Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1890-01-29
HUNT FOR A MAN EATER.

have bold and open enemy. In nlnety-hve
cases out of hundred he viii charge you II
you NEEDLE with him. In the other tive ne
may get ratified and run away. The hon
seldom prowls or sneaks. The tiger viii often
resort to measures unworthy OF the wolf.
One can always locate the lion at night, If he
be full grown, by his voice. Fearing moth
ing on earth, human or animal, he delights
in locating himself Hunters have now and
then been stalked by a lion, but In every case
1t was curiosity more than hunger which
prompted the beast. When the tiger stalks
it is for blood He is never curious.
We had been beating the jungles in the Ben
galee district, to the west of Calcutta, for
two weeks before any big game came our
way. Our party was too large for a success
full hunting party, being composed of over
twenty officers, civil and military, who were
out for a vacation, and the servants must
have numbered fifty. We had plenty to eat,
drink and smoke, and now and then knocked
over wolf or hyena, but we could not ex-
pect to get within FIVE miles of anything
worthy of bullet with such a camp as that.
One day a native came in with request that
some of US return with him to a village called
Dahur, about twenty-five miles to the north
"Coo- 41C S1iu GEdb 1il Oio GAoci h0t eSAnCA u y
his headquarters near the village, and dur
ing the four weeks he had been there the
beast had killed and devoured man, two
women, girl and boy. The natives had
set traps, but he would not enter them. They
had poisoned the carcasses of goats and
calves, but he would not touch them. 1t had
got so that at O'Clock in the evening every
one entered his house and made himself Sc
cure for the night, while the tiger held pos
session of the village and carried terror to
every SOUL
Maj. Isham and myself got this news e1-
clusively, and after bit of planning we stole
out of camp with our horses and arms, and
followed the guide. 1t was about 8 O'Clock in
the morning when we left, and as it was a
cool day and we had a fairly good route, we
pushed ahead at such pace that at 3 in the
afternoon we were in Dahur. We found the
village to consist Of seventytwo huts OF
cabins, covering about two acres of OPEN
On the northern edge of the village was a
creek flowing toward the Gauges, sixty miles
away, and beyond this creek was a fertile
spot of 200 acres, which was devoted to crop
raising. The creek was bordered with thick
jungle about five rods in breadth, and it was
at the crossing that the tiger had got in his
deadly work. This creek could not be crossed
anywhere for miles, except by cutting way
through the jungle, and the inhabitants of
the village were talking of moving away
when they heard of our big hunting party
The first thing was to inquire about the
tigers peculiarities as thus far observed by
the people. No two tigers work exactly
alike any more than two thieves do. Let two
man eaters take up their quarters, each in
the suburbs of a village twenty miles apart,
and they will not pursue the same tactics.
This tiger, sahibs,n said the head man in
explanation, knows no fear While we
were working in the field at MONDAY he
came out of the jungle, sat down like dog,
and looked at US for a long time. He saw
that my brothers wife was very fat, and
therefore selected her for his supper We
numbered over thirty as we started to re-
turn. We were singing and shouting to
scare him, and the sun was yet half an hour
high, but he came out of the jungle, looked
each one over as he passed, and when my
sisterin-law came up he sprang upon her and
carried her off. He did not even growl As
he knocked her down his long tail whirled
around and struck me in the side. Last night
was the worst of all. As none of US had
ROllo W Cuc HSlttS tuTS6 QdyS Tue Tiger
came into the village for his supper. An old
man further up the street unfastened his
door to go into the house of his son across
the street. and as he stepped forth the tiger
seized him. He was very large man, but
the beast carried him off at a trot. You
have, sahibs, an old and cunning beast to deal
with, and if you do not have your wits about
you he win eat you both"
No wild animal goes out to kill unless hun
cry. In each instance where this tiger had
seized a victim he had remained quiet for the
next two nights. We could, therefore, figure
pretty closely on his next appearance We
went down that evening and looked the cover
over. 1t was dense enough to conceal atroop
of elephants, and as the creek was full of
water the beast would have no inducement
to leave shelter until hunger drove him, out.
As for pushing our way into the jungle to
meet him, the idea was too foolhardy to be
entertained. Once tiger becomes a man
eater he develops new traits No powwow
raised by a thousand natives can scare him
away, and he becomes twice as dangerous to
approach as before. That night the head
man caused several large bonfires to be
lighted, bells rung, old muskets fred Off, and
great noise kept up for an hour. This was
to inform the tiger THAT white men had ar
rived, and that a new deal was on hand
We had plenty of time next day to look the
field over and make cur plans. The natives
were sent off TO the fields to work and we
skirted the banks Of the creek to the east
until satisfied that the beast had its hair In
mass of rock so overgrown and sheltered by
jungle that it did not seem as if rabbit could
penetrate it. He doubtless came and went by
path Of his own at the waters edge. The
situation was a good one to burn him out
when the wind came right, but we did not
want to try that until cur other plans failed.
Fires were lighted again on the second night,
and the racket maintained for the first two
hours after shutdown was sufficient to scare
any ordinary tiger out Of the district II was
about z O'Clock, and the major, the head
man, two or three others and myself were
sitting about the head mans door smoking
and talking, when an interesting event &C.
Cured. We were almost ct the northern
edge OF the village, and the noise was all 70
the south Of US sat in the door facing %
the west. The others sat 50 that their faces
were toward the door.
All OF q sudden caught sight OF the tiger
approaching Us from the north. He walked
Ap W "iNHAH u-l IeSt VI S.-o biVGp SAU ods
down and stared a. US | could see hin, ia
the reflection Of fire as plain as day, and
noted his unusual SIZE and strength and the
fact that be had a W tite spot about the SIZE
OF silver dollar on MS throat. There was
conversation going on N which was not In
clnded, and had bean looking st the besast a
full minute before was appealed 70. Then
replisi: Gentlemen. maze no move The
tiger Is cuiy ten TeeE away! By moving DacG
ward five feet can reach Ey gun. Should
any CT you attempt 10 spring up be VII