The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1872-10-10
Killing Tigers with Strychnine.

An English tiger hunter tells the Indian
Pioneer how he kills Royal Bengal tigers:
I use the old Kentucky pea-rife, eighty
bore, which had with me in Texas and Col
orado. Since then got it converted into
br eeoh- loader, and it now takes three and a.
half drachms of powder, and hollow picket
nearly three diameters in length, made of thin
steel and coated with platinum to give it
weight and enable it to take the rifing.-
There is a small screw-plug in the BASE which
can be taken out The cases, which are very
long, aud the pickets | am obliged to get out
from Springfield, Massachusetts,, as there are
none manufactured in England. Well, the
secret Of my bagging to certainty every I'll
ger [ hit with single bullet from this pea
rifle is this, that l fill up the hollow in the
picket with nine or ten grains of strychnine
of Scheele's strength. That is, I reckon, an
overdose, as believe one grain of this strength
would kill tiger; but give MIN to the ox,
tent the picket will hold.
With this bullet SO prepared it does not mat
Ter in the slightest degree in what part of the
body you hit the tiger all that is necessary
is that the bullet penetrate the skin some
where, and if you sit down and smoke your
pipo, as I generally do after firing, you will
aud the animal lying dead in. from ten min
utes to an hour or SO, according, fancy, as
to whether the picket breaks up at large or
q small vein. When found the tiger is fire.
yuen.ly as stiff as if he had been shot two
or three days previously. It is very curious
to watch the effects of the strychnine, which
appear to vary good deal On one occasion
came on tiger that | had few minutes
before wounded in the feslly part of the hind
leg he was standing motionless with his legs
spread out like a four-legged stool, and pant
isg like an express steam-engine. did not
mind going up to within few yards of him,
as l Lad my three barrel breech-loader in my
hand but he, nevertheless, took no notice
of me, although he must have seen me. [
chen went gradually nearer, but he never
moved, and at last, not wishing to keep the
Beast in pain, went up into tree just above
him, and punched neat hole in his skull
with solid picket from the Kentucky.
On several other occasions have seen a
tiger which had wounded walking through
the jungle apparently all right, but falling in
TO commissions whenever twig or branch Of
tree which he was passing under touched
his back To show you how infallible is this
method of killing tiger, once fired at a
tiger dashing across me at full tear, and made
sure had missed him. but the same evening,
after I had returned from shooting, COW
herd reported dead tiger in the jungle
where I had been. | instantly repaired to
the spot by torchlight, for fear some deers
might eat him, and at once saw it was the
tiger | had fred at. After at least half an
hours search for bullet mark, we at last
found the picket imbedded in one OF the
joints of his TAIL within about one foot from
the tip of it. learned this idea from an
elephant hunter met at Ntetwe, in South
orn Central Africa. He told me he has fire.
quently bagged elephants by this means at
from 400 to 500 yards, but he used very
heavy rife, and I fancy his shells would have
held 20 or % grains at least had no OPP
portunity Of trying it there myself, as had
no means Of obtaining strychnine. Of course,
it you take TO my plan, you must do as do
with every animal you. bag, that is, collect
dry wood aad burn him the moment his skin
is off-albeit to the great disgust of the villa
gers, many of whom are as fond of tigers
flesh as he sometimes is of theirs.