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The Elephant Fleet.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Published in the Waukegan Daily Sun, Waukegan, Illinois on Tuesday, March 16, 1909

How it is used by the British Government in India.

     Its elephant fleet is one of the strangest and most deadly departments maintained by the British government in India. It is a large fleet of coasting steamers specially built for the transport of elephants. India’s population is one-fifth that of the entire globe. All these people use elephants. They use them for draft work and for tiger hunting, and in the arenas of the native states they even pit them against one another and against wild beasts. The elephant fleet transfers the animals from Dacca, the trapping and training headquarters, to the various districts whence comes the demand:

     To get an elephant aboard ship is a difficult and dangerous task. The animal must wade through the surf to a stout raft, and this unknown surf, so white and tumultuous, often terrifies and maddens him. If in his fury he slaughters a mahout or two he cannot be greatly blamed. Once on the raft, his legs are tied to pegs, and the slow sail to the ship is uneventful. But now a great band must be arranged under the elephant’s belly, and a crane must hoist him up some twenty or thirty feet to the deck. Here again the elephant cannot be set down as intractable if, losing his head in that unprecedented serial journey, he murders some more mahouts. Very prosperous, albeit stained a little with mahouts’ blood, the elephant fleet for many years has plied up and down the Indian coast, embarking and disembarking its heavy, unmanageable freight.-New York Press.

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Mascot is Killed-Caused Big Riot.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Published in the Waukegan Daily Sun, Waukegan, Illinois on Friday, January 28, 1916

     That young cub bear, recently presented to Owner Weeghman of the Chicago Cubs by Senator Olson and Frank West of Waukegan, was killed yesterday. He escaped from his cage yesterday and invaded a tailoring factory and caused a panic among the 25 girl employes. The animal was captured in the woods of northern Wisconsin by Frank West and a hunting party of which Senator Olson was one of the members.

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500 Horses Burned.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Published in the Waukegan Daily Sun, Waukegan, Illinois on Wednesday, September 26, 1917

     East St. Louis, Sept. 26-Five hundred horses are believed to have been burned to death in a fire this afternoon which is reported to be sweeping over the National Stockyards. Four blocks of the yards have been wiped out at 2 o’clock. The damage was estimated at that time to be $200,000.

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Horses Start Up, Man Thrown Under Load Of Brick.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Published in the Waukegan Daily Sun, Waukegan, Illinois on Friday, December 21, 1917

Chas. O’Hare Sustains Bad Injuries This Morning in Local Freight Yards.

     This morning Charles O’Hare, a local driver for the Bairstow Coal Company, was unloading a car on the E. J. & E. tracks. In some way his team started up rather suddenly and he was thrown beneath the load of brick and as a result of it his leg was broken.

     O’Hare was thrown into a pile of mud and the singular part of it is that according to spectators, men who ran to the scene when they saw the accident had happened devoted more time to extricating the horses from their position of entanglement than they did in rescuing O’Hare.

     O’Hare was taken to the county hospital where Dr. Gourley set his leg and he is now reported getting on nicely although he will be laid up for some time.

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Sea Serpent.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Published in the Illinois Intelligencer, Vandalia, Illinois on Saturday, December 15, 1827

To the Editor of the Commercial Journal.

Quebec Trader, off South Islands of Arren, Galway Bay, Feb. 8, 1827.

Sir-Having this favorable opportunity of transmitting to you the following wonderful occurrence, which may be the means of setting to rest all doubts as to the existence of a marine monster, supposed to be the sea serpent, I readily do so, particularly as I have so many respectable witnesses to support me in the truth of what we saw. Being bound from Rhode Island to Liverpool, on yesterday morning, the south Islands of Arren came in sight, 30 miles east. We at the same time discovered, about two miles ahead, a vessel, seemingly a wreck, not having a spar or rope standing. On nearing, I ordered the gig and six men to board her; and was shortly after hailed by the mate who was one of the partly, for assistance, as they pulled from the wreck with all possible speed. I hove the Quebec to the wind, and presently learned that Thomas Wilson, being the first to board, was instantly devoured by a most horrible animal, the like of which they had never seen or heard of. By the time the wreck was driven to about a cable length of our stern, from which I could plainly and distinctly see a monster of the serpent kind, laying partly coiled upon the deck, its head erected about four feet, and its hind part in the hatches, the hat of poor Thomas lying close alongside it. The surprise and consternation which struck all on board, deprived us of the thought of planning any mode for its capture, was such a thing possible, the thought of our unfortunate companion filled us with horror. However, I fired a shot from a six pounder, which unluckily could not be brought to bear sufficiently high. It struck the hull, at the same moment the animal raised its head, body and tail, in six or seven folds, to the height of a man each, extending itself from the tiller to the bows’ its eyes were large, of red color, and much distorted; its throat and neck larger than any other part, of a green hue, as were its body and sides, and back black and scaly. It had ears or fins suspended near the head similar to an eel, and on the nostrils a horny excresence, blunt, and about 18 inches long; its chops were broad and flat. Whilst I was preparing a second salute with ball and slugs, it glided majestically into the sea, gave a splash with its tail, and disappeared. Shortly after, myself, John Adams, mate, Mr. William Nightingale, and Mr. Robert Crocker, passengers, boarded her, and with grief had our forebodings for the fate of Wilson verified, he being no where to be found; the vessel was waterlogged, and in a sinking state; a substance of a tar-like nature, but highly corrosive, as it blistered the hands upon taking it up, was upon the deck, some of which has been preserved; it is supposed to be the excrement of the animal. Our conjecture is, that the monster being attracted by the bodies of the sufferers in the wreck, had taken up its abode there and devoured them. We consider its length to be about 60 feet, and its girth from 9 to 12 feet. I remain, Sir, your obedient servant, Thomas Cleary, Master.

