fe behind the bars.
It was a pretty neat job, I can tell you."

During this talk a broad-shouldered man had joined the group, and my
companion whispered that he was "Bill" Newman, the famous
elephant-trainer. Mr. Newman at once showed an interest in the
discussion, and agreed that there are times when you can do nothing with
an animal but kill it.

"Now, there was old Albert," said he, "a fine ten-foot tusker, that I'd
seen grow up from a baby, and I was fond of him, too, but I had to kill
him. It was in '85, and we were showing in New Hampshire. Albert had
been cranky for a long time--never with me, but with the other men--and
in Nashua he slammed a keeper against the ground so hard that he died
the next morning just as we were coming into Keene. That settled it, and
at the afternoon performance Mr. Hutchinson announced in the ring that
we had an elephant on our hands under sentence of death, and he was
willing to turn this elephant over to the local rifle corps if they felt
equal to the execution. You see, he had heard there was a company of
sharpshooters in Keene, and it struck him this was a good way to be rid
of a bad elephant, and get some advertising at the same time.

"Well, those Keene riflemen weren't going to be bluffed by a showman.
They said to bring on the elephant, and they'd take care of him. So,
after the performance I led old Albert back to a piece of woods behind
the tents, and we hitched tackle to his four legs and stretched him out
between four trees so he couldn't move, and then the rifle corps lined
up about twelve paces off, ready to shoot. That elephant knew he was
going to die; yes, sir, he knew it perfectly well, but he was a lot
cooler than some of those riflemen. Why, there was one fellow on the end
of the line shaking so he could hardly aim. You see, they were afraid
old Albert would break loose and come at 'em if they only wounded him.

"'Do you men know where to shoot?' I called out.

"'We're going to shoot at his head,' answered the captain.

"'All right,' said I; 'you'd better send for lanterns and more
ammunition. You're liable to be shooting here all night.'

"'Then, where shall we shoot?' asked the captain.

"'That depends,' I answered. 'If you can send your bullets straight into
his eye at a forty-five degree up-slant, you'll fix him all right. But
if you don't hit his eye you can shoot the rest of his head full of
holes, and he won't care. You've got to reach his brain, and