Mad Elephant Faces Guns
Efforts To Save Beast
Who Turned 'Killer, Futile
iiy Peter Wolff
A BULL elephant ran amuck
trampling and goring his
keeper who for an instant had
turned his .hack; then the setiuel.
three police inspectors outside the
w elephant paddock, aiming care
' 'jlly at n small spot between the
eys and ft.nping ears sending
three steel -jnckete'd bullets plow
ing into the mad brain.
That was the unusual story un
rolled by circum.-tances recently
at v San Francisco's Flcishhacker
Zoo, where Witlly, six swaying
tons of irritated elephant had
committed the unforgivable
crime of killing a man.
Wally's keeper, Edward Brown,
is dead mutilated almost beyond
recognition by the huge feet and
single sharp tusk of his charge.
Wally is dead, paying with his
lii'e for a moment of irresponsible
mEOness. Expert elephant men
and citizens who wanted to save
Wally's life protested and suc
ceeded in postponing the execu
tion a day; but further effort
proved futile. The death, sentence
had been passed,
v It all happened under conditions
which might have been avoided.
Wally's keeper made the fatal
mistake of turning his back on
tho angry bull elephant. At the
time, Wally himself was far from
normal, suffering from the peri
odical madness which overtakes
all elephants at regular intervals
a physical condition known as
"must," indicated clearly by the
action of a small circular spot on
the forehead.
SINCE the time when animal
men knew anything certain
about elephants, they have ecog- "
nized the fact that an animal is
not responsible for abnormal
actions while "in must."
Wally had come, three months
previously, from the Al G.JJarnes
circus, accompanied by special in- .
structions; the keepers were never
to turn their back upon the
animal.
The morning of the tragedy,
Wally had been splashing in the
concrete pool with a cow elephant,
enjiying himself. Brown decided
to remove him from the cow
elephants, and apparently pro
ceeded to do so alone. Again, this
was a mistake, since trainers rec
ommend there be always one man
at the animal's backanothcr in
front. .
Tho first the zoo attendants
knew of an accident, was when
keeper Brown began to swear.
They heard nothing more, except
Wally's trumpeting. Rushing to
the scene, they found the keeper
crushed to death, and the elephant
uncontrollable.
Wally's execution was almost a
holiday for over 100 spectators
cameramen, officials, and curiosity
seekers. Attendance became a
mark of distinction, similar to the
throngs who witnessed the be
heading of France's aristocrats
during the days of the Terror.
The day had been set, and the
hour 1:45 p. m. Everything was
arranged for speedy action. Pic
tures of Wally had been taken,
swaying at his chains, seeming to
expect what was coming. Three
police marksmen stood ready with
high power elephant rifles to
pour steel-nosed bullets through
the 14-inch skull and two-inch
hide.
ATAXICAB roared to a stop
on the edge of the gathering
crowd, and a young attorney
leaped out. It was the representa
tive of several indignant or sen
timental citizens (depending upon
your feeling for executions), wav
ing a reprieve issued by Judge
Frrnk Peasy.
Edmund Heller, director of the
7.00. accepted the papers, and dis
missed the crowd. Wally's death
had been postponed, perhaps
spared.
The attorney's plea alleged
several reasons why Wally should
not die. He was a valuable "movie
elephant worth thousands of dot
lars, too Valuable to be destroyed."
Too, the "people of San Francisco
believed that the elephant was not
morally or legally responsible for
the accident," and, in any case,
the animal had received "cruel
and inhuman treatment,"
However true or. untrue these
allegations might be, there was
proof of only two things: Edward
Brown had been killed, and there
lore Wally must pay.
Edmund Heller agreed that the
keeper had unfortunately turned
his back upon the elephant. Keep
er Bjork said the same thing.
Fred Chat-ten, chief elephant
keeper at the zoo, and an experi
enced animal man, related at the
inquest that the circus had warned
zoo attendants to watch Wally
carefully, to keep in front of him
and face him. All of these men
agreed there was only one thing
A Chinese ivory fan of the
eighteenth century. It bears
a French motto.
to do, which was to execute Wally.
He was, they said, certain to be
dangerous to attendants and vis
itors after the killing. Elephants
didn't forget, and looked for an
opportunity to do the same thing
again.
SEVERAL other animal hunt
ers and big game trainers did
not concur, notably Frank Buck.
He was quoted in New York as
saying that Wally's death "was a
useless waste of life. He would
soon have become normal again."
For several days newspapers
carried headlines about Wally and
his predicament, long reports on
the progress of new reprieves.
But no further reprieve was
obtained.
Twenty-four hours elapsed, it
was again early afternoon, the
sun warming Wally's dusty back
as he strained uselessly at the
chains fastened to the concrete
paddock posts.
Newspaper cameramen stood
about, snapping "action pictures"
and waiting for the three police
marksmen to aim and fire, for the
huge body to topple over and end
the suspense.
Wally, they thought, knew what
it was all about. He strained at
his chains, but couldn't move
them. He swayed back and forth,
restlessly. His little-inflamed eyes
blinked into the camera and at the
curious crowd. Then, slowly, he
sank on his front knees, slightly
bowing his great head much as
French victims of the guillotine
did when they lost their heads be
fore the gaping mobs of Paris
streets. The bull elephant was
ready.
