ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 
115 
minal end of the railroad iron hung by this half¬ 
inch thick steel band to the outside fence, poised 
in the air, until the elephant put his head under 
the lower edge of it, and gave a mighty thrust 
upward and outward. The bar was torn loose 
from the boundary fence, and the fierce up¬ 
thrust threw it over the outside elephant fence, 
over the visitors’ fence, and landed it upon the 
walk in the crowd of visitors. In falling it 
grazed the side of a lady visitor, bruised her 
hip, but by the mercy of heaven did not kill her. 
The elephant did not pick up anything with 
his trunk and throw it. He does not seem to 
know that he can hurl a missile. 
As a contribution to the world’s very limited 
knowledge of the pushing power of a nearly 
adult African elephant, the following list of last 
Sunday’s breakage is offered: 
Structural Steel broken by Kartoum, 
September 17, 1922. 
1 90-pound railroad iron 4" x 4*4 " x 2^4 " 
broken in two, short piece broken free from 
attachment to the outside fence, and the long 
piece bent horizontally seven feet out of line. 
2 Straps of flat bar iron 2 y 2 x Y 2 , torn loose 
from outside fence bv the breaking of 3 bolts, 
l/ 2 " thick. 
1 Channel iron 3" x IY 2 " x 5/32" torn loose 
at end from 3 /l" bolt, bent and thrown down. 
2 Brace rods 1 Y 2 " °f round wrought iron, 
broken off at second rail from top. 
2 Strap irons 3" x Y 2 " holding railroad iron on 
top of steel posts, torn loose by the breaking 
of 
2 Bolts, %". 
As an object lesson to zoological park engi¬ 
neers these broken parts will be placed on ex¬ 
hibition near the Elephant House and main¬ 
tained for a reasonable period. 
Finally, it is to be noted that despite the 
wrecking of the high top rail, the elephant could 
not climb through the high-up opening, and even 
if the whole run of the top rail were removed the 
fence would hold him in place. W. T. H. 
SLAUGHTER OF HUMAN BEINGS BY 
JAGUARS 
The Washington Post for August 12 printed 
the following special dispatch from the City of 
Mexico:— 
“Mexico City, Aug. 11. —A pack of tigers 
driven from mountain homes by hunger at¬ 
tacked three families who were traveling from 
Puerto Vallatar to Mascota, state of Jalisco, 
yesterday, killing three women, two men, two 
small boys and a baby, according to El Univer¬ 
sal Grafico. 
“Natives who went to the rescue fought the 
tigers, killing one of them. The remainder es¬ 
caped to the mountains.” 
Even after making all reasonable discounts 
for exaggerations in this sanguinary story in its 
course from its scene of action to the City of 
Mexico it is evident that a very unusual tragedy 
occurred. We never before have heard or read 
of such wholesale slaughter having been effected 
by any carnivorous wild beasts except wolves on 
a single group of human beings. The psychol¬ 
ogy of the occurrence is horribly interesting. 
In the first place it is most unusual for mem¬ 
bers of the cat family to travel and to attack in 
such numbers as the story implies. In the next 
place it is perfectly evident that the attacking 
animals set out to make a wholesale killing, and 
were not content to kill the two or three persons 
which would have been sufficient to satisfy the 
hunger of several jaguars. It is extremely prob¬ 
able that all the members of the unfortunate 
party were unarmed and quite unprepared for 
such an attack, and that the strength and fero¬ 
city of the jaguars did the rest. 
Pound for pound, the full grown male jaguar 
is undoubtedly the most powerful, and the most 
effective in killing, of all the members of the cat 
family. A lion or tiger standing three and a 
half feet in height and measuring from nine to 
ten feet in length and built on the same massive 
lines of the jaguar would in all probability have 
the strength and killing power of two of the 
largest lions or tigers that ever lived. Many 
times the story of “Lopez” of the Zoological 
Park has been told, and the surprising exhibition 
of his strength and accompanying ferocity in 
the murder of his full-grown female cage-mate, 
is now knocvn to many persons. The neck ver¬ 
tebrae of the unfortunate female were com¬ 
pletely crushed by the square bite of the treach¬ 
erous male animal, and the exhibition of strength 
that Lopez gave on that occasion was a complete 
revelation to all those who saw it. W. T. H. 
A Great Mountain Book .—Nearly all persons 
who are interested in birds and mammals are 
also interested in their most picturesque homes 
The mountain faunas of America compel atten¬ 
tion to our crags and peaks and summit divides. 
Mr. Le Roy Jeffers, chief exponent of the moun¬ 
tains of America, and founder of the Associated 
Mountaineering Clubs, has written a great book 
entitled “The Call of the Mountains” (Dodd, 
Mead & Co.) which we will place beside “Mount 
Everest” by Howard-Bury. 
Surely every lover of mountains will welcome 
this interesting and wonderfully well illustrated 
volume. 
