The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1886-03-11

A short. thica-set man with dark mus
tache, in which the gray hairs were beginning
10 appear pretty thickly, sat in the rotu'ia
Of the Palmer house the other evening. To
look al him one would not think there WAS
ANYTHING very remarkable in his appearance,
but he was, ell the same, one Of the b'>t known
shikarris If the lar East. famous throughout
lnlia AMI Hurnah as the most deadly tiger
shot since the DAYS of Gordon Cumming.
Wherever the camp fire is lii and the days
sport is helms talked over some aneCdote Of
Jack Al-er is sure TO be introduced
FIRST ACou AINrANcE WITH THE TIGER
MY first aeluaintarce with the tiger in
his natural state" siit Mr.. Alger. III reply 70
request for a ~yar.I," was made In the
jungle, ot th4 TeraL They are hard leas.s to
tackic, !eoiaiiy tine n,aneaters, and those
who have vu--I..st Ia tiger shooting, either
ON foot or oH ii, phant,, know full well how
many shots tn brute sometimes takes.
Where population is exc,Tiingly srarce the
tiger Loses mu, Ii ,f his skuIking. hiding dis
position, ami attacks his prey in the open. !
knew once Of lai herdins cattle who was
pursued over meadow and through the herd,
and was killed 10y the tiger, who had begun
to eat him, wh, IL SCARED away by the VILLAGERS.
l saw the boiy; ii lay III the nIi,lst of an
open fell, at least 40 yards from any cover.
IL was Il lmboweled, with the chest torn
wide open. but the face was rs that Of one
who lies in pleasant sleep
The enormous forearm Of the tiger has at
trac;el attention. You have seen a cat pat
dead nous. or the face of a dog that was
teasing her, an ! il is easy to understand what
a tremendous blow tiger could give in the
same manner. but believe il mistake 10
suppose that he strikes down his prey with
his paw. He strikes in self-defense and when
fighting. but not when Selling his victim
have seen many carcasses Of deer, cattle, buff
falocs, and horses which hal been killed by
tigers, and they all had the same appearance
-four deep holes at the back Of the neck
made by the animals incisor teeth; no other
mark, and Of course if the tiger had begun to
feed ON the body it was extensively lacerated.
And if the prey had struggled much and had
succeeded in dragging the tiger few yards
the chest and forelegs would bear the impress
sion Of tn claws anil the tremendous grip,
but these, Us far as my experience goes, were
exceptional eases.
1T is cviien, thai tie tiger, IN seizins his
prey, ru,hoa onto is back, grips the neck
with his jaw as with wise, and with
his arms combining the animals struggles, lies
there uloa il, ii I'm until it il suifocated.
With human h. ing it is different A tiger
has been sc"n To- seize and carry OIL man by
tlp 4. tn, ar obiph ND ~
AsEARCH IN THE JUNGLE.
III was out once after a tiger on foot, and,
having wounded him severely, was searching
for hun in the jungle with number Of
heaters. 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
heaters in his jaws, by the thigh, giving him
rapid shake and passing on But these are
all eases in which the animal was acting in
self-defenN. ~ in retaliation What | have
said before refers 10 its usual mode Of cap
turing food.
I'VE urc told in natural history books that
the tiger ds,ians Ia touch carrion. This is
not SO. The same thing is sail in regard to
the eagle, AMI i, equally erroneous. The Ion
also is, believe, Us little scrupulous 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 let's il remain il it be too far out
in the open it is dragged further toward the
jungle and there lies until dawn. Some
times the body is discmbowled after being
removed a little way, and is then drawn
away to some hiiden spot A tiger has been
seen to disemboWel goat, holding II by the
throat, lying on its back underneath the
body and ripping it open by repeated kicks
with its hind claws. llo appears to prefer a
rump steak, or IA round, to any other por-
ton. These are almost always the first part
eaten, then the ribs, rarely the torequarters
and never, within my knowledge, the head
Il cannot call to mini having met in any
boo; With an accurate description of the tigers
cries. The snarling and growing Of the ami
nal when stirred up with long pole is
familiar to all who have visited n mcnagcric,
and appears to he the only noise the creature
makes when in n state of captivity; but in his
native forest. IN the long nights Of the cold
season when the woods on the hills seem to
sl"cpin the moonlight, the tiger, striiing along
in his native forest news like an old tom cn.
or rather like a hundred Old tom cats in
chorus II is a loud and harsh and grating
meow II i, >"lom hard more than twice or
thrice. When The tiger i, on the lookout for
food, usually in tine evening, he lies silent and
mOtionl IN some dcliS,' covert close to water,
where animals resort 10 drink, and when one
Of these approaches near enough he bounds
out on his prey in perfect silence, or with an
abrupt, sonorous grunt, terribly startling.
which appears to paralyze the victim and de
prive it of all power to lily or resist. Chicago
Herald.
MeNico's Confiscation Of Church Property.