We the undersigned certify the truth of the above.

John Adams, Mate,

W.M. Nightgale, and

Robert Crocker, Passengers.

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Recipt for Destroying Rats.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Published in the Illinois Intelligencer, Vandalia, Illinois on Saturday, February 2, 1828

     Among the various poisons and other means of destroying these obnoxious animals, I have always found the following to be most effective, but simple and harmless, plan of ridding my premises of these vermin:-Take a few fresh corks; grind them down into small particles; fry them, in the common way, with a little butter or fat; place it, while warm, at the places where the rats are plenty, and, if possible, when they may eat the dose undisturbed by any noise. Leave no water within their reach, and, in a few days, not a vestige of the creatures is to be seen.-Weekly Messenger.

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Tortoise Shell.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Published in the Illinois Intelligencer, Vandalia, Illinois on Saturday, December 8, 1827

     This highly prized aquatic production, when caught by the eastern islanders, is suspended over a fire, kindled immediately after its capture, until such time as the effect of the heat looses the shell to such a degree that it can be removed with the greatest ease. The animal, now stript and defenceless, is set at liberty, to re-enter its native element. If caught in the ensuing season, or at any subsequent period, it is asserted that the unhappy animal is subjected to a second ordeal of fire, rewarding its capturers this time, however, with a very thin shell. This, if true, shows more true policy and skill than tenderness in the method thus adopted by the islanders; it is a questionless proof, too, of tenacity of life in the animal, and must be further accounted a very singular fact in natural history.-Sincapore Chronicle.

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Rattlesnakes.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Published in the Illinois Intelligencer, Vandalia, Illinois on Saturday, November 10, 1827

From the Glens Falls Observer, Oct. 8.

     A few miles from this place, in Saratoga county, a young man took his gun, one day last week, and went up the side of Palmertown mountain, above what is called the great pond, near a place which is famous for the circumstance of a large company’s collecting there a few year’s since, and digging for money, supposed to have been coined and concealed there by Spaniards, before and during the revolutionary war. While searching for game, he discovered near him a rattlesnake of enormous size, upon which he levelled his piece and shot it through the head; he had no sooner done this, than, on looking around, he discovered that he was surrounded on every side by these venomous serpents. He then took a club and commenced killing,  and before they could make good their retreat, he had forty of them lying dead before him. He took four of the largest and returned home. On measuring them they were found to be over four and a half feet in length, and nine inches in circumference. Their ages could not be ascertained, as many of their rattles fell off and were lost among the leaves, where they were killed; but they were probably near thirty years old. Two of them were of the yellow kind, and their heads resembled very much in colour, copper that has been newly minted.

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Singular Battle. [Snake and Chicken]

Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Published in the Illinois Intelligencer, Vandalia, Illinois on Saturday, August 25, 1827

From the Scoharie Republican.

     A few days since, a farmer in the town of Jefferson, observed his dunghill cock engaged in mortal combat with a stripped snake of about 18 or 20 inches in length, the cock to all appearance, having the decided advantage, over his more wily though less nervous adversary, dealing his blows in quick succession, employing alternately his bill and spurs. But the cunning serpent, well aware that victory must declare against him by fair combat, brought into requisition a portion of the innate cunning for which that reptile has been celebrated from the beginning of the world to the present time; and seizing his antagonist by the thigh, in the rear, he completely secured himself from any further danger from him. Thus situated the cock very naturally thought his only “safety was in flight,” he accordingly “cleaved the air majestically with his wing,” the snake keeping fast his hold, and dangling like a tag-lock, underneath, until the cock, overcome with fatigue, alighted on a neighboring appletree. The snake immediately coiled his tail round a branch of the tree-the cock again attempted flight, but he could scarcely clear the limb, from which he hung with his head downwards, making every effort to escape, but all in vain, until the farmer came to his assistance-killed the snake, and set him at liberty.

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A Snake Story.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Published in the Illinois Intelligencer, Vandalia, Illinois on Saturday, July 14, 1827

     It has been confidently asserted that a black snake of North America has the property of expanding itself to such a degree, that he has been known to swallow a bulk twice as big as his own.

     Our informant states that two of these reptiles having lately come in contact, and both feeling the same demands of appetite, the first assailant began on the tail of the other with so much vigour that he soon made his antagonist look about, who, believing in the doctrine of retaliation, began to pay him his own coin and thus they began mutually to swallow each other until a vestige of either was to be seen. I most sincerely wish that the contending parties of the day may not go and do likewise.

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