Evening star., 1930-05-04

edges the beard was slightly singed. You see
the fire eater knew well that she had one of
the most valuable boards in the circus business.
ut was her stock in trade. 1t was quite q
while before any Of us found out what had been
going on behind the scenes of the side show.
But the Baroness was breaking under the strain
At least once day the vengeful fire eater
would take a shot at her beard with the fame
She never knew when it was coming.
Sometimes, when the crowd had gathered in
the tent, he would turn about quickly and let
go. Then he would pass it off as joke He
would make some wisecrack to the customers,
who would laugh and think it funny. But to
the Baroness it was no joke
THE season ended just in time to save her.
She was on the verge of complete collapse
and was in the hands Of physician for sever,l
weeks. She left the circus-and I've never seen
her from that day to this
THE conversation drifted to the menageric
and to the animals.
"WeN let's see," unused the narrator. "Our
most famous animal at the moment is John,
the veteran elephant. You have heard, of
course, that Goliath, our giant sea lion, died
in Winter quarters.
Way back when Adam Forepaugh was in the
circus business. John was known as John L.
Sullivan, the boxing elephant. You know, he
would stand up on his hind feet. put on huge
boxing gloves and step into a fight. He was
known all over the land, for he's perhaps the
oldest elephant travelling with circus
He's at least 100 years old or more. And
they don't use him for stunts. He's a great
attraction for the kids IN the menagerie, for
I'm telling you. that old fellow knows more
about the show business than do. He knows
from years Of experience just how to hold his
trunk to catch the peanuts: he knows when to
be funny and when to be severe.
Funny thing about old elephants like that.
We keep him on the pay roll, to be sure, but
he's worth his weight in gold as lead elephant.
He always heads the elephant parade and leads
the rest, for he no longer is bothered or acts up
or SHES when a dog a rabbit or something
jumps up in front of him. He's been through
every trick Of the trade. Things that might
stampede other elephants leave him cold. And
so he keeps the others together.
But what was intending to tell you about
was the time that Old John had the proudest
moment of his life. You probably know that
over at Somers, N. Y, there's place called the
Elephant Tavern, one Of the very historic spots
left from the Revolutionary days. And in front
of this tavern there's monument to Old Bet,
said to have been the first elephant ever brought
to America. Some one once said that Old Bet
had been Johns mother but there's no way of
proving It, But just in case 1t might turn out
that way some day. we decided to give John a
chance to do something fine for Old Bet.
well, we started John a march from
Madison Square Garden to the monument. Old
John was carrying a wreath to put on the
statue. And when we got to Fifth Avenue the
crowds became so thirs< watching John go up
the street that the ole ciJw thought it was a
parade and began doing h-s best parade stuff.
It got to the newspaper Boys quick, and pretty
soon we were being tra-Icd by taxis and special
cars and photographers and special writer's.
"At that time the H.opodrome was running,
and some bird over e:e had the nerve to