San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1888-12-06

llab hoy.
~ went out arter that calf, dad, an were
bound c get her said Sile. Il got her, an
was fetchin' her hum ez fast ez cud Eff
yed waited bout two hours longer I'd
had her thar-or, leastways, wat tn Is left
of her Ef y'vo got time to rip open this
bars carcass y'll find yer calf, sartin.'
Eye see SHE had kim onter tn Of bar an
s'prised him putin tn calf away inside O.
hisself, an when SHE sent ball arter him tn
bar had grabbed up what were left O. the
critter an dug out fer hum. Sle foDered
and tore at the roots in the side Of his ivinL
grave, and twice he leaped SO high that the
natives had to use their poles over his head
and beat him back The scar was plainly to
be seen, and the rejoicing over his capture
was intense. By means Of slip nooses, which
we're finally worked over HE head and legs,
We hauled him up into the cage, and later on
he found his way to Amsterdam and Paris
Naturalists judged him to be about 20 years
old, and last year, when l heard direct from
him, he was one Of the attractions In a me
nagerie travelling IN Prussia
No lion Of any age or experience will walk
into log trap built and bated to catch him,
but the oldest and wfsest tiger will All our
tigers were captured between the Ganges
river and the mountains to the north. This
sparsely settled district had not then been
penetrated by sportsmen, and the natives
felt themselves helpless against the man
eaters Between Benares and the mountains
half dozen villages were abandoned inside
of three months owing to the presence of
tigers, and there was district forty miles
long by ten broad which two man eaters had
actually reduced to a wilderness A lion
may roam over a district fifty or a hundred
miles in extent, and may travel twenty-five
or thirty miles in single night; but tiger
hangs to one locality as long as he can get
living, and unless in the dry season, when
water is scarce, he will not travel further
than necessary to find his food. The natives
dig pits for them, and once in while one Is
thus captured, but tiger in his prime has
all the suppeness Of cat. He can gather
and spring away even as he feels the ground
Giving way under his feet, and thus any vic
tim is sure TO be old and stiff, and of no
value To a menagerie saw one at Benares
which had been caught in pit, and he was
near sighted and almost toOthless with old
age He might have knocked a man down
with his paw, but ! doubt if he could have
eaten him.
When we caught the particular tiger am
uov about to write about, we were recon-
mended to 20 from Che small village of
Woopur on the Gauges, north to the village
of GhUkda, distance Of about thirty miles
A man eater of immense size had spread ter
ror all over the district This one beast, as
we were officially informed, had driven 5000
natives out of the district and broken up five.
villages. He had in two years killed 800 PEG
pie and had knocked over oxen and sheep by
the hundred just for fun. To prove his
strength, head man told us that the tiger
had one evening sprung upon large OK fast
ened to a tree in the outskirts Of the village
The weight of the OK was given at 800
pounds, but the tiger knocked him down
with one blow, tore him loose from the tree,
breaking a very stout grass rope in so doing,
and then drew the body nearly mile over
ground along which no native could have
corn on his back
We reached the village to find that many
of the people had fed in terror, a woman
having been killed and eaten two days be-
fore, and our appearance was hailed with the
greatest joy When it was found, however,
that we proposed to capture the tiger alive
instead of seeking to kill him, the natives
we're in despair One and all declared that
the beast was so cunning, crafty and Zero
cious, that human intelligence could not cope
with him That same night we had sam
rle OF the tigers character Several great
fires had been built in the center of the vii
il,,e, and while yearly everybody had gath
cred around, the man eater entered the vii
llge, walked into hut, and there seized an
Old man who was lying ILL., This hut was
not over 100 feet from our circle, and all of
us saw the tiger as he came out with his bur
den He had seized tie man by the right
arm, near the elbow, and had given him a
twist which flung him over his back AS We
started up at the shrieHs of the victim the
tiger trotted OFF as cOoIly as you please.
growing little over the firebrands thrown
at him, but evidently having not the least
fear Of the crowd. We could hear the cries
and groans of the poor man for long time,
and, as we ascertained next day, the tiger
tad dropped him several times within
mile. either to wait for us to come up, or
from an inclination to turn back and seek
another victim.
We were astir at any early hour next
morning The tigers lair was in u piece Of
woods to the west of the village, and very
likely in a rocky ravine in the center of the
forest. We soon found that he used one path
in approaching the village, and as he had
eaten nothing but human flesh for several
months he might be expected to come and go
by this path as long as any one was left in
ahe village Midway between his den anG
the village we built a stout log pen just to
one side OF the pain, and when 1t was com
pleted the door was held up by a cord run
ming inside to spindle on which the bait was
to be attached. We had everything ready by
midafternoon, and then came the question of
hnit Nnthinc hut human flash ptnnld Ia