Show ti r vy Cy G Kt y 1 G G J l n. n z v W z ii 6 f 1 11 ft I aTi 1 C By ELMO SCOTT WATSON F F a few years years ago a n certain 11 mother down In Texas had AK JI been more successful In performing performing per per- forming the ceremony of layt laying laying lay t 1 ing on of hands hands a a ceremony familiar to innumerable mothers mothers moth moth- 9 ers erg of Innumerable active venturesome little boys then boys then thousands of visitors to certain certain n tain tamn zoological parks in fn various vann van vari I r ous parts of the United States would never have ha had the thrill of 1001 looking upon the only authentic man-eating man tiger ever er brought to this country the biggest king cobra ever cap- cap tl 3 d alive two of or the exceedingly rare Indian rl and the tiniest baby elephant Just two feet and ten Inches at the shoulder er ever br brought across the seas But Dut lest that statement appear to be too p paradoxical paradoxical para para- ra- ra let it be explained at once that she was the mother of Frank H. H Buck Duck who as a n colle collector collector col col- le lector tor of live U animals reptiles and birds s Is without a n peer in the world today She had discovered dis dis- c covered her young son busily engaged in the capture of a n big angry buzzing rattlesnake near the Ule Buck Duck home on of Dallas Texas Texa and the laying on of hands ceremony was observed ob ob- ob- ob served forthwith to tu convince con him that there w were were re less dangerous way for a n lad of his Ills years to earn carn money lie was collecting rattlesnakes because an old doctor in Minneapolis Minn who manufactured a magic snake oil was In Inthe the Hie market for the r reptiles Frank Duck Buck will tell you that the ceremony was performed in a n most mot thoroughgoing fashion But it failed of its purpose For from his earnest earliest earn earli est childhood wild animals and birds fascinated p ill him and the desire to possess them was his 4 mastering passion So the mother who tried to shape the destiny of the foremost exponent of pt the theart art of bringing cm em back baele alive was due to be foiled from the beginning When the Buck family lamny moved mo to Chicago tho the boy no ho longer able to capture small wild animals animals ani anI- mals and birds as he had done on his native e soil son haunted the Lincoln Park zoo and the pet stores In in the big city feasting his his' eyes eyes eyes' on ontra strange tra ge new animals and birds from off far corners corners corners cor cor- I ners of the earth What money he was able to save Eave ho In e invented ted In owning some of these birds paying for one pair incidentally a n price ten times as as great nOs as he himself himsel could charge when years later he became a n collector When he grew older Frank Bucks Buck's hobby took him to South America in search of rare birds was followed by a n second trip to the southern southern south south- ern ern r 1 c- c continent an and when he sold his collection of ot live birds he fo found nd the deal so profitable that he resolved resol to go in for wholesale bird and animal anImal collecting And that was the beginning of pt a n unique career Today Frank Buck Duck jean can can go into almost any too oo In ili the tho United States States' States States-or or walk through the theDe De 1 gerIe tent of any circus and looking through the bars of the cages cage greet the InhabItant Inhabitant tant taut thereof as an nn ol old friend For It was he who who brought that Inhabitant from his n native Uye haunts to this place so that the thousands s of Americans who have haTe before oily heard of ot the existence of some strange animal can see the animal in the flesh Obviously a n man with such a n record has had hadL L 1 more than his share hare of thrills nn and narrow escapes escapes escapes es- es capes from death Obviously too a an account bf ot them could not be told within the space of this article any more than a n full account of them could be told old in the book Bring Em Back Alive AUve written by Frank Buck Duck with Edward Anthony and published by Simon and Schuster But there was space in that book to tell of the time Frank nu Buck k found himself sliding into a n pit with a n man eating tiger which he and his helpers were were trying to get out of the pit Into a n cage of ot the time one one of his leopards escaped aboard board ship and how he hc went into a cabin where the leopard leopar was as at bay and roped him and nd of the tho time when a king cobra escaped from its cage and cornered him In a n hut but in