Jasper County Democrat, Volume 1, Number 31, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 November 1898 — STRENGTH OF ELEPHANTS. [ARTICLE]

STRENGTH OF ELEPHANTS.

One Small One Exerted a Force as Great as Eighty-Three Men. Not much information respecting the strength of elephants has ever been placed before the public, hence the interest which attached itself to the tests made some days ago upon two elephants belonging to Messrs. Barnum & Bailey at Olympia, Lonsays the Engineer. Unfortunately for the trials, the large elephant, Mandarin, who weighs somewhere about four tons, could not be induced to put the whole of his strength into the experiments, and succumbed ignominiously to the small elephant Bebe. The measuring instrument was a tractometer registering up to 30 tons. The tractometer was placed on a small trolley and attached at one end by means of ropes to half a dozen holdfasts driven into the earth of the arena. The first animals tested were a pair of powerful draught horses, which are considered capable of hauling on a wagon on an ordinary road from eight to nine tons. Yoked by means of whiffletrees to the tractometer they only pulled 1.2 tons. The elephant Mandarin had the ropes leading to the measuring instrument passed round his forehead, and he ran the indicator up t 01.85 tons. In a second attempt tne force indicated was 2.5 tons. The sjnall elephapt was next put to it, and she in her first attempt exerted a force of 5| tons. After that she shoved, with her head resting on the taleboard, a heavy wagon round the whole area. This task she did with great ease, although the wagon contained no fewer than 58 men, and was, all told, of an estimated weight of five tons. Man had then his turn. Some 83 of the show hands were put on to the ropes attached to the tractometer, and pulled against it as in a tug-of-war. While a pull of 2.7 tons the rope broke and percipitated the whole crowd of men to the ground. It was attached afresh, and again broke, this time at 3.2 tons. With a new rope the attempt was again made, when a resistance of 5.6 tons was overcome.