Three shots crashed out. Three
tiny dots appeared near his ear,
forming a triangle about the size
of a half dollar. Wally slipped
from his knees, rolled on hfs side
and was still. Twelve minutes
later the was pronounced dend,
and shortly thereafter the thick
hide was stripped from his body.
PORTIONS of his anatomy were
presented to various scientists
at universities and hospitals for
research purposes.
Alive, Wally was valued at
$5,000." His body, however, is
worth little, except for scientific
research. The hide will require
two years to cure, and may be ex
hibited at the lf3f exposition.
The one ivory tusk he had lost
the other in a train accident was
presented to the police depart
ment commemorating the marks
manship of the three inspectors.
The lore of elephants goes hack
before history was recorded. Cave
dwellers of early Europe left
traces of ivory carvings, relics of
great mammoth tusks probably
gained at the cost of several hu
man lives.
Ivory and elephants are men
tioned in ancient Chinese manu
scripts of the tenth century, and
Buddhist legends relate that one
of the trnnformatinns of Guatama
Buddha took the form of an ele-
Wally and his executioners. With eyes blazing, the mad elephant
faced the firing squad. He went down before three bullets fired
A at close range.
phant. Elephants are. briefly men
tioned in both the Koran and the
Bible. In the Homeric age the
Illiad speaks of reins and harness
made of ivory: . .
"As when tome Carian or Maeon '
- Ian maid '
With crimson dye, the- ivory stains,-1
.' designed
To ' be: the checl-piece of a werrior's
.steed " , f
The Greek sage, Aristotle, tells
of hunting the elephant, and ob
tained his information from Alex
ander the Great, who used, the
great beasts in war.
PERHAPS the most beautiful
doors in the world were those
of the Christian church of Santa
Sophia, Constantinople virtually
is fflBhm Bdit In- lips !
J fT p
IsN 0 yf MiQf
CIGARETTES, like lovely ladies and
tall tulips, are most alluring, when
they're freshest.
And, when those cigarettes are Dtitiblc
ftlrllmc Old Golds, made from the pick of
prize crop tobaccos, neither time, nor
money, nor effort is spared in guarding
their priceless freshness. '
That's why every pack of Old Golds is
wrapped in double Cellophane. TWO
and made from the
1 VXaZ. ,V Vlt,
paneled in ivory carvings which '
were ordered by the emporor ,
Justinian.
Even in modern times elephants
were considered the gift of kings
and rulers, highly valued by the
owners. One such gift was made
by the East India Company to the
Sultan of Sulu who until his re
cent death was the only royal
ruler under the American flag
a group of much prized Singhalee '
elephants,! magnificent animals
apparently unappreciated by the ;
aging Sultan. He tired of them '
and turned them loose at : Cape
Unsang, Borneo. Their descend
ants are today the wild elephants :
inhabiting the jungles of that
island continent. . i
Several states contain the re-
For Killing Keeper
(Photo reproduced from "Ivory and the Elephant," by George Frederick Kunt)
-, The ivory of elephants' tusks has been used in ornaments since the beginning
of recorded time. Here is a beautiful ivory figure made thousands of years ago.
mains of the mastodon and mam
moth, skeletons preserved in the
mud underlying the ice sheet ;
which covered swamps and rivers,
and slowly receded. But the first
elephant to trod American - soil
since prehistoric times was
brought over by Hackaliah Bailey.
jackets of Cellophane. Moisture-proof.
The highest tpialily.
It is this ingenious double wrapping
that locks out dampness, dust, and dry
ness . . . that seals in dmihlc-mvUmv flavor,
smoothness, fragrance . . . that gives you,
in every Old Gold, the deep enjoyment
of fine tobaccos, really fresh.
P. S. That "Double-Money-Back" Offer still
holds good. It's open for 30 days from today.
pmeTr rizf.
N
Its name was "Bet," and the cir- '
cus man landed it at Ossing, New
York. The journey inland had to
be made at night, in order not to
frighten the horses along the way.
It was .exhibited at Somers, and
later proved a main attraction in
the pioneer circus organized by
Outer ocho1 of
Cellophane opens
from rtie bottom
jSv. lnof ocktt f
(h- sv. . CtlUphant eptni
Crop Tobaccos
Bailey. "Bet" was valued at only
$1,000. Later, Bailey built tha
Hotel Elephant in the animal's
memory, and erected a tremend
ous wooden image of his pet.
The Chicago Exposition of 1893
displayed what la said to be the
largest ivory carving ever execut
eda figure of Buddha by the
Japanese artist Ichlkawa Komei,
THE most delicate workmanship
is shown by the Chinese in ex
quisite ivory fans, which accord
ing to tradition were invented
about 700 A. D. One of these fans,
Inscribed in French, was carved
by an unknown artist in the 12th
centuryj the inscription reads, "If
you love what I love, you will love
yourself!"
Some unique excellent carvings
have been made by Chinese and
Siberian native artists from the
tusks of mammoths, notably sev
eral depicting camols, reindeer,
and a remarkable ivory model of
a Chinese woman. This model has
the typically small feet of Orien
tal women; the statuette is caned
from a single piece of ivory, and
age has imparted to it a beautiful
yellow tone. Legend says that wo
men of the better class used these
tiny figures to explain to their
doctors the location of their ill '
ness. A doctor in China some H00
years ago was not permitted to
actually see a lady of the higher
class; instead, she would put her
hand through a curtain to allow
him to. feel her pulse,- and then
lay her finger on the section al
the ivory model affected.
ACS UVC.I