ELEPHANTS ON RAMPAGE

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 56, 3 September 1926, Page 2

ELEPHANTS ON RAMPAGE

BREAKAWAY IN CANADIAN TOWN TWO HOURS' REIGN OF TERRQB, (From Our Own Correspondent) VANCOUVER, Bth August. Panic-stricken when a little dog rush- '" ed barking at them just as they- had "■■ been hitched to the animal . wagons; - which they were to draw to tho Eihi-,.----bition Grounds from the C.P.R. de^ pot, Edmonton, fourteen elephants" of the Sells-Floto Show tore loose fromtheir harness, upset a couple of wagon. ; of bears and tigers, and went on a wild rampage through the West End on'"".' a recent Sunday evening. Tearing along Jasper avenue, the frightened herd smashed through the " fence around the General Hospital, ploughed across the garden and crashed their way out on Twelfth street, from which point they continued smash^ ing trees and sidewalks, tearing through gardens and finally ' breaking out into the brush in the west end -of the city. Sunday evening strollers and automobilists turned into side streets and scuttled for cover as the elephant, squealed and trumpeted their • way"" through the streets with a yelling : swarm of circus men behind them, and- . for more than two hours the West End was in a furore of excitement.' Mary, a little African elephant, wae • the ringleader of the stampeders, and" oven when she was cornered, after : breaking into the brush at 117 th ayenuo and 17th street, she turned on Tommy Douley, the "boss" elephant man, and ran him into a nearby cemetery, where he saved his life by dodg- ' ing from tombstone to tombstone with the squealing elephant reaching for him at every jump. '„.'_. Automobile loads of policemen, and eirc-smen with elephant chains finally rounded up eleven. of the animal.. "Poodles Hunnaford," the clown riderwith the show, bought up every available loaf of bread in the West End, with which he coaxed the animals out into the open, where they were hobbled with logging chains. Meantime at the depot, passengers waiting for 'trains left the station as it was feared the' animal wagons upset in the stampede ' might be, weakened sufficiently to' al-'.' low the tigers and bears to get loose. Circus men with rifles circled the cages until they could be righted and all danger. was over. Although they did considerable damage to the property, the elephants made..'.. no attempt to follow any pedestrians in their path. It was not until a late hour that the last elephant was located by circui men, who climbed to the roof of the Government elevator and located it by the waving trees through which the animals were still on the rampage. Trilby, ... the veteran of the herd, was then rushed to the spot and used as a decoy to . get the last animal back into the open, • somo time after midnight.