The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1917-09-25
ELEPHANT STEALS
FOOD DURING NIGHT
SMALLEST OF HERD FEEDS BIG
ONES AFTER HIS THEFTS.
CUNNING ANIMAL.

bAhAbOOs w iAO Az y oSCAJ ~
vanishing elephant food mas been
solved.
And now Sammy, smallest OF the
elephant herd, is in bad" Babylon,
the largest of the tribe, also is receiv-
ing few kind words during these
days, for it is the big fellow who is
credited with putting thieving ideas
into the little elephants trunk.
The elephants, which belong to a
circus, are housed in large brick
barn.
elephants have enormous appe-
tites," explained George Denman,
keeper, who discovered Sammy dur
ing his nightly raids on the feed
around-tons upon tons of hay in the
loft overhead and stacks of sacked
oats and piles of baled straw in the
corners of the barn.
Sammy Is Glutton.
Sammy, though a tiny chap,
would, | am sure, eat his weight in
oats every day, were he allowed to
have his way But, though the ele-
plants are well fed, they are not al
lowed to have all the food that they
might like And now we come to
our story.
'The lights had been put out for
the night and / supposed that every
one of my charges was sound asleep.
So | was about to leave the barn
when l heard a low, rasping sound
coming from the opposite side of the
big room. Instead of walking straight
across the ring I softly slipped
around back of the elephants. Peer
ing from behind a pile of baled
straw, l saw Sammy was carefully
lifting his chain stake out of the
ground with his trunk.
''The stake came out so easily that
l knew the little rascal must have
had it out before. As l watched, he
slipped his foot-chain down over the
tapering end of the stake and was
free. | was not afraid that he would
do any real mischief, for l realized
that he must have been loose many
times before.
Carries the Chain.
across the barn, some twenty feet
from where Sammy had been chain
ed, were a number of sacks filled
with oats. Picking up the foot chain
very carefully, with his trunk, so it
would not rattle or jangle on the
floor, he moved slowly and cautiously
until he was within reaching distance
of the grain. Then he laid down the
chain and picked up sack of oats
in his trunk. His journey back to
the herd was made even more cauti-
ously, because this time he was oblig-
ed to drag the chain and yet have
to make no noise.
"At last he reached the elephant
line and went up to the giant Baby
Ion, who stood like a great bronze
statue. There Sammy stopped and
Babylon, whom / had supposed fast
asleep, took the oats They got into
the bag in a twinkling and then the
AOooe DCS'all. OdIIIiHy HllSQ HIS UlOuIU
and munched away, for he knew that
his big companion would get most of
the oats if he lost any time.
las it was, Babylon took almost
half the oats at the very start, and
poor little Sammy, his mouth so full
that he couldn't speak.
Il decided it was time to make
noise, just to see what would happen.
So / banged on the floor and then
walked to the back of the barn, won
dering what l should do to punish
the pair. A few days before I had
had to use sharp instrument on one
of Babylon's teeth, and he hadn't
liked that one bit This gave me an
idea.
Mouth Full of Oats.
Il went to my own room, got out
the instrument and went back. There
was Sammy in his usual place at the
stake DretpndinC to no Foc+ oc1aap I