his compound at Singapore Those are only three of the tho times when Frank Buck Duck stared death straight in the eyes There were many others Perhaps the strangest strang strang- est st of all nIl of ot them was the time H R tapir ordInarIly ordinarily the tho- the meekest meekest of all animals tried to lo crush I him to death eath with Its six hundred pounds of weight and all but succeeded Then there was I tho the time when hen an nn utan orang-utan the giant Jungle- Jungle Tuna man an of ot Malaya was Just ready to draw him into a death embrace with his powerful arms and then tear him to pieces with his teeth There was Just one chanco chance to escape olive alive and Frank Buck took lt it lies lie's not a professional boxer but when the orang came camo at him with outspread arras arms Buck simply walked in and gave the man Jungle an nn uppercut on the point of ot the Jaw that was as ns an effective k x 0 as was ever demonstrated in the prize ring Y IL r sR 1 r I j ar w a C. C v at His S Host S Civilized rr Trank Ia it w IP Y j W W Ww f 1 5 5 l j I L t. t 1 t s t r l l V q J II 1 4 r h w L T Ty y t 4 Ll r r b N J JFranK m n mM FranK Trank Buck EucK and Baby Babij B Boo Yes tes I have ha had bad more than my share of I thrills Frank Buck Duck will tell teU you But I am frank to say that these close calls caUs do not represent represent represent rep rep- resent a n love of looking death In the eye I am amnot amnot amnot not that kind of r adventurer r. I take no unnecessary unnecessary I essary essary risks When a man operates on as big biga I Ia a scale as I do he doesn't have to look for trouble No matter how how careful one Is something something some some- thing Is bound to go wrong when live animals and reptiles are handled wholesale It Is then that experience counts And he might add that experience counts in oth other r times than when something goes goe wrong and an adventurer ad such uch as ns he is looks death in inthe inthe the he eye cye A big game hunter has to think of saving only one life life hIs his own But a n man tuna who collects wild animals as ns Frank Buck does has hasto hasto hasto to think of sa swing saving ing his own life Ufe and the animals animal's too For the biggest king cobra a n giant orangutan orangutan orangutan orang orang- utan an nn Indian rhinoceros or a n man-eating man tiger is utterly valueless to a n zoo or a circus If f It Is dead Experience counts too in keeping the animal alive after It has been captured It may seem eem strange to call caU Frank D Buck a n dietitian But that's hats exactly what he is 15 and he Is an nn expert In matters of of diet to the most fi finicky epicures In the world He cant can't guess how to accustom n a wild animal to the change from the food which it eats in its wild state over oyer to civilized cl fare He lIe has to know I The capture of some rare wild animal may represent ent a great outlay of money and time plus the present ever element element element ele ele- ment of danger to the collector But nut If after the he beast Is captured its its captor doesn't know how V to keep It healthy both ph physically and mentally m the whole Investment of time and money and the potential value of ot the animal when It Is delivered dell to the zoo or circus may maybe maybe maybe be an entire loss Typical of some of ot the dietetic problems which Frank Buck has had to solve was the case casc of Baby Daby Boo the t two ten elephant which he brought back on one of his trIps rips So far as Is known there has never been written any book on The liThe Care and Feeding of Infant Elephants So when Frank Buck bought one from a n party of Batiks in Sumatra and It was delivered dell to him in a starved half weak and wobbling condition there were no precedents for or him to go by In determining what to do to keep from having Ing a dead baby elephant on his han hands s. s Here Is what as he tells It My problem had Just begun I had to get some food into that elephants elephant's belly and belly and wIthout without without with wIth- out much loss of time I sent All his native natI assistant out to scout around for a n milk goat He TIc brought one back and hurriedly milked It I tried to pour some milk down the stubborn pachyderms pachyderm's throat but I couldn't get her Jaws open Once or twice I managed manage to get them partly open but before I could pour the milk down sh sha closed them again I considered five o or six different plans for tor feeding that animal dismissing them as Impractical impractical Im im- im practical as fast as they popped into my head Then