Long search for circus hero pays off

Press, 11 January 1986, Page 5

Long search for circus hero pays off

PA Auckland A former Australian circus girl, Julie Ann Bridges, aged 20, will soon be reunited with the Aucklander who saved her from a rampaging elephant. The reunion will end a four-and-a-half year search by the part-time barmaid and former elephant rider for Nelson Young, who saved her life at a circus near Sydney. Miss Bridges said that Mr Nelson, aged 24, a stainless steel salesman, risked his life to save hers, and she would be dead if it was not for his courage. She unexpectedly found her hero when Mr Nelson’s sister-in-law, Helen, spotted one of her advertisements in the personal column of an Australian newspaper. Five years ago, Nelson was working as an elephant tamer and clown for the

Sole Brothers Circus near Sydney. Miss Bridges, a showgirl, was riding one of the shoves four Indian eleS'!, Minyak, when it and fled the tent

Mr Nelson armed himself with an elephant hook, used to control the normally docile beasts, and chased Minyak outside. He arrived in time to see Miss Bridges, trapped on the animal’s back by a double harness, being battered against tree branches in a determined effort to shake her loose. “Julie was sitting there screaming,” Mr Nelson told the “Auckland Star,” “and the elephant was so out of control my boss, who trained Minyak, was hiding behind a car.”

Minyak, unable to dislodge a petrified Miss Bridges, them bolted again. “The elephant came round the corner,” said Mr Nelson, “and I was straight in front of it. I had been told the best way to stop an elephant was just to stay there, so I did. At the last minute it swerved and went around me.”

Mr Nelson, remembering the elephant’s fondness for bread, grabbed a fresh loaf from a nearby cookhouse and began to feed her. However after persuading the elephant to sit, Mr Nelson was unable to free a

still hysterical Miss Bridges. One harness came undone but the other remained firm.

Then his employer reappeared and Minyak, realising she had done something wrong, took off again with Miss Bridges hanging by one leg. “Julie was hanging there and Minyak tried to rake her with her front legs. I

dived under and wrapped my arms round Julie and got her off,” said Mr Nelson. He said that he lay there with Miss Bridges in his arms, and it was “quite romantic.” As for Mr Nelson and Miss Bridges, they are looking forward to seeing each other again when they meet in Auckland in the next few months.