Tombstone epitaph., 1890-03-15
THE MAN WOLF.


 fun~les and foothills to the north of Benares va heard of a man wolf On two former oc ,,.siops we had received like reports. but b,d civeu little attention to them The s-,,,e:stitious natives of Iadla have many strange Ee,iefs One of them is that a brother who has murdered brother turns into a man wolf. and roams the jungles 100 years Gs a pcnasce While sthey hold this a.iinafia fear and terror. as well they may, they reason that if he is killed, another rela- tive of the family must take his place and serve out the remainder of his sentence Therefore, while they would talk u us of tGcsc monsters. they were always very care fuluot to cate them and bring them into dancer. We had long before made up our minds that there w2s nothing so very queer in finding a wild man in the junges of India. Children arc carried of by seni-wild men or Di!l anmcls almost daily, and even the civilized countries have their wild men roam ing tErOu~h the forests. We were willing to pay a round sun for the capture of man wolf, believing Ec would turn out to be only Q wild man, but at the same time a greater cur.oei.y than a gorilla.
 Hc had been making our headquarters in Q village for several days. batting our traps for EycnGs and having natives on the lookout for SoTpeats, when enc rlld-afternooa 1 got iato a bannoc, slung between two trees on the outskirts of the village and dropped of to sleep. Ny two white men were already asleep in b2mnl0c,.s some distance away, and such of the natives GS were not out for us wcra lying by to pasi the heat of the day. Thcrc were two or three children playing at, the door Of a Eut near mo, but making little or TO roise. It WAS c$ quictaS if a spell had been placed upon every inhabtant had rot s,c-t over half an hour when mosquito bit rlc on the cbceli and started me up. lay on ny right sI,ic, and tLrough the Teshes of the hammock could see the edge of the jun gle, about forty rods away. The children were still ct play, Q d were a hundred feet nearer tAc jGngle than l was Almost as soon as 1 opened my eyes 1 saw a dark object leap from the cover of the thicket to the shelter of single bush on tho cleared ground It lo0.:cl to me in the brief glinrse l Eal E,,c gorilla. 1 measured the Lap Rf;crwarl with tape line, and it was twcnty-tErce feet.
 l cid ret st2rt ID, but rubbed my eyes wide open to identify the straH@r creature It had covered until coull see nothing but . blccl; sYo5, and it was two or three mir ut-s bcforc it moved again. Then it sud denly leapcd into view, bounded for the children exactly as monkey leaps. and be fore could call out it had seized little boy about two and half years old, and was re- treating with him It was on it's bind legs both arms around the child, and running with great swirtness The body was naked ald hairy, but was convinced that it was that of Q url3n being. 1 yelled out and the creature vhirled about, raised the child on Liga, and, with shriil scream of anger, dashed it down on the hard baked earth with terrible force Then it shook its fists at the villagers swarminG cut, and, dropping down on ;ii foCrs bounded away into the jungle. We found the child Gasping its last. That fling had broken almost every bone ill his EoGy. It was not until tke villagers were convinced that l had seen the creature and was assured of its identity that. She head man acknowledged 1t to Ge man wolf, and that it Lad long been menace to the locality It was, he said, his cousin, who had killed brother fifteen years before. As the creature lad now killed three children, against whom it seemed to have a particular spite, and as its presence Ecc2aced the safety of the vil- lagc, Ec would give his consent for us to seek it5 capture. helped him to reach this con- clusion by present valu-d at go, and by c.1A D. other village.
 The first thing to be done was to learn the habits of the cr-2ture. He was known to eat rccat, roots, bar.,s and almost anything else which came il his way. He must sleep, but 20 orc cocll say when, as he had been seen prowlinT around ct all hours of the day and night. He wcs very strong and fierce, and it was doubted if one of tue tiger cages would EolI h.n We decided to tempt his curiosity, cEL, to this e2d, one of our cages Tas placed i3 the jungle, and the door so ar ranged as 10 shut the creature in if Le but entered. But he took no notice of the curi- osity, or, if he did, it was to fight shy of the suspected trap. Twice in three days be was seen again on the borders of the village, evi- denIy Ec-t ou further mischief, and the na- tivcs finally foral path which the man wolf used il Coi@G and coming from water hole. As SOca Cs they came in with the news, we started out 10 set a different trap for him. The steel traps to catch wild animals havc no teeth, and the jaws come together ia a way to give onc a leverage on t9c other I have E,own of q full grown tiger being caught by the foot cd firmly held in a tran no l@rgcr t!:ca the boys set for mink and v-4S l:;r.t. We replaced the chain with half u4ch rope II2do Cf native grasses, ard as soon as a suitable spot had been selected We e-,c2vated a hole. buried the trap out of sight, and hen bent down a sapIing and tied tlc c2d of the rope to it. This sapl.ny vas held d VII by Q trigger, whicl Q sharp pull would release
 When the trap had bcea set no eve could detect aEtLing suspicious around the spot, and v7c felt certain that t,!e creature would get in o trouble if Ec passed that way. When we could do TO more VIC retired to the viii lagc, about Q El;le away. It was about sun down when we arrived, and we were just in time to see a wonderful proceeding A large and savage looking hyena came out of the jungle and sn;ffed and snulTed and growled ct Us from q distance of about twenty rods. Ne rcfraiDed from shooting, for fear tue reports Tocld f.ightea the man wolf away, and while q hundred of Us stood gazing at the best another suddenly appeared. It was the sane creatute l saw from the hammock.
 1t is the man wolff" rloaued a score of natives il chorus, and Gt least . dozen of them s,1,-k away into their Euts.
 But the Eecst Lad rot come to disturb us He had evidently been tracking the Lyena, and Ec was there for revenge. He bounded over tho ground with great leaps, and the hye>a Gid not suspect his approach. The last boC1d UGs tremendous c;-rve il the air, