FAMOUS ELEPHANT

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 134, 8 June 1935, Page 6

FAMOUS ELEPHANT

WOULD NOT LEAVE ZOO

THE CASE OF JUMBO

The case of the baby elephant, which was shipped from Adelaide to Sydney, but on arrival refused to disembark, and for a long time defied the efforts of forty wharf labourers to get him off the ship, recalls the fact that the reluctance of the famous elephant Jumbo to leave the London Zoo, when he was sold to the American circus proprietor P. T. Barnum, aroused a wave of sympathy in England, which extended from' the humblest to the highest circles in the land. For seventeen years-Jumbo had been one of the chief attractions at the Zoo, and had given rides to many thousands' of children and adults. . In 1882 the council of the Zoo sold him to Barnum for £2000. Immediately after the sale was announced the London newspapers were flooded with protests against the mercenary disposal of the children's favourite. Queen Victoria, the Prince of Wales, and John'Ruskin were among those who associated themselves with; the protest against the sale. Some of the fellows of the Zoological Society of London brought an action ; .to Chancery to stop the sale, contending that the council of the society had no power under its charter to sell the animal to anyone.. But judgment-was give^n against them. .... Poems were published in the newspapers about Jumbo, songs were sung about him in the music halls, engravings of him were sold in thousands, and articles of all kinds, such as cigars, hats, ties, collars, boots, fans, and perfumes were named after him. "The Tunes" published a leading article on him, and the "Daily Telegraph" appealed to Barnum to give up the idea of robbing the children of their pet. But Barnum' as a showman realised1 that all this publicity would put money in his pocket, and he encouraged it, without any thought of giving way. Jumbo held a long series of farewell receptions at the Zoo, and in a few^ weeks earned £10,000 in the form of increased gate receipts for the cruel hard-hearted people who were selling him. :■■■■' : . A GKEAT CROWD. When he refused to enter the large wooden crate on wheels in which he was to be taken from the Zoo to the docks, where he was to board the steamer Assyrian Monarch, the public was .delighted .at such a display of sagacity. It'was then proposed that Jumbo should be made to walk to the docks, but when he got outside the gates di the Zoo for the first time in seventeen years, he lay down and refused to budge. The authorities said that he had been alarmed at the sight of a horse, but the public knew that was his way of protesting against being taken 'from his old home, and sold.. Eventually he was manoeuvred into the- crate, which was drawn byten horses to the docks, and was followed all the way to Gravesend by a large number of people. .. An enor-. mous crowd assembled at the docks to' bid him farewell. The wealthy Baroness Burdett-Coutts travelled down to Gravesend with a large party of ' ladies and gentlemen, including members of the peerage, to say goodbye to Jumbo; and she sent on board a large box of buns to console him on the voyage. He landed at New York on April 9, 1882, and was given an enthusiastic reception by the American public. He increased by hundreds of thousands of dollars the receipts of Barnum's circus, but less than four years later after his arrival. in America he was killed in a railway collision at Ontario, Canada. The sad news of his death was cabled all over the world^ Barnum gave out to the Press a pathetic story,of how Jumbo had been crushed between an engine and a truck while trying to save the life of a baby elephant, to which he had become attached. But there was i no truth in this story. '