The Arizona sentinel. [volume] (Arizona City [Yuma], Yuma County, A.T. [Ariz.]) 1872-1911, 1889-03-23
HUNTING THE GORILLA.
How Captured One for the Sui
tan of Turkey.
No Tame Sport by a Good Deal-HOrri-
BILE Death of Native Who Got
into the Clutches OF
the Captive.

the Captive.
have seen nearly every one of the
gorillas on exhibition in the geological
gardens of the world, and in only one
instance have found an animal in any
way up to the standard of the beast as
found in the African iungles. That
fellow helped to capture while in the
employ of the Hamburg house, and the
Sultan of Turkey paid fabulous price
for him.
We were about seventy-five miles in
land from the coast on the Luigi
river, where we had permanent camp,
when received word that full-grown
specimen of the gorilla family was
wanted, and was authorized to spend
three months time and employ thou
sand natives, if necessary, to secure
one. Wehad been in camp ten weeks,
capturing serpents and a variety of
animals, and. only once had signs of
the presence of a gorilla been detected.
When l found what was wanted, l
called some of the oldest and wisest
natives to counsel, but none of them
had ever heard of full-grown gorilla
being captured alive, and none could
suggest what steps to take. Therefore,
to make beginning, sent out sew
eral parties to scout, and on the Sec
ond day one of these located three of
the beasts, father, mother and baby
gorilla, in thicket about five miles
away. 1t was a piece of rocky ground
covered with dense growth, and from
hiding place the men had seen the
gorillas enter the thicket by path.
In about a week we found that one
path led to spring where the beasts
quenched their thirst, and another to
several trees loaded with peculiar
sort of pea or bean inclosed in pods, of
which the gorillas seemed very fond.
1t was while they were eating this
fruit that l saw them. The little fell
low was just learning to go alone, and
the mother carried him much of the
time. The old fellow maintained a
pretty sharp watch, though he did not
appear to be particularly suspicious,
and now and then he unben6ed his dig
nifty and played with the little one in
manner to make us laugh.
About twenty days from the time we
located the gorillas we set our traps,
one on 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. The
beasts, as near as our scouts could de-
termine, visited the spring only every
other day, and it was on the off day
we set that trap. There were seven
of us, being the only white man, and
as we returned to camp we took diff
ferent route from the one we had
come. 1t was a very hot day. and
when half way back we stopped to
rest. 1t was in a beautiful grove,
pretty clear from underbrush, and
most of the natives at once fell asleep,
as is their custom when making a halt,
even if only for ten minutes. Only
one of them, so far as / saw, was
awake when rose up and walked
away about hundred feet to examine
a curious excrescence on the side of a
tree. From where / stood / thought l
could distinguish the figures "58"
standing out on the tree, but when l
reached it / found only a wart or
knot This tree was to the right of
the party, and as | started for it
one of the natives sleepily eau
toned me not to go too far alone. /
was standing beside the tree, looking
upward and around, when l heard a
shout of alarm, followed almost in
stantly by a shrek of pain and terror.
] saw the men spring up, each utter
ing yell, and then came the sounds
of blows and screams, and the angry
and defiant roar of gorilla. 1t was
all over in minute, and before l had
time to appreciate the situation two of
the natives came running toward me,
half dead with fright, and l heard an
other roar and saw dark object NOV
ing swiftly away.
As well as could be ascertained big
gorilla had been passing through the
grove, and he had stumbled upon the
men just as the one who had spoken to
me rose up. This action was sufficient
to arouse the ire of the beast, and he
had seized the native and flung him
ten feet away. The second one re-
ceived blow which knocked him fiat,
and the gorilla then let himself out to
kill. The other four men were dead
when we approached. One had his
neck broken, a second had half his
face torn off and his breast crushed in,
and the other two had their skulls
crushed as if by blows from the hand.
My rife and the muskets of the natives
had not been meddled with.