Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 141, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 June 1912 — This Elephant Kills Mice [ARTICLE]

This Elephant Kills Mice

Big One in New York Menagerie Was Kind Until Rodents Began to • Steal Bread. New York. —Animals and birds tn search of charity need not apply to Hattie, an elephant in the menagerie in Central Park, for aid. Hattie brought her career as a philanthropist to an end when she killed the three mice she discovered stealing a portion of the bread that she had intended to give them. Hattie became known as a creature of fads almost from the day she arrived tn the menagerie. At one time she Showed fondness for playing on the harmonica and dancing. With the assistance of William Snyder, head keeper, she mastered these accomplishments. She took- pride in the admiration which her exhibition aroused, but about a year ago her life as a performer palled on her. = Her friends among the visitors to the menagerie are inclined to believe that she wanted to imitate women of fashion when she began to dispense charity to mice by giving bread crumbs and delicacies which she did not .care to eat. She did not confine her generosity to the mice, however, and one of Mr. Snyder’s dogs found it Jo advantage to visit Hattie’s stall when hungry. She even permitted the robins to enter her quarters and feast. More than a dozen mice have made it a practice to scurry into her stall immediately After her feeding time and pick np the crumbs. Hattie semed pleased by these visits and permitted the rodents to come and go when they liked. Three of the mice

the other day began nibbling at a loaf of bread in her stall and had feasted for several minutes before Hattie noticed them. Then the elephant house resounded with her cries of rage. The mice tried to escape, but Hattie was too quick for .them. While the rodents were squealing for mercy she lifted -a foot and stamped out their lives. Four other mice were in the stall and ran away when they saw Hattie kill their companions.—New York Herald.