Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1920-02-03
FORGOT JUST ONCE.
And lapse Brought Zoo Worker
Pretty Near His End
Sailor Tells Of Tlme He Was Forced
to Stand or Grizzly With His
Bare Hands, and No Chance
for Footwork.

"A person can get used to most any
thin" observed huge, srizzled man
with two livid scars half an inch apart
on his face, from the right eyebrow
clear across his nose to the left corner
of his jaw. He was In sailor uniform.
and was standing In the street with
the crowd watching a double-jointed
acrobat, who had just wriggled from
strait jacket, hanging head down three
stories above the asphalt. "But it's
playing with fire always" he added re-
flectively, "and some day you may for.
get. But the fire won't"
He stroked his scars with an apol-
ogetic finger as he continued: "Be-
fore / enlisted I worked In zoo. J.
didn't have to train 'em. No; mine
was the heavy work, feedin' 'em and
cleanin' out the cages. Trainin' 'em,
you can always have a whip or re-
volver handy, but when you're clean
in a cage you haven't anythin' but
shovel or pitchfork; and, dOin' that
kind of work, you sort Of forget they're
Wild beasts, anyway. They seem more
like cows or horses or any other civil
lied animals. was 80 big and husky
I sometimes went In with nothin' but
my bare hands; but was always TAX
in a chance. was pretty careful,
though, when I went into old Zeke's
cage. Zeke was a cross-grained old
grizzly. When I didn't have my pitch
fork, I generally aimed to have a
wrench or a piece of gas pipe handy.
But one day / forgot.
"Zeke somehow got the door open
between him and two young grizzlies,
and 1 had to get him back again. /
shouldn't have gone in without club;
but 1t was about quittin' time at noon,
and I was in hurry. jumped Into
the cage mad enough to scratch his
eyes out with my bare hands.
"Get out of here!" yelled, wavin
my arms In his face.
HE only growled at me; but the
other two bears, in panic, bolted into
the other compartment. decided
quicker than a flash to leave Zeke
where he was and let the other bears
have his den. I slammed the door shut
between, and started toward the man
hole through which had entered. But
old Zeke got up on his toes when he
saw / had shut him out Of his own
quarters and away from his play
mates; and, layin' his ears back and
openln' his mouth until he gaped like
a crocodile, he came at me all standin'.
II didn't have time to reach the door.
Lettin' out yell for help, stood my
ground. Old Zeke came at me with
paws up, just like a clumsy old boxer.
He wasn't so clumsy as he looked,
though. I gave him right and left
In the ribs and lodged; but before ]
could get out of reach, his right paw
caught me on the left shoulder and
ripped my shirt off to my waist. /
managed to get in another jab, but 1t
was like hittin' sack Of sand. It hurt
my fist more'n 1t did him.
"If the cage had been larger, I might
have been able to keep out Of the way
until help came; for you can be sure
I was yellin' bloody murder, although
at the time I hardly realized what ]
was doin'. But first thing I knew he
had me cornered. I hit him on the
snout then, as hard as could hit; but
he swept my hands down with one
great paw, and with the other he gave
me this little memento I carry on my
face. The next minute he had those
terrible claws In the middle Of my
back, and he was nuzzlin' the top OF
my head, trying to get his teeth into
the back Of my neck. That might have
been the end so far as I was con-
cerncd If a trainer and an attendant
hadn't come just then to pry him OF
with iron bars. was like squeezed
lemon when they finally dragged me
out, and for a long time didn't care
whether school kept or not. I'm all
right now, though. Think they'd let
me in the navy If wasn't? I guess
not.n-Youth's Companion.