i6o 
ELEPHANT LIFE IN ENGLAND 
the proprieties of the arena enjoined. Faithful to 
his old charge he mounted guard over the stuffed 
Jumbo, and preserved his hide from the knives of 
relic-hunting visitors. 
In conclusion we may contrast the knowledge and 
skill shown in the management of Jumbo at a critical 
time, with the fate of an elephant which exhibited 
much the same symptoms, in the Liverpool Zoological 
Gardens, in 1848, before the present race of English 
elephant-keepers had been trained to their work. 
This elephant, like Jumbo, was said to be the finest 
in Europe. It cost ^800 eleven years before its 
death, and was said to be then worth ^1000. 
It had already killed one keeper, accidentally, as it 
was thought, but not long afterwards it struck down 
and crushed a second. Such was the panic of the 
owners, that two six-pounder cannon were bought 
from the Albert Docks, and set loaded opposite to 
the elephant’s house, in case it should succeed in 
escaping. As it remained quiet, two ounces of 
prussic acid and twenty-five grains of aconite were 
given to it in its food. As the poison did not seem 
to take effect, thirty men from the 52nd Regiment 
were ordered to shoot it. The first fifteen delivered 
their fire, and as the creature did not fall the next 
squad discharged their muskets, and the elephant 
sank dead with thirty bullets in his body, together 
with enough poison to kill a ship’s company. 
It may fairly be claimed that we have made some 
progress in the management of the elephant in 
