At Indianapolis, in '73, on Castle, I was idly standing there, taking in the elephant acts. We had Eloise, Lee Keener, and Bert Pettus presenting. Ranchi wandereed away from Eloise, and got nosy by Bert's ring. Bert simply showed him the 5-foot hotshot, and Ranchi bolted down the track and into the back, where we had trailer parking inside the building. He knocked trailers askew, with Eloise's man--I think this may have been Gary Thomas--right with him, yelling commands. Ranchi was in full stampede mode by then and wasn't listening to anyone. He ran through a man-door, squeezing Gary (?) into the frame. I picked up the dropped hook, and followed Ranchi outside. I yelled at a local cop to put that damn pistol down. Ranchi ran up a flight of stairs, back into the building, down corridors, and past townies at the concession joints. My commands of "Steady!" and "Come in line!" met deaf ears, and the hook I got into him was useless. He ran blindly into a ladie's room and when I thought he might be trapped in there, he came busting back out and down the hall. At long last, and some 20 minutes later, he got on floor level and headed for the back again. There, I guided him awkwardly toward the big opening and Lee Keener met him face on, jerking his head to the left. Ranchi then saw Eloise's herd and quietly walked over for her to chain him. No one besides the elephant man had been hurt, but the news screamed the story for the rest of the date. Castle tried to admonish Eloise, and she told him to go count his money.
7 comments:
Thanks Eric
Noting he came to SD in '81--is this the same Ranchipur who once belonged to Eloise Berchtold and Morgan Berry?
Yup
Morgan Berry was killed by the elephant Tonga
in June of 1979 & at the time of his death
Berrys 75 acre farm housed nine elephants
Althought this information
from Eric Beheiem suggested
that the death was recent
San Diego Zoo mentions that
Ranchipur was euthanized on
August 23rd of 2016
In a 1952 magazine ad Berry was advertising
"Four Foot Tall Female Elephants For Sale"
at the whopping price of $3000 per animal
At Indianapolis, in '73, on Castle, I was idly standing there, taking in the elephant acts. We had Eloise, Lee Keener, and Bert Pettus presenting. Ranchi wandereed away from Eloise, and got nosy by Bert's ring. Bert simply showed him the 5-foot hotshot, and Ranchi bolted down the track and into the back, where we had trailer parking inside the building. He knocked trailers askew, with Eloise's man--I think this may have been Gary Thomas--right with him, yelling commands. Ranchi was in full stampede mode by then and wasn't listening to anyone. He ran through a man-door, squeezing Gary (?) into the frame. I picked up the dropped hook, and followed Ranchi outside. I yelled at a local cop to put that damn pistol down. Ranchi ran up a flight of stairs, back into the building, down corridors, and past townies at the concession joints. My commands of "Steady!" and "Come in line!" met deaf ears, and the hook I got into him was useless. He ran blindly into a ladie's room and when I thought he might be trapped in there, he came busting back out and down the hall. At long last, and some 20 minutes later, he got on floor level and headed for the back again. There, I guided him awkwardly toward the big opening and Lee Keener met him face on, jerking his head to the left. Ranchi then saw Eloise's herd and quietly walked over for her to chain him. No one besides the elephant man had been hurt, but the news screamed the story for the rest of the date. Castle tried to admonish Eloise, and she told him to go count his money.
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