per-
forming in New York city. Let it be
said here that this 'greenroom" is of
HOmerlc proportions. TWenty-fOur
elephants, camels, other strange ami
mails and horses and men beyond num-
Der, We're lined up there waiting for
he cue for h grand entree. The re-
porter, as the circus progressed, wan
dered about and asked the question:
VIVA has been the most thrilling
m of your circus career?" 1t is
surprising that the people who are con-
stantly flirting with death spoke only
OF elephant Stampedes and cyclones?
to whom the reporter went for the sake
of variety.
You very likely have seen him-the
man in the blue uniform, who appears
In the grand entree at the head of the
lephan herdk His name is Harry
Mooney. head elephant man of the cir
Gus. and he has been all over the world
with shows that ranged from one to
three rings.
The reporter asked him for the most
thrilling m in his life.
Its hard to pick and choose, but l
should say that it vas out in Johannes
burg. South Africa. l was in charge
of i've elephants. Water was scarce
IN those days in Johannesburg. In or
der to give the elephants the bath
which they so much banker after, par
%ticularly In warn dry climates. I led
them out to the compound around one
Of the diamond mines.
You know these compounds are big
stockades built around the diamond
mines to keep the negroes from getting
away with valuable finds The negroes
work in the mines by day and at night
sleep in huts within the stockade.
ump are going constantly to drain
h mines, and the water from these
make %good-sized puddles in the COM
pounds.
There was an American negro and
with my herd of five elephants.
We led the herd into the compound,
but Immediately there appeared what
looked to me like 5000 negroes. I
guessed none Of them had ever seer an
elephant before. They crawled out of
huts, from behind heaps OF dirt, and
from every other place conceivable.
soon as hos negroes appeared
the elephants made a rush for the gate.
Luckily the gates We're closed, and /
was able to round the nerd up. But 1
couldn't get them to go back and take
their bath.
"A week later, or about that, l again
took the herd back to see IL they hadn't
changed their minds. The minute we
reached the gates they seemed to rec
ognize them, just like human beings.
They began to trumpet, swung around.
and before you could snap your fingers
they started off down the street.
Il was a little way behind the herd,
and when they came at me I swung
my elephant hook into the fore flank Of
one of them. It hung, and 1 was able
to catch and grab hold of his ear. At
that instant another elephant OF the
herd came alongside. The two of them
started to run side by side, and I got
damned between hem. l guess it only
lasted for a second. but 1t seemed to
me like a year. That new elephant
simply wiped me from my hold on the
elephants ear and I got rolled between
the two.
Il realized that if those elephants
got a little closer together it would be
all up with me, but If they separated a
little / would drop-very likely between
their feet. 1t was two chances for a
bad job.
Before I knew just what was GO
ing to happen, those two elephants had
rolled me their entire length. I picked
myself up and gathered my wits to-