Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1912-06-27
I. RS BIG ELEPHANT
Mr.. Heller Could Not Find Any
Bullet Hole in II.
SAYS 1T DIED OF AP0PLEXY
Colonel Roosevelt Keeping Track Of
the African Specimens He OBJ
tanned for the Smithsonian In
stitution-BriIliznt Plum
age Of the Birds.
Bv cEORGE CLINTON.

BY GEORGE CLINTON.
Washington.-OnIy once since he
left the Office of president has Col
Theodore Roosevelt been in Washing
ton to stay for more than the few
minutes which the south and west
bound trains stop in the Union sta
ton. In November, 1910, the colonel
came here to look over the specimens
Of his skill as a hunter and a cOllec-
tor, which are now housed in the
National Museum and many Of which
are already in condition for exhibit
ton to the public
The African hunter while perhaps
he does not feel for personal reasons
that he ought to come to the
capital for any prolonged stay, keeps
himself informed as to the progress Of
the work on the large and small ami
mails which he collected In Africa
when he was the leader of the Smith
sOnian Institution expedition.
There is a huge elephant in the
Smithsonian Institution which fell be-
fore the faunal naturalists rife. This
elephant has not yet been prepared
for exhibition, but its skin, its bones
and its ivory are in perfect condition
and one day will form one Of the chief
geological attractions Of the govern
ment institution
About That Big Elephant.
When Colonel Roosevelt visited the
museum this elephant hide was spread
as a sort Of a cover over half a dozen
tables which had been placed together
IN the middle Of one of the great halls.
The hide more than covered the ia
bles and the overflow" went to the
floor and stretched itself scramblingly
in all directions It was the skin Of
big bull elephant to secure which
the hunter had undergone a good
many hardships, of which heat was
one Of the worst, and some little per
sonaI danger although the latter point
was neglected when the colonel, when
on his museum visit, had his word to
say about this particular elephant
Mr.. Heller who went into Africa
with the colonel commented on the
hide Of the big brute, saying that it
was absolutely perfect, and that the
same thing could be said Of the bones,
which were slowed away elsewhere.
Not hole in hide or bone" said Mr..
Heller, and something like a grin was
detected when he said it.
Colonel Roosevelt turned to his au-
dienCe of five and said: HELLER won't
let up on me I toiled and toiled and
tOiled to get a shot at that elephant
and finally succeeded. He dropped
dead at the first shot. Heller went
up, examined him and then said:
Colonel, this elephant died of apo
pleXy I see that he insists on telling
the same story today, and all that /
have to say about It is that if I made a
miss that day this was the most con
slderate elephant that ever roamed
Africa"
Birds Of Fiery Plumage.
The hall in the National Museum
which is given over to birds collected
by the Smithsonian Institutions Afri-
can expedition allows one to use IN
afraid all the color adjectives at com
mand. The bird skins are spread out
on trays, or were on the day of the
COlonel's visit, to the museum. The
Baltimore oriole and the scarlet tan
ager of America occasionally are
called fire birds because of the burn
ing brilliancy of their pIumage. There
are perhaps a hundred birds among
those collected by DR.. Edgar A.
Mearns who accompanied Roosevelt
into Africa, which might bear becom-
ingly the fiery name. Then there are
others in which the blues and the
greens and the yellows and the puppies
and all the other coIors, hues. and
combinations of both mingle In
Africa, as elsewhere. the best singers
are to be found among the birds of
sober dress. If the scarlet tanager
could sing like the hermit thrush. the
species would become extinct from
excess Of vanity.
Mr.. Roosevelt's ornithoIogicaIIv in
clined comrade. DR.. Mearns. sent back
shrikes whose pIumage sbames the
livery Of the oriole. the tanager, the
bobolink and the goldfnch.
Clark Reconciled to Houn'.
Speaker Champ Clark. prominent
Democratic aspiraut for the pres-
idental nomination, it is said on
probably sufficient authority was not
entirely enraptured with The Houn'
Dawg' song when he first heard that
it was likely to be hitched uD so to
speak, with his candidacy for the high
est office in the land. 1t was limited
that Mr. Clark thought that the song
was in a way undignifed but whether
1t be true or not that he rather resent
ed it at the first, he now has become
Derforce reConciled to 1t. fol-. seeming
ly il has come to stay and moreover
nobody apparently has shown an in
clination to hold the speaker respon-
sible for its entrance into the musical
field and into the presidential cam
patgu
This is the second time that Speak
er Clark in a way has been tangled
up with the animal kingdom. 1t was
reported that prior to the congression-
al elections Of 1910, he declared that
he would drive a pair of Missouri
mules down Pennsylvania avenue
from me treasury to the capitol in
case the Democrats won the election.
If the speaker promised to do this he
FNHfEN N0M3TFTETINH 0- THAR