The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1886-02-26
HUNTING THE TIGER.
"Jack" Alger's Stories About the
King of Grace and Strength.


A short, thick-set man with a dark
mustache, in which the gray hairs were
beginning to appear pretty thickly, sat
Ia the rotunda of the Palmer House the
other evening. To look at him one
would not think that there was any
thing very remarkable in his appear
ance, but he was, all the same, one OF
the best known shikarris of the far
East, famous throughout India and
Burmah as the most deadly tiger shot
since the days of Gordon Cumming.
Wherever the camp fire is lit and the
days sport is being talked over some
anecdote of Jack" Alger is sure to be
introduced. He was on his way to the
old country via San Francisco and
Chicago, and tho last time the writer
met him was in the hall of the Great
Eastern Hotel, at Calcutta, when he
was preparing to start on one of his
hunting expeditions to the Terai.
"Tell you something about tigers
that will interest Chicago people
Why, certainly, my boy" and "Jack'
to a ''yarn." ''My first ACQUAINTANCE
with the tiger in his natural state, .
said Mr.. Alger, ''was made in the
iungles of the Terai They are hard
beasts to tackle, especially the man
eaters, and those who have engaged in
tiger shooting, either on foot or ON ele-
phants, know full well how many shots
the brute sometimes takes. Where
population is exceedingly scarce the
tiger loses much of his skulking, hiding
disposition, and attacks his prey in the
open. / knew once of lad her1ing
cattle who was pursued over "a meadow
and through the herd, and was killed
by the tiger, who had begun to eat him,
when scared away by the villagers. ]
saw the body; it lay in the midst of an
open field, at least two hundred yards
from any cover. 1t was disemboweled,
with the chest torn wide open, but the
face was as that of one who lies in q
pleasant sleep.
"The enormous forearm of the tiger
has attracted attention. You have
seen a cat pat dead mouse or the face
, of a dog that was teasing her, and it is
easy TO understand what a tremendous
blow a. tiger. could give in the same
manner, but believe. it is a mistake to
suppose that he strikes down his prey
with his paw He strikes in self-de-
fense and when fighting, but not when
seizing his victim. have seen many
carcasses Of deer. cattle, buffaloes and
horses which had been killed by tigers,
and theyall had the anne appearance
-four deep holes at the back of the
neck made by the animals incisor
teeth; no other mark, and if the tiger
ha6 n fa ho No
extensively lacdrated. And if the prey
had struggled much and had succeeded
in dragging the tiger a few yards the
chest and forelcgs would bear the i'm
preston of the claws and the tremen-
dous grip, but these, as far as my ex-
perience goes, were exceptional cases.
1t is evident that the tiger, in seizing
his prey, Fushes on to it's back. grips
the neck with its jaws as with a wise,
and, with his arms cOnfining the ami
malls struggles, lies there upon his
victim until it is suffocated. With a
human being it is different. A tiger
has been seen to seize and carry off a
man by the neck, or the arm, or thigh,
indifferently.. In the well-known cases
of Major Anderson and Captain Fenton
they were both seized by the thigh and
carried off, it is said, ON the animals
back. was out once after a tiger on
foot, and, having wounded him Sc
verely, was searching for him in the
Jungle with a number of beaters.
Three times we came upon him, and
each time he broke cover by charging
through the mob of us. Once he
struck man on the chest, knocking
him over and scratching him severely.
Next time he seized one of the beaters
in his jaws, by the thigh, giving him a
rapid shake and passing on. But these
are all cases in which the animal was
acting in self-defense, or in retaliation.
What l have said before refers to its
usual mode of capturing food.
eve are told in natural history books
that the tiger disdains to touch carriOn.
This is not so. The same thing is said
in regard to the eagle, and is equally
erroneous. The lion also is, I believe,
as little serupulous as any other cat in
this particular / have told you how
the tiger captures and kills his prey.
When dead, If the body be convenient
TO his covert, he lets it remain; if it be
too far out. in the open it is dragged
further in toward the Jungle and there
lies until dawn. Sometimes the body
. is disemboWeled after being removed a
little way, and is then drawn away to
some hidden spot. A tiger has been
seen to disembowel a goat, holding it
by the throat, lying on its back under
meath the body and ripping it open by
repeated kicks with the hind claws.
He appears to prefer a rump steak, or
q round, to any other portion These
are almost always the first part eaten,
then the ribs, rarely the forequarters
and never, within my knowledge, the
: head.
Here is a good story" continued
Jack, settling himself anew, "that af-
fords a pretty good specimen Of the
tigers caution, Of the silence of his ap-
proach, and of his immense strength.
Near a, village a herd boy had been
killed, and I was one day shown the
body Of COW which tiger had just
struck down. It lay close 70 some
rather thin jungle, near ridge of low
rocks, few large trees, such as man
goes, were interpreted in the brush
wood, and the ground was covered
/. with dried-up leaves so crisp that il
Seemed impossible for an insect even to
pass over them wfshoat being beard.
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