248 THE MINDS AND MANNERS 



newly captured wild animal occurred near Buttonwillow, 

 California, in November 1904, and is very graphically described 

 by Dr. C. Hart Merriam in the Scientific Monthly for November 

 1921. The story concerns the leader of a band of the small 

 California Valley Elk (Cervus nannodes) which it was desired 

 to transport to Sequoia Park, for permanent preservation. 



The bull refused to be driven to the corral for capture, so 

 he was roped, thrown, hog-tied and hauled six miles on a wagon. 

 This indignity greatly enraged the animal. At the corral he 

 was liberated for the purpose of driving him through a chute 

 and into a car. 



From his capture and the jolting ride the bull was furious, 

 and he refused to be driven. His first act was to gore and 

 mortally wound a young elk that unfortunately found itself 

 in the corral with him. Then he was roped again and his horns 

 were sawn off. At first no horseman dared to ride into the 

 corral to attempt to drive the animal. Finally the leader of 

 the cowboys, Bill Woodruff, mounted on a wise and powerful 

 horse who knew the game quite as well as his rider, rode into 

 the corral with the raging elk, and attempted to drive it. 



The story of the fight that followed, of raging elk vs. horse 

 and man, makes stories of Spanish bullfights seem tame and 

 commonplace, and the adventure of St. George and the dragon 

 a dull affair. With the stubs of his antlers the bull charged 

 the horse again and again, inflicting upon the splendid animal 

 heart-rending punishment. Finally, after a fearful conflict, 

 the wise and brave horse conquered, and the elk devil was 

 forced into the car. 



After a short railway journey the elk was forced into a 

 crate, fighting at every step, and hauled a two days' 

 journey to the Park. Reduced to kicking as its sole expression 

 of resentment, the animal kicked continuously for forty-eight 

 hours, almost demolishing the crate. 



The final scene of this unparalleled drama of wild-animal 

 rage is thus described by Dr. Merriam : 



