| Show f BIG CIRCUS GORILLA I t APPEARS TO BE BEl BEa W i l a nS HOMESICK f j S Seventh Animal to Try Life l' l v in in America Failing Predecessors Predecessors Predecessors Pre Pre- soon oon Died NEW EW YORK June 2 25 John John Daniels I Es Esq t 4 years old and weighing I pounds po pounds Is the only gorilla In Jn America Dr Dr William T T. T T director of the New York zoological park who has followed the history of John since his capture over three years ago says that he is the seventh gorilla that has hasI I been brought to America The zoological cal park cal park has had five and one went to toI I the zoo at Cincinnati Not one of the I animals lived a year and all but one d died d within three months of their capture cap cap- ture tore I am delighted Dr Hornaday said I that we at last have such a fine example example ext ex- ex t ample of perhaps the rarest and cei- cei the most difficult to keep in captivity captivity captivity cap cap- of the-ape the family The gorilla combines two traits often found in people peo peo- 1 1 pIe pie- extraordinary shyness and a ten ten- ten ten-I lency to melancholy They do not re respond respond re- re spond to an audience like some of theother the tho I other apes the apes the chimpanzee for exam- exam 1 PJ pie le which apparently has a dramatic t f Jn Boma one of our big I zees never performs SQ so well or Is more I I lively than on a Sunday when there is isDo isI I a Do big crowd around his cage But ButI I gorillas do not as a rule thrive in captivity captivity cap- cap When a person becomes melancholy melan- melan t j choly he loses his appetite If his melancholy melancholy mel- mel b o persists there is 8 only one re result reo result re- re sult suIt he sickens and dies That is Just w what at has happened to all tho the gorillas In this country or abroad with the exception ex- ex ex exception of John HOW HE WAS CAUGHT I Over three years ago a party of Hagenbeck's animal hunters headed by Schultz were trekking through one of the wildest sections of the when they encountered a huge male gorilla with a cub After vain attempts to capture both animals alive and after the death of several of the native hunters the big male was shot but the baby was taken without a scratch Johns father weighed pounds and stood almost six feet when stretched to his full height His chest measured more than eighty Inches in circumference and his arms were much thicker than a mans man's leg and had a spread of ten feet The young gorilla was interned along with his German captors at a small station on the west coast until the tho armistice when he went to Havre From Havre he was taken to London where he was offered to both the London London London Lon Lon- don and New York zoos but neither would buy him Gorillas are a risky investment Then a London d department department depart depart- part part- ment store bought him to exhibit in their windows His health had been poor ever since his capture and the death of his father He would make friends with no one refused food and was slowly dying Finally a retired army officer Captain Captain Captain Cap Cap- tain Peddie Peddle took him to his home near Regents park gave him a respectable name John Daniels and treated him like a human in other ways He Immediately immediately immediately im Im- im- im mediately began to take an Interest In life John had a room of his own and slept in a bed He soon learned enough about table manners to have pave a chair at dinner with the family CHILDREN FOR PLAYMATES J J. T T. Benson who represents Hagenbeck Hagenbeck Hagenbeck Hagen- Hagen beck in America and who brought John over here saw him first in this London home Mr Benson says that the children In Johns home were his particular delight He would play with them and with their toys as happily happily hap hap- pity as another child might and as gently in spite of his great strength he said He Is a regular boy and al although although although al- al though I bought him dolls he refused to touch them Any other monkey would have torn them but John Just let them alone V What hat he did like though was his drum He kept that for several beveral months until one ono day he wanted to see where the noise came from Speaking of his domestic habits as described by Benson Dr Hornaday said You never could put a chimpanzee or even eyen an orang In a furnished room Our Boma would hav have that bed mattress mattress mattress mat mat- tress and all of Johns resolved into its component parts in five minutes Another favorite pastime of Johns Is to lie before an open fireplace He will spend his evenings before it now and then poking it with the Irons to see the sparks fly That Is when he would show his wonderful strength said Mr Benson Henson He would sit there in front of that fire watching the smoke and with no apparent effort you effort you might say absent absent twist mindedly twist the poker round his arm or bend it back and forth as if It were made of dough has sort With the circus John a of two-room two apartment apart apart- ment He spends much of the time in inthe inthe inthe the larger room sitting quietly In one corner steadily watching for some fa familiar familiar familiar fa- fa face in the crowds that come to see him It Is only when Mr Benson arri arrives s that he shows any animation and then he reaches his fingers through the bars to shake hands with his friend HE MUST HAVE HIS LIFE At 3 o'clock almost to the minute every afternoon he retires for an hours hour's s snap nap Paying no attention to the many people who try to attract his attention by calls and peanut throwing he quietly quiet quiet- ly enters his sleeping room carefully closing the barred door behind him Drawing ving the bolt he climbs into his crib tucks the blankets around him and goes to sleep We Ve are having difficulty In finding a bathtub to satisfy him Mr Benson said In London he bathed In the tho bathroom giving himself a thorough scrubbing and using the towel afterward after after- ward I put a large pan of water be before before before be- be fore him yesterday and gave him soap an and 1 towel but all I could get him to todo todo do was to wash his hands an and face I He tried to fool me by giving a good gool rubbing with the towel but he I absolutely refused to bathe John eats anything that a human being does provided It is clean and well cooked He lie is by no means a teto teetotaler teetotaler tee tee- to but does not care for whisky although he was accustomed in England England England En En- gland to having wine with his meals Just now he appears to be a little homesick for En England land and the days when he had a home and familiar faces about him I |
