The Keota news., 1919-08-01
And Lapse Brought Zoo Worker
Pretty Near his End.
Sailor Tells % Time He Was Forced
70 Stand on orlxziy With He
Bare Hands, and No Chance
for FootSworie.

On his face. from the right eyebrow
clear across his nose to the LETT corner
Of his Jaw. He was In sailor uniform.
and was standing In the street with
the crowd watching Q doubie-3 -3ointsd
acrobat. who had Just wrigsied from
strait.jaekst. hanging head down three
stories above the asphalt. "But it's
playing with nre always" he added ~.
asctively. "and some day you may for
get. But the lre won't"
He stroked his scars with an apol.
ogetic finger 40 he continued: BE.
fore enlisted ] worked In Q 200.
didn't have to train 'em. No: mine
was the heavy work, feedin' EN- and
cicanin' out tho cages. Trainin' 'em.
you can always have Q whip or . 70.
volver handy. but when you're clean
In cage you haven't anythin' but Q
shovel or q pitchfork: and. doin' that
kind OF work. you sort Of forget they're
Wild beasts. anyway. They seem moro
like cows or horses or any other civil
lied animals. ! was % big and husky
] sometimes went In with nothin' but
my bare hands. Was pretty carefU
though, when I went into old Zske1
cage. Zeke was q cross-GSained oso
grizzly. When I didn't have my pitch
fork. I generally aimed to have Q
wrench or Q piece Of gas pipe handy.
But one day I forgot.
"Zeke somehow got the door ope0
between him and two young grissllee.
and I had to get him back again.
shouldn't have gone In without Q club;
but II WAS about Qulttin' time at noon.
and was In hurry. Jumped Into
the cage mad enough to scratch his
eyes out with my bare handa
HE only growled at me; but The
other two bears. In q panic. bolted Into
the other compartment I decided
quicker than . fash TO leave zeke
where he was and let the other bears
have his den. slammed the door shut
between. and started toward the nan.
hole through which had entered. But
old Zeks got up on his toes when hs
saw I had shut him out Of bis own
quarters and away from bis play.
mates; and, layin' bis ears back and
openin' his mouth until he gaped like
Q crocodile. hs came at me all standin'.
II didn't have time to reach the dooe.
Lettin' out . yell for help. ! stood ny
ground. Old Zeke came at me with
paws up. just like Q clumsy old boxer.
He wasn't 20 clumsy ~ he looked.
though. I gave him . right and left
In the ribs and lodged: but before !
could get out Of reach, bis right paw
caught me on the left shoulder and
ripped my shirt OF to my waist.
III the cage had been larger. I might
have been able to keep out Of the way
until help came: for you can b sure
/ was yellin' bloody murder. although
at the time hardly realised what ]
was doin'. But 6rst thing knew hs
had me cornered. I hit him on tho
snout then. a. hard 40 could hit: but
he swept my hands down with one
great paw, and with the other he gave
me this little memento carry on my
face. The next minute he had those
terrible claws In the middle Il my
back, and he was muslin the top Of
my head, trying to get bis teeth into
the back Of my neck. That might have
been the end 20 far % I was con.
cerned IL q trainer and an attendant
hadn't come Just then to pry him on
with iron bars. I was like q squeezed
lemon when they finally dragged me
out, and for a long time I didn't care
whether school kept or not. I'm all
riRht now, though. Think they'd let
me In the navy II wasn'tf guess
aoAw-Youth's CompAniou.