Evening Star Newspaper, December 9, 1934, Page 96

ELEPHANT By Richard Halliburton The Young Author Wanted to Go Over the#dps ala Hannibal, Butdiie Met Diffieulties. BERLIN, GERMANY, December 1, 1934. N THE year 216 B.C., Hannibal, the Cartha- ginian general, invading the Roman Em- pire, crossed the Alps with & large army. The route followed is now called the Little St. Bernard Pass and leads from France into Italy just south of Mont Blanc. Ac- companying this army were 37 elephants aboard which Hannibal and his officers rode and fought. This crossing, over a pass 8,000 .eet high, marked in those times only a foot-path, at a season when the snow lay deep on the ground, is truly one of the great military triumphs in The idea of buying an elephant of my own and riding it, in the tracks of Hannibal across the Alps and down to the walls of Rome, has been a pet fancy of mine for a long time. And 30, recently, in Paris, I set about to try and realise this ambition. The date was late in Autumn. Unless cold weather was delayed longer than it had been for 20 Autumn seasons pest, all Alpine pasees would be closed in another two weeks. I had not a moment to lose. The logical place to look for an elephant properly trained to march down the highway was & circus. Circus elephants would be ac- customed to carrying howdah and baggege and passengers, a~d accustomed, likewise, to automo- biles. motor busses. bicycles, with which they must share the highway. TRAIGHTAWAY I went to the Cirque d'Hiver, bought a ticket with the intention of watching closely the elephant act, and pick- ing out the beast whose beauty, grace and in- telligence most appealed to me, Of the 16 elephants performing, one—a lady—compietely took my heart. She could stand on her two front legs, sit upright on a red stool and lift her trainer on her trunk into the air. Her de- portment, so demure and genteel, contrasted sharply with the manners of her companions, who pushed, raised their voices and bolted their hay. After the show I oalled upon my new in- amorata, fed her three bags of peanuts and scratched her back with a steel-pronged rake. She purred with pleasure and seemed to re- turn my romantic glances. Hannibal, I felt sure, never had such a beautiful and affectionate mount as this. I had visions of myself, seated in my howdah, riding Lulu proudly down to Rome. The circus manager seemed & bit surprised at my request to buy or rent Laulu for an Alpine expedition. Such a project had never been heard of in elephant history since the time of Hannibal himself. Fortunately, the manager had a sense of humor and responded properly to my plans. But alas! I could not have Lulu for a rather personal and intimate reason. Lulu was in trouble. Her aflectionate nature had led her from one affaire du coeur to an- other, had caused, in fact, no end of scandal among the other circus performers. And just as all the malicious gossips had predicted— Lulu was about to have a baby. It was ex- pected any time now within the next 12 months. Such a strenuous mountain journey at this critical period would be most unwise. I was heartbroken. However, the manager had other elephants. There was Marie, and Josephine Baker and Yvonne. Whatever elephant I took must be a female—males might become too obstreperous. For a thousand francs a day I could rent Yvonne. Her morals were beyond reproach. Her skin looked dry and old. When she stood on her hind legs, she groaned from rheumatic pains. T could forsee that the Alps were going to bore her terribly. But it was Yvonne or no elephant, so after considerable bargaining to lower the price I paid down my deposit and found myself the owner, for a month, of several tons of elephant. The howdah that went with Yvonne fulfilled all my dreams of glory—gilt wood frame cov- ered with scarlet bunting, and carrying a gilt armchair inside for me to sit on. The native East Indian mahout who was to go along as chauffeur had & costume composed of @ red embroidered eoat and red leather boots Yor me there was a white satin coat, with turban to match studded with huge imitation dia~ THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, DECEMBER 9, 1934. “Dolly bolted wildly and blindly down the Avenue de la Grande Armee at 40 miles an hour. I was the first of her burdens to be flung off — then the baggage.” monds. The manager thought it would look mice if I hired a slave to sit in the rumble seat and hold s big palm sun fan over my head. So hire one I did. VERYTHING was ready now except the in- surance. Nopody in Puris would insure Yvonne against death or damage on such a crazy journey. Only Lloyd's in London would deal with me. And they pondered a long time before making a rate. They had written poli- cies for almost every known risk—but never had they insured an elephant against the dangers of the St. Bernard Pass. Even that was settled. *“Lioyd's will insure anything.” g But Yvonne and I never reached the Alps. At the very last minute her owner thought of something desperately important which he had overlooked—his enormous circus posters with which he had plastered Paris, announcing his elephant act with 16 elephants—“the greatest troupe of elephants in the world—16—come and count them!” And now, if T took Yvonne, there wouldn't be 16. There would be only 15. What would his audiences say who came to count the ele- phants? They would be outraged! They would feel swindled. They would ask for their money back. No, not for any price could he take this terrible risk, So sll my negotiations came o nothing. I still had no elephant and four precious days had pessed. = I next went to one of the Paris 300s, located He was delighted with my ides and insisted that he had an elephant made to order—Dolly. She was the pet of the mo0, tame and gentle and conveniently small. Size of should be given serious considera- have to quarter her at garages. A full-sized never get through the average % said he frequently took six children at a time for a ride on Dolly's