Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1888-08-30

| the village, he would give his consent
for US to seek his capture. l helped
| him to reach this conclusion by pres
| emit valued at twenty dollars, 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, banks,
and almost every thing else that came
in his way. He must sleep, but no
one could say when, as he had been
seen prowing around at all hours of
the day and night. He was very strong
and fierce, and it was doubted if one of
the tiger cages would hold him. We
| decided to tempt his curiosity, and to
this end, one of our cages was placed
| in the Jungle, and the door so arranged
| as to shut the creature in if he but
entered. But he took no notice of the
| curiosity, orif he did it was to fight
shy of the suspected trap. Twice in
| three days he was seen on the borders
| Of the village, evidently bent on further
mischief, and the natives finally found
path which the man-wOlf used in
going and coming from water hole.
AS soon as they came in with the
news, we started out to set a different
| trap for him. The steel traps to catch
wild animals have no teeth, and the
jaws come together in a way to give
one a leverage on the other. have
known of full-grown tiger being
caught by the foot and firmly held in a
trap no larger than the boys set for
mink and muskrat. We replaced the
chain with a half-inch rope made of
native grasses, and as soon as a suit
| Oble spot had been selected we exca-
waited a hole, buried the trap out of
sight, and then bent down a sapling
and tied the end of the rope to it. This
| sapling was held down by a trigger
which a sharp pull would release.
| When the trap had been set no one
could detect any thing suspicious
around the spot, and we felt certain
that the creature would get into
trouble if he passed that way. When
we could do no more we retired to the
village, about mile away. 1t was
about shutdown when we arrived, and
we were just in time to see wonder
full proceeding. A large and savage
| looking hyena came out of the jungle
and shifted and snuffed and growled at
us from a distance of about twenty
rods. We refrained from shooting,
for fear the reports would brighten the
man-wof away, and while hundred
of us stood gazing at the beast another
object suddenly appeared. 1t was the
same creature l saw from the ham
mock.
cit is the man-wolf!' moaned score
of natives in chorus, and at least a
dozen of them skunk away into their
| huts.
| But the man-wolf had not come to dis
turb us. He had evidently been track
ing the hyena, and he was there for
revenge, He bounded over the ground
with great leaps, and the hyena did not
suspect his approach. The last bound
was a tremendous curve in the air,
and as the man-wolf came down it was
full upon the hyena's back. He uttered
a terrible scream as he struck, and the
hyena gave vent to something like a
shrek. They rolled over and over on
| the ground, biting, clawing, growing
and gurgling, but the fight did not last
over sixty seconds. Then the man
wolf sprang up, shook himself and
uttered a yell Of triumph, and after
threatening us for a couple of minutes
re-entered the jungle. We went out
to the body of the hyena, and its con-
dition gave us a strong idea of the
man-wolfs fighting powers. One ear
was torn off, both eyes plucked out,
two legs broken, it's tongue bitten
nearly off and it lad several horrible
gashes in the belly. It was plain that
the creature was n match for lion
or tiger, and we began to feel very
uneasy. By the advice of the head
man we built several extra fires and
kept a.sharp lookout
1.-The fellow is evidently very an
gryP" explained the old man. You
are white men, and he is not pleased
at your coming. Perhaps he has been
told you are here to capture him"
"But who could have told him?"
"He had a cousin who was turned
into a vulture for striking his father,
and another cousin who was turned
into a serpent for cursing our faith.
Either ono may have carried the man
wolf the laws"
| We placed sentinels on the watch
when ready to turn in, but every thing
passed off quietly until about midnight.
Then a succession of shrieks and
screams and roars brought every man,
woman and child out of sleep, with a
bound. 1 had no other thought than
that the man-wof had seized one of
the sentinels, but as leap out of the
hut one called to me:
"Sahib, you have caught the beast
in your trapr'
It was a mile, as 1 have told you,
from the village to the SPOT where we