The evening world., 1920-12-11

the show would continue. Later, the
ticket reading $500 on African lion"
would be redeemed and the owner
would retrieve the animal.
doc" Potter was skilled animal
surgeon, and was noted for his un-
usual operations on all kinds Of ami
mails. In 1915, at the Hippodrome, he
operated on king" lion, who had
been troubled with abcesses, and sue
cesfully removed growths from his
forehead and right forefeet. Ten
years before, after Lena" giant
elephant valued at $4,000, became un-
tractable, he discovered that a de-
cayed tooth was the cause of her un-
rest. While sixteen men held Lena
on the stage Of the Hippodrome,
doc" Potter cleaned out the cavity
with a Crowbar, put large amount
'of gold into the hollow, and everybody
was happy, particularly Lena.
Again, in the fall of 1918, he came to
the rescue of Julie, another prize ele-
phant, who had such n toOthachc that
she rocked the HippodrOme menagerie
with her cries of pain. Dr.. Potter
was afraid the floor would give way
il something were not done immedi-
ately to relieve her distress. He had
little trouble in coaXing her to submit
to a dental operation, and after he
had placed about $500 worth of gold in
the cavity, she, too, resumed her
former COmplaccncy.
In 1905 he bought the entire stock
of the Glen Island menagerie, COM
prising 30S animals, which included
nineteen buffaloes, eighteen bears,
dozen lcopards and six elephants. All
were Immediately trained and sent
out ION the road"
He also trained all the horses used
for the Ben Hur" productions and
taught them to run on the treadmill
in his stable one Of his great favor
ties was Monk, who used to help win
the chariot race, and who was the
only horse to complete 1000 perform
ances of the original production with
out missing one. Monk was PEN
stoned off and sent to the farm In
Stamford, Conn, TO spend the rest
of his days in rest. But he was
very unhappy and lost weight stead
lily. One day doc" Potter noticed
that the horse had mounted dis
Carded tTeadmill and was yainly try
ing to run, 'as in the old race He
then realized what the veteran want
ed and put him back on the stage
for season, much to the obvious
delight of the horse,
Then there was Norma, years ago,
who, in the words Of Cap the
master of the stables for the past
twenty-five years, could do any
thing" Doc" would often ride
Norma through the thickest Broad -
way traffic without touching the
reins and the black horse would pick
her way carefully through the maze
Of vehicles,
It was needless to say that the
trainer was kind to his animals and
that he loved them. Any one who
knew him can tell you that, often
he would SIT by the side Of SICK
horse throughout the night caressins
II, and, If the illness were mortal
making as pleasant as possible its
last hours. On the road he often
made trips in n box car If one Of ms
animals needed his attention.
"Do the animals miss him?" asked
one of the stablemen.
He looked at me angrly.
"Of course they do Don't ask such
questions"
II was a foolish question. Every
animal that he trained realized that
he was a friend, and tried their ut
most 70 understand what he wanted
them TO do. And when they were
sick they licked his hands, and tried
so hard to talk to him and thank
him.
or course they loved him. And OF
course they miss him.