I got an idea a that I thought was worth trying The first step was to send All AU to a n nearby clump to cut me a length of ot bamboo As is commonly known a stick of bamboo bambo is I made up of ot a n series of ot Joints the wood being I hollow between Joints All AU brought back exactly exact I ly 13 what I had sent him for a piece of bamboo about two Inches In diameter I cut d off aIr r a n piece about nine Inches long leavIng leaving tho the Joint to form the bottom This gave me a n device which I planned to use uso se as as' as asa a a. a feeding tu tube tuber e 1 I the opening till It carne came to a Ii point end ond satisfied satisfied satisfied satis satis- fied that I was on the right tra trash track k I proceeded with the next step Before this could be carried out we had to get our elephant we practically carried her to the shack where we had arranged to spend the night I Instructed All AH to boll some rice in water When the rice was cooked I mixed some goats goat's milk with It the result being a athin athin athin thin but n nutritious gruel Then I I proceeded ed to fill my bamboo with this substance This done All got his shoulder right under under under un un- der the elephants elephant's forequarters till she was almost almost al nl- al- al mo most t standing on her back legs Then I forced the point of the bamboo tube between her har tightly tight tight- ly closed Jaws gradually working It in until unU I j could tip it up and dump the contents down her throat Stubborn to the last she tried to keep from swallowing giving in after a a few seconds of ot gurgling A second was pret prepared ared and the operation was repeated this time the task proving less difficult In all nIl I fed her three tubes of gruel that session An hour later I put the obstinate little girl to bed covering her up with some pome old gunny gunnysacks gunnysacks gunnysacks sacks The following morning there was a n deli deli- definite definite nite Improvement in her condition some ome of the wobbliness having disappeared We gave gaye her her breakfast repeating the performance with the tube This time it was unnecessary to prop prop her upA upA up A uA little later In the morning we put her on ona ona a bullock cart and took her back to from where she was transported along with my other other other oth oth- oth- oth er specimens to Singapore We had no trouble feeding her en route the bamboo feeding tube working perfectly One other Item which a n wild animal collector needs to have ha In his psychological equipment for tor following his profession lon is diplomacy That Frank Buck has that Is shown by the fact that some of his rarest specimens have been obtained obtained ob ob- because of his friendship with oriental potentates nn and his skill In handling the native e peoples of the Jungles where he has had to go goto goto goto to find Ond his animals Among mong these t people eople Frank Buck is a n great tuan chief chIet and he Is that thatto thatto thatto to coolies in the Malay peninsula and to Indian rajahs If It he hadn't been he would never ne have haye been permitted to penetrate the forbidden Jungles jungles jungles Jun jun- of ot Nepal which is closed to white men and bring back with him those two Indian rhinos which now have hae their homes In the New NewYork NewYork NewYork York and Philadelphia zoos If It he ha hadn't nt been It Is doubtful If It ho would have haye been heen able to make the remarkable able moving pictures which resulted from his last trip to the Orient For It was a n faithful coolie who came speeding to tell his tuan that a python was 1 lying near a n trail used by a n tiger Uger and that resulted in an nn epochal film record of a n python python- tiger Uger fight the like of ot which few fow white men have ever er seen and none has ever cr before photo photo- graphed For to cap his career of bringing em back alive o Frank Frnnk Buck Bucic has lately brought back a n movie record of life In the Jungle which is as unique as tho the record of his career carcer as a n collector col col 1 lector of wild animals He also has brought back the e memory of ot one of his narrowest escapes escapes es es- I cs-I capes from de death the death the th-the the memory of ot being stalked by a n tiger r of tripping and falling backward when the tho big cat hurled itself at nt him and of looking up and seeing the striped belly of the animal passing over him Yes It was a n rather close ca call said Frank Buck In n telling me of this hIs Incident But well But well you see sec me here dont don't you 7 p by W Wt m Newspaper Union |