Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1888-10-17

knew wlio oeast TO engage IN MS were the
worst. BE had yoice as ssrong as lions,
and be was not quiet for two minutes at
time He reared, screamed, shrieked, L.
mented and grov'led, and the wind brought
Us every sound. He still had ( il head OF
steam on when daylight came. and after
hasty breakfast party of twenty Of Us
moved in his direction. He probably heard
Us coming, for bis anger was freshly aroused,
and pretty soon we could near him tearing at
the bushes
am free to say that the first sight Of the
man wolf, caught by the hind foot in the
trap, and hanging head downward from the
swaying sapiing, took the courage out Of me
sooner than as il had met tiger face TO
face on the path He hung about three feet
from the earth. aud as far as be could reach
in every direction he had pulled up the
bushes by the roots He was as supple as
monkey, and could double hiraself up and
reach the trap, but, strong as he was, be
could not spring the jaws open and release
his foot There was foot Of chain before
he could get to the rope, and the way he bit
on that chain made Us hold our breaths. Had
it been of soft iron have no doubt he would
have cut it in two. He had been caught
when We first heard him scream out, and had
been suspended for over four hours. You
would have thought he would be exhausted
with pain and struggling, but be was not.
As soon as we came near him he made such
tremendous effort TO get away, or to ger at
us, that all the natives fed in terror
We quickly understood that we could do
nothing with the beast until he mad lost his
strength and temper, and we returned to the
village and left him hanging. All that day
he yelled out every two or three minutes,
and all that night we heard from him at in
tervals. On the second morning he was still
ugly, but late in the afternoon hunger and
pain mastered him. We brought up a cage,
got three or four ropes around him, and fin
ally made him prisoner. His foot and leg
were terribly swollen, and be made but little
resistance.
We now had opportunity to look him over.
He was certainly man wolf--that is a ma
tive child had been carried Off wien young
and brought up with the wild beasts for
twenty years or more This creature had
human face and form, but the body was COW
cred with coarse hair the teeth were long,
the hands out of shape and he mad learned to
go as four footed animal He was indeed
horrible looking sight but the worst fea-
ture about him was bis eyes. No true wild
beast ever saw through a more ugly pair.
There was villainous squint to them ard
the balls seemed TO be aAame We were con-
graduating ourselves on his easy capture
when the head man replied:
wait bit Wait until his strength re-
turns You will never get him away from
here"
We drew the cage to the village and gave
the beast food and water He readily &C.
cepted both, and his conduct was as humble
as we could desire. He was biding his time
however On the third day he infinitely ex-
amined the construction Of the cage and
tested every bar He did this when he
thought he was unobserved. On the fifth day
he began to snarl and growl and show his
temper, and on the sixth we started off with
him, the cage being dragged by twelve ma
tives Everything went well up to noon,
when we stopped for rest and bite TO eat
As all were sitting down the man wolf sud
denly sprang out Of a corner where he had
been sulking, seized bar in either hand, and
with a tremendous effort wrenched them out
One he retained for weapon as he leaped to
the earth 1t wsls SO sudden that no one was
prepared He did not seek escape, but re-
venge, and before we could pick up our guns
and open fire he had killed three of the ma
tives and severely wounded two others. He
was still laying about him screaming with
rage when one OF the white men gave him q
charge of buckshot and ended his career lie
had struck only single blows, and yet each
one had been hard enough to cripple or kill
But for our guns he would have killed every
man in the party.-New York Sun