Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-04-25
TRAPPING A GORILLA.
The Ferocity and Strength oi
 These Untamable Beasts,
Tho Astonishing Resemblance of tho Big Apes to the Natives-An Encounter with Serious Results-How tho Captive Ro-
 sented His Captor's Advances.

Apes 10 the Natives-An Encounter with
 Serious Results-How tho Captive Ro-
 sented His Captor's Advances.
 About twenty days from the time we To- cated the gorillas, writes a New York Sun correspondent, we set our traps one in each path. The one on the path leading to the spring was within thirty feet of the water, and carefully concealed just below the surface. A couple of days later party of ten of us set out, and when within mile of the spring we had reasons to believe that one ot the animals had put foot in the trap Tells, roars and screams reached our ears, and at the distance of half a mile sev- eral small animals passed us in alright ''We have got the big fellow!' whispered my head hunter to me as we pressed for ward. ''We must be very careful now, for the sight of us will make him strong to | break away, and he will want all our lives to pay for the insult.'
 The powwow grew louder as we neared the spot, and the cries and walls of the | mother and offspring mingled with the snarls, growls, barAs and roars of the | father. When we finally crept forward to a spot whence we could obtain a view, we found the ''old man" fast in the trap by l the right hind leg. The trap was a tooth | less one, with the faces of the jaws covered with felt, but it was strong enough almost to hold an elephant. We had to bend down the springs with levers, and it was a good load for two men to carry The chain at | tached could not have been broken by 8 horse, and we had securely fastened it to a | tree. It was well we had, and it was lwell | that the beast had been caught by hind 1 leg.
 l do not think he had been in the trap | long when we first heard him, perhaps not | over five minutes. He was doubtless sur prised and frightened for time, but by the | time we had reached a point where we could see him his terrible anger was fully aroused. His mate and offspring stood by, wailing and growing, and just as we got settled i'll our places the female lifted up l the trap and wrenched at it with all her strength. Then both seized the chain, and | tugged, and pulled, and growled, and l roared, but 1t was no use. What feared was that the old fellow might knaw his leg | of, as coons, or muskrats, or beavers will do when trapped, but he showed no inten- l tion of the sort. Indeed it would have re- suited in his death, and he doubtless so fig ured. For a long hour he refused to give in, biting, leaping and tugging, and another such picture of ferocity would be hard to find. He frothed at the mouth, exhibited his great fangs, and his eyes glittered like l diamonds. 1 should have been willing for l the mate and her little one to go, but as they refused to leave the spot and as the l natives said that the mother would not he's l ltate to attack us in her excitement, pushed forward my rifle and gave her 8 bullet, which dropped her dead in her | tracks. The young one immediately sprang | to the fathers shoulder, and was sitting 1 there when we advanced. The natives cried | out, as we went forward, to be cautious, but in their enthusiasm they brought about a tragedy.
 The resemblance of the big gorilla to a native was so striking that I paused to | wonder if mistake had not been made. When he saw us he stood upright, arms hanging down by his sides, and he looked l far more like a human being than some of | the negroes in my camp. He was SO mad | that he did not know what move to make first, and as he stood there clots of foam fell upon his breast and down to the earth By and by he seized the young one and threw it away. Half dozen of the men rushed to seize it, and as it scrambled back one of the natives pursued it too far. The gorilla uttered terrible roar, made a sav- | age spring, and the native was caught by the hair. was not over twenty feet away, and saw all that happened. He was flung down, and the gorilla stopped and gave him a blow on the chest which crushed it in. He then hit him right and left on the sides of the head, and the man was dead. This did not satisfy the monster. He lifted the body up and literally tore it to pieces, pulling off the arms as you would pull stick of kindling wood out of bundle. It then seized the young one by hind leg, and slammed it on the earth and flung the body away, and then beat its breast and roared defiance atus.
 By the advice of the natives I decided to let the old fellow alone for awhile and al. low hunger and thirst to work on his tenn per. We made. a temporary camp half q mile away, and did not go near him again for two days. During the first day he roared at intervals, but on the afternoon oi the second he was very quiet. One of the men went to take a look at him, and report ed the captive as sitting down on the trap and crying with pain. Next forenoon we went out with nets, ropes, nooses and chains, and after a long, hard fight tangled him up and secured him. When we sprang the trap off his leg we had his hind feet shackled together, his fore feet or arms, secured with chain, two ropes around his body, and a muzzle over his jaws. We then bound him to litter, and carried him to the main camp, where cage had been made. His leg was badly swollen, and he was pretty well beaten out, but three days after we got him into the cage he was all right, and as mad as ever. ] sent him down the river and around to Zanzibar, and, after months he brought up in Constantinople, so ferocious and danger ous that the utmost precaution had to be taken by those who came near him. He was living during the Russo-Turksh war, and one who saw him informed me that there was no hope of sweetening his tenn. per or subduing his ferocity.
 Pessimism and Optimism.
 Pessimism may be briefly defined as des spair endowed with personality, says 8 clergyman in the New York Tribune. In the soul of the pessimist no sun of gladness | ever arises and in his life no star of hone is