back along the quieter paths about the park. The children’s saddle I could use for myself and baggage. He regretted the fact that he could not provide me with a gilt howdah and white satin coat, but reminded me that Hanni- bal didn't have them either. Once more the price was agreed upon, the insurance settled. We were to leave the next noon on a freight car especially reinforced to Belle, she claplne foows sk Funis Tne wliel s Boreek By Dolilmrvsn carry him across the Alps in the tracks of Hannibal. keep Dolly’s weight from breaking through the floor. That morning I brought my suit case, type- writer and cameras to the zoo and loaded everything aboard Dolly’s uncomplaining back. A Prench mahout sat on her head with his sharp iron hook, and I climbed up beside the baggage, EVERAL hundred people had gathered to watch our trial trip to the freight yard which lay 3 miles away, across half of Paris, Just for the sport of it I had charted our course along the Avenue de la Grande Armee, leading straight to the Arc de Triomphe and then right down the Champs Elysees to the Place de la Concorde, We left the Bois in perfect order, Dolly stepping along gayly at 4 miles an hour. But outside the zoo we entered the Porte Maillot, a typical Paris square seething with motor traffic—and Dolly, brought up in the quietness of the Bois, had never seen such a bewildering sight. She began to tremble and shy like a timid horse, and when one smart Aleck taxi- driver, approaching from behind, sounded his electric horn, full blast, within two feet of Dolly's tail, the poor beast leaped panic stricken into the air and then with trunk] turned skyward and trumpeting in terror, she bolted wildly and blindly down the heavily trafficked Avenue de la Grande Armee at 4 miles an hour. I was the first of her burdens tc be flung] off —then the typewriter, smashed to smither eens—then the suit case and camera. One final toss of her head got rid of the yelling] mahout and some 6,000 pounds of elephan! went hurtling down the street, scattering pedestrians and bicyclists, banging into taxi cabs, oblivious to every obstacle. Frenchme yelled and Prenchwomen screamed. Gendarme. and urchins ran after her as she plufged o leaving consternation and destruction in h wake. A solid mass of motors halted by o traffic light finally blocked her course, but no till she had bolted nearly half a mile, Jammed into the middle of this tangle of motor cars Dolly, still squealing frantically, found herself] trapped. The chauffeurs in the surrounding cars, once they got over their surprise, had the good sense to hold their places and keep Dolly imprisoned till rescue came. When the mahout and I overtook her was still shaking from terror and breathless. ness. Another block and she would have gon head-on into the Arc de Triomphe. By now & huge crowd had gathered, and ng wonder—the neighborhood hadn’t known such excitement since the Heench Revolution. I took us an hour to get Dolly back to the Bol de Boulogne. And from there you may be su the poor beast was never again allowed ta depart. The 200 keeper apologised no end. He had never suspected Dolly would be 30 frightened by motor horns. But we both agreed thal since she had this fear, it would never do ta take her along a mountain motor road wherd another runaway might mean death to us al He gave me back my francs—and I stood the Place Maillot, elephantiess. And in sig days more the St. Bernard would be clased ti Spring. There was just time for one more effort—i Germany. I knew that both in Hanover and Hamburg trained eclephants were for sale Perhaps I could secure one of these. A LONG-DISTANCE telephone call turned the trick. Hanover offered a magnificen giantess, nearly 8 feet high at the shoulders named Bertha. Her specialty was marchin about the street carrying cinema advertis ments on her mountainous sides. Consequent! automobiles were no bad news to her. But would have to buy her outright and sell heq back, at considerable loss, to the owner afte reaching Rome. Also I must agree to feed heq not less than three bales of hay and 20 poundj of bread each day. Bertha was obviously too big and too ex pensive, but I had no choice. Racing agains(l the Alpine snowstorms I scraped together thd purchase price in marks, and crossed thq frontier into Germany. Custom offieials in specting my baggage asked no questions abou my 10,000 marks, so I did not declare them I found out later I should have. In Hanover my beast, insured and saddled awaited me. Telegrams began to fly back and forth to Switzerland. To take Big Bertha intq France and across the Little St. Be d brought on such international complicatio that I decided to cross the Alps via the Greal St. Bernard leading from Switzerland into Ital This pass climbed a thousand feet higher tha Hannibal's route and was much more danger ous, but I could get there sooner. Also 3 Swiss pass gave me the opportunity of calling upon the famous St. Bernard monastery. The monks there, being so fond of dogs, would sure be pleased to greet an elephant. The Swis police finally agreed to let me use the high road up their side of the Alps, and the Italian foreign office telephoning from Rome to thé frontier guards instructed them to facilitate in every way my descent down the Italian slopes November 1 had now arrived. Weathe records show that snow usually blocked Great St, Bernard at about this time. But still had hopes of getting over, for the weathe! at least in Germany, was unusually mild d sunny. It encouraged me to take a chance, The German mahout and I marched B Bertha into a steel box car, piled hay about filled up a 10-gallon tank with water and settled down for 24-hour ride to Switzerland. The train seemed to creep across Germaay when every hour, every minute, was of sucl] juence. We reached the border. Several telegran awaited me: “Since last night blinding sn¢ storms raging all through the Alps. Saow id Great St. Bernard already 2 feet deep. Littl Continued on Fifteenth Page