Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1888-08-03
sTAUNTON, VIRGINIA, AUGUST 3, 1888

ana one could see that it was actually suffer-
ing. When Oval had satisfied US, he led the
hyena to the outskirts of the village, pointed
to the thicket and exclaimed, 'Go" and
the beast skunk off as il in fear of its life.
"Wonderfull wonderful" gasped each one
of us in turn.
It was more like miracle. Oval stood
near us, leaning::up against tree as if greatly
worn out and when we went over to him we
found him covered with perspiration The
old woman, with whom he made his home,
led him away after little, and we saw no
more of him until next morning. Before we
turned in for the night the head man told us
that at least four man eating tigers had their
haunts within a radius of ten miles, and that
we should depend upon Oval and let him
manage the campaign against them as he
thought best. There was no need of fire.
arms, and Oval would sooner or later find
an occupant for each cage. He talked of
caging up full grown tigers as carelessly as
another man would of trapping house rats,
but he knew the Tiger Man better than we
did,
At sunrise next morning Oval was all
right I had agreed to pay him SIS per
month and his keep when he set out with us.
This was magnificent sum in the eyes of
native, but / now told him that If he pre-
ferred would give him 500 for six tigers.
He jumped at the offer, and his very first
move was to run to the bank of the river and
bargain with the owner of rude but sea-
worthy barge to float the six cages down to
the water on the eastern part of the peninsula
for us. The distance by river was all of 100
miles, and there would be eight of us in the
party. The owner of the craft agreed to
take us and the tigers, feed us we'll, and en-
ploy two extra helpers for sum equal to
about thirteen American dollars When I
told him l would make it $50 he came near
sinking down in his establishment, and for
an hour or two moved about like one in
dream Here, then, we prepared our cages,
contracted for our passage and none Of US
had yet seen SO much as the tip end Of a
tigers tail. After breakfast, when we were
ready to move, Oval said to me:
II know the lair of a couple of tigers Il
is distant about an hour. shall go and
bring IN one. No one must come with me,
and you must not fire your guns or make
noise. Let one of the cages be placed under
that tree over there, and in couple of hours
1t shall be occupied by fine tiger. The last
time saw him he had sore ear. It should
now be well"
1t made us stare hard at each other to hear
q man talking that way, but had the cage
carried to the spot designated, and Oval took
his leave OF us as if simply going out to
search for bee tree. When he had disap-
peared the head man advised that the villagers
go indoors and keep quiet, and our band was
divided in half and placed in trees where we
could plainly see the cage. Stray rumors of
GwaI's wonderful magnetic powers had
reached the ears of the three British officers,
and they had seen the performance with the
hyena with eyes wide open, but they were
skeptical as to his powers over a tiger. All
of us were, for that matter. The idea Of a
man, no matter what gifts he had, bringing
fierce man eater to crawl on his belly, was
too absurd for belief. But Oval settled it to
our satisfaction as well as chagrin. In
two hours and twenty minutes after
his departure he reappeared, and right
at his heels, and acting the same
as the hyena had acted, was the
largest tiger ever saw. 1t was plain that
the beast was terrorized. A whipped puppy
could not have shown more servility. Oval
came along at moderate gait, swinging
hand on either side of him, and apparently
paying no heed to the tiger, but all those in
our tree were sure we heard him mumbling
under his breath. The tiger never looked up,
nor to the right nor left, but kept its head
down. AS they halted at the cage Oval
threw up his hand, as one does when he
wants dog to jump, and the man eater
bounded into the cage and covered in a
corner. The native secured the door in a
leisurely manner and then approached us.
We were now on the ground, and as he came
up we noticed that he was in a tremble and
very weak.
1.-The other one was not at home, but I
shall have him tomorrow" he said. IT will
now lie down for little time"
Could we believe our own eyes? Were we
dreaminga There was the living proof of
GwaTs wonderful powers, and what could
we say? We moved down to the cage to get
closer view of the beast, and the sight Of
us and our presence broke the strange spell.
For the next half hour the tiger was wild
with fury, and dozen different times it
seemed to us that he would regain his liberty.
Every bar held, however, and he finally
tired himself out and became more quiet.
Oval slept until o'clock in the afternoon,
when he came forth refreshed and full of
talk. The tiger was then raving about his
cage, but the instant the man appeared he
covered and was as quiet as a lamb. The
next afternoon bis mate was brought in as he
had been, and within week we had four
tigers. We then moved to spot about
eighteen miles away, and Oval brought in
two others, both males. His performance
was the same in each case, and in each case
his deneanor and that of the beast was the
same. It was magnetism developed to a
wonderful degree. That single eye of bis
was blaze of fire when he started out. We
could all feel his electricity. Protected as he
was, the man had no fear of any living thing,
and twice saw him pick up poisonous SER
pents and carry them along for half mile.
When the six tigers were slowed on the
barge paid Oval his 500, and added $50 to
it. He was not to go with us, but in case
wanted more tigers was to come to him.
We went down the river safely, and twice in
after years heard from this strange man,
He once shipped me four tigers on specula-
ton, and made neat sum by it, and then
came the news of his death-torn to pieces by
tiger. The native who gave NE the news
explained:
when asleep he had no power. 1t was the
fire in his eye which cowed the beasts. He
fell asleep outside the hut one evening, and
tiger crept up and killed him and carried
him off."-New York Sun.