San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1888-09-26
THE MAN WOLF.

While With the animal hunters in the
jungles and foothills to the north Of Benares
we heard of q man wolf. On two former oc-
casions we had received like reports, but
had given little attention TO them. The
superstitious natives of India have many
strange beliefs One of them is that q
brother who has murdered brother turns
into>a man wolf, and roams the jungles 100
years as a penance. While they hold this
animal in fear and terror, as well they may, |
they reason that If he is killed, another relar
tive Of the family must take his place and
serve out the remainder Of his sentence. |
Therefore, while they would talk to US of
these monsters they were always very caro-
full not to locate them and bring them into
danger. We had long before made up our
minds that there was nothing so very queer
in finding a wild man In the tungles of India
Children are carried Off by semi-wild men or
wild animals almost daily, and even the
civilized countries have their wild men roam
ing through the forests. We were willing to
pay a round sum fot the capture Of a man
wolf, believing he would turn out to be only
a wild man, but at the same time q greater
curiosity than gorilla.
We had been making our headquarters In |
village for several days, batting our traps
for hyenas and having natives on the lookout
for serpents, when one nid-afternoon got
into hammock slung betweenstwo trees on
the outskirts of the village and dropped OF
to sleep. My two white men were already
asleep in hammocks some distance away, and
such Of the natives as were not out for us
were lying by to pass the heat of the day.
There were two or three children playing at
the door Of hut near me, but making little
or no noise 1t was as quiet as if a spell had
been placed upon every inhabitant. had
not slept over half an hour when a mosquito
bit me on the cheek and started me up. lay
on my right side, and through the meshes of
the hammock could see the edge Of the Jun
gle, about forty rods away. The children
were still at play, ard were a hundred feet
nearer the jungle than l was. Almost as
soon as opened my eyes l saw a dark object
leap from the cover Of the thicket to the
shelter of a single bush on the cleared
ground. It looked to me in the brief glimpse
had like a gorilla. l measured the leap
afterward with a tape line, and 1t was
swenty-three feet.
| did not start up, but rubbed my eyes
wide open to identify the strange creature.
It had covered until could see nothing but
a black spot, and 1t was two or three min
utes before it moved again. Then it sud
denly leaped into view, bounded for the
children exactly as a monkey leaps, and be-
fore could call out 1t had seized a little boy
about two and half years old, and was re-
treating with him. 1t was on its hind legs,
both arms around the child, and running
with great swiftness The body was naked
and hairy, but was convinced that it was
that of human being. I yelled out, and
the creature whirled about, raised the child
on high, and, with shrill scream of anger,
dashed it down on the hard baked earth with
terrible force Then it shook its fists at the
villagers swarming out, and, dropping down
on all fours, bounded away into the jungle.
We found the child gasping its last That
fling had broken almost every bone in his
body 1t was not until the villagers were
convinced that I had seen the creature and
was assured of its identity that the head man
acknowledged it to be a man wolf, and that
it had bng been a menace to the locality. It
was, he said, his cousin, who had killed a
brother fifteen years before. As the creature
had now killed three children, against whom
it seemed to have a particular spite, and as
its presence menaced the safety of the vii
lage, he would give his consent for us to seek
its capture l helped him to reach this con-
clusion by a present valued at $50, and by
agreeing not to give the matter away in any
other village.
The first thing to be done was to learn the
habits of the creature. He was known to eat
meat, roots, barks and almost anything else
which came in his way. He must sleep, but
| - one nouL1 ssEr v-lseLs as ia hal bccc seen