KEEPER KILLED

Grey River Argus, 1 December 1938, Page 5

KEEPER KILLED

AN ANGRY ELEPHANT.

SAID TO HAVE HIT HIS TRUNK.

m an inquest on a man who was trampled to death by a circus elephant at Crowland, near Peterborough, England, it was stated that just before the accident he had slapped the beast’s trunk.

The dead man was William James Aslett, aged 56, assistant elephant keeper, and a verdict of death by misadventure was returned. The elephant that killed him was one of a pair used in the film “Elephant Boy.” John Swallow, owner of the elephants, said that Aslett had been employed as an assistant for two weeks. The elephants were 40 years old, and were used to strangers and children. On the ill-fated day, he saw his employees picking up the man from outside the elephant tent. He was conscious, and Mr Swallow understood him to say that he had been lying on his bed when an elephant freed itself by pulling out a stake. The man died before a doctor arrived. Medical evidence showed that Aslett’s ribs were crushed. Robert Davison, elephant attendant, said that hehad never had any trouble with the animals.

A witness, Mrs Mary James Bone, said she took her grandson, aged three, to see the elephants. Aslett’ was sitting on some hay in a corner of the tent in front of the animals. He asked one of them to give him his trunk, which he took and shook.

The elephant would not take its trunk away, and Aslett slapped it. The animal then “went for him,” making an angry, growling noise. Mrs Bone said that she called for help, and some circus employees came along and dragged the man clear. Swallow was recalled, and said that an elephant’s trunk was a tender spot and to slap it might be asking for trouble.

ELEPHANT IN A SLING.

UNCEREMONIOUS LANDING RESENTED.

SYDNEY November 11. The steamer Querimba this week discharged the most troublesome two and a-half tons of cargo Sydney Harbour has seen for many a day, when Phul Mellah, -new elephant for the Taronga Park Zoo, was lowered unceremoniously into a waiting lighter 30 feet below. An hour’s careful preparation completed, the elephant took off in her sling of stout cargo nets, rising like an autogiro. The soles of her feet showed like the tops of circular tables. She lashed her trunk about, and terror was in her eyes. Never had s?rt* been treated so disrespectfully. At Cal* cutta she - had been allowed to 'walk aboard like a lady. ~ , A dozen Lascars clung to a guy to steady her, but two and a-half tons of Pfiul Mellah took a lot of steadying. The guy lashed around, tangling the Lascars. The excitement of the Lascars rivalled the vociferous terror of the elephant as she dropped below the deck and scrambled with her feet on the side of the Querimba. Phul Mellah made a four-point landing—flat-footed on the pontoon below, and her screams ceased. Workmen rushed to fasten the chains around her legs to the ringbolts of the pontoon.

“Phul Mellah” is an Indian name meaning “flower garland,” but wharf labourers had no bouquets for her when a gang of 20, including officials and Lascars, had to shift her on the after deck preparatory to the "takeoff.” While in the net, also, she staged a “sit-down” strike, defying attempts to make fast the lashings. On the elephant’s arrival at Taronga Park the officials decided to change her name to Ranee.