New-York tribune., 1922-09-18
Woman With Baby i'm Her
Arms Struck by 2-Ton
Beam Thrown by Brute
as Twelve Others Faint
thousand i'm Mad
Dash fo1. r ark Gate
Two Keepers Finally Get
Chains on Pachyderm
After Cage Is Smashed

Khartum, the big, mild-eyed elephant
In Bronx Park Zoo, went on the first
rampage Of his seventeen-year career
Yesterday afternoon. Before his keep
ers could quiet him he had tossed half
q dozen two-ton steel beams over the
fence oe his cage, one of which struck
a woman who WAS carrying a baby, and
had driven the crowd which focked TO
the park to take advantage Of the
pleasant autumn weather In headlong
fight almost to che gates. A dozen
women had tainted and the woman who
was struck by the beam and her baby
had to be treated by an ambulance sur
geon before they could be taken home.
The woman was Mrs. Josephine Geig-
erich, Of 1910 Third Avenue. who had
taken her two sons to see the animals.
Leonard, who is only ten months old,
was hurled from his mothers arms
when the first beam came across the
fence and grazed her, but he escaped
miraculously with half dozen bruises,
while Mrs. Geigerichs injuries were
more serious. Fred. who Is two years
old, was standing at her side when she
was struck, but he escaped untouched.
Crowd Around Cage
Two or three hundred men, women
and children were gathered around
Khartum's cage when his eyes went
red and he let out his first below as
he wound his trunk around the sup
ports and began tearing them from
their moorings. They started in head
long flight, with hideous picture Of
the huge pachyderm blazed on their
minds to spur them on, and perhaps
thousand others, who had been looking
at the lions, the monkeys or the birds,
Joined them without knowing just what
the trouble was over.
Over the lawns and through the
gates the terrified crowd ran, leaving
behind 1t a trail of unconscious women
who had tainted from the effort or from
fright. Their friends gathered around
them, keeping q weather eye out for
the cause of the disturbance.
Meanwhile Walter Truman and Rich
ard Richards, the two elephant men on
duty, had grabbed up long spiked poles
and ventured into Khartum's cage in y
desperate effort to quiet the brute.
Khartum was In no mood to be
queted. He had tried his strength on
the beams and had felt the steel bars
of his cage sag under his weight as he
showed against them, and he was all
ready for a test of power with his
masters. His eyes were still red, and
he rocked angrily to and fro as he
glared at the keepers.
Keepers Finally Subdue Him
Truman and Richards circled around
him again and again, diverting his at
tention from the cause of his wrath at
the same time that they we're speaking
to him in familiar tones of authority
terry over him. They finally maneu-
vered him to the entrance to his cage
in the elephant house and then drove
him in with their spiked poles.
Once inside they felt confident that
they had assured the safety of the
women and children who were still
fleeing from him, but their own posi-
tion was more dangerous in the
crowded quarters indoors. 1t was not
until another ten minutes had passed
that they coaxed him to lie down.
After that it was but minutes work
to chain him securely tosthe floor and
bind his legs together.
The keepers came out smiling, but
they were as nervously overwrought by
that time as the most terrified of the
curious who had been feeding Khartum
minute or SO before he went on his
rampage.
Two explanations for Khartum's out
break were offered by the keepers. Soma
said that the great elephant had been
some refuse at him, while others sug-
gested that his wrath was due to the
annoyance of finding that the children
were feeding him peanut shells from
which they had removed the kernels.