Rensselaer Republican, Volume 26, Number 42, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 June 1894 — Filling an Elephant’s Tooth. [ARTICLE]

Filling an Elephant’s Tooth.

Globe-Democrat, f- ' “I gave a dentist the toughest job he ever had, once,” said James Tompkins, otherwise known as Cherokee Jim of Stamford, Conn., at the Laclede. “I was tending the anV’ mals in a circus while in winter quarters. We had a big elephant we called Sam. -He was a good tem„p£red. r .liv&lyi chap, but all at once he got into the dumps. His trunk and tail, hitherto kept in a state of perpetual cheerful motion, hung, limp and lifeless, and he would lay for hours rubbing his right jaw on the ground. Be got off his feed, and became so cross-grained thai no one could fool with him safely. We never thought what was the matter with him until his keeper finally said he believed the beast had the toothache. I got a dentist to come and examine it. It was mercy the man was not killed on the spot when he touched the unsound tooth. The elephant trumpeted in a rage, swung his trunk, and but for the dentist jumping behinfl a beam he-would liave bt>en a goner. Then w’e chained the elephants legs and hooked his trunk up to a rigging from above his head. The dentist had a good show then. He found a rotten tooth, and proceeded to fill the cavity. The elephant could only trumpet; he could not move, and the dentist kept on quietly at work. We had not been long at it before the beast discovered that the treatment was being given him for his relief. His manner entirely changed. He trumpeted and struggled no more, and his angry eye gave way to a docile look, and I am satisfied we could have loosened his bonds with perfect safety to the dentist, no chances. As ter the job was done, the animal regained his wonted appetite and spirits in no time. He was grateful to the dentist, and every time he approached the elephant house Sam welcomed him with outstretched trunk and a few extra flourishes of his tail.” The Empress of Austria, who has a castle of Corfu, is said td have added a codicil to her will to the effect that she is to be buried upon the island, quite near.the shore, so that the waves may continually beat over her tomb.