Pomeroy weekly telegraph. [volume] (Pomeroy, Meigs County, Ohio) 1860-1866, 1865-10-05
THE FAMISHED TIGER.

army, and was all through the Mexican War;
but when it was over our regiment was or.
dered down into the Indian territory, SO
wished to leave. At Jefferson City l fell in
with pelby's Menagerie Tom Pelby, the
owner, was an old friend of mine, and when
he found out was out of business, he asked
me to 90 with him. He knew that / was not
only an experienced horscmap, but that was
something of horse-doctor; and the wages
he offered tempted me to join him. His man
agerie was good one, his collection of wild
animals being quite extensive, and the spo-
cimens better than the average of those usu-
ally on exhibition. ....
lie had come from St. Louis, and meant to
reach the Mississippi again by the great Steel
vile and Pennington Highway. During the
first week of my engagement l took charge
of four performing horses, when on the road,
riding one and leading the Others AT Steel
vile we remained three days, and when we
got ready to move from that place l was cali
ed to a new position Jack Garvey, the man
who had formerly had charge of the perform
ing horses, had been laid up by a spraincd
shoulder, but he had recovered, and when we
left Steelvile he was able to take his post
again. / was placed in charge of the cara
van, or cage, containing the Bengal tiger
From SteelviIle to Caledonia we stopped
three times, taking six days in the passage
not only drove the team which took the
tiger over the road, but was very soon called
to purchase food for the animals. ] had some
experience in training in that section of the
country, aud Pclby fancicd that | could buy
to better advantage than the former caterer
had done. On the fourth day from Caledo
MIA we stopped at a small settlement where
arrangements had been made for an exhibi-
ton We pitched our tent at the crossroads
and we had full house. That night Mr.
Pelby informed me that he had delivered out
the last of the meat, and that he should want
more in the morning. knew that the meat
was gone, and had already been looking
around for fresh supply. i
You must understand that this settlSnent
was not much of village. A store, bmith's
shop, and two or three mean dwellings, were
all the buildings i'll the place; by the SUR
rounding country was fertile and Nell settled,
and people fockcd into our SLOW from far
and near. went to the mapfwho kept the
store, and he promised that be woudhave an
OK ready for me in the mgfning. Morning
came, but no OK. The mGn dccl9fcd he cod
not find one; but he saiJfwe shopid be able to
obtain meat at the neyf cross-road' WHICH was
only ten miles dlstaT Pelby was quite I'M
easy. The animals Nad bfcn fed very hght-
ly on the day previous, and he feared they
would become reStive If fhey went much lon
ger hungry. So.
We started vt elghto clock IN the morning,
and at eleven wg reached the settlement
where we had been informed that meat could
be obtained b1f not q scrap could be found.
There was notan OK III the place, ana only
two cows. Bat we were assured that few
miles tdrthpr on we should lind out what we
wanted. $50 on we went, and the afternoon
crept hall away without bringing US IN signt
othny hylng tmng winch we couid XIII :,
I The day was very warm one, and the
matches on the tops OF the cages were open
10 give good circulatloh OF ar ior tne am IN
mails; MY tlger was uneasy enough ne
growled, ana scratcned at MS oars, anu ever
and anon he leaPed against tne sue OF ms
narrow mouse with force that shook me IN
my seat AT brook where we stopped 70
water our horses l spoke with felby about
the tiger. told him that the beast was be-
coming savage.
Never mind, said he. well hnd some
thing before night The first animal we sac
by the wayside we'll take, if we have to stef
it."
But this did not satisfy me. The tiger was
full grown one, and almost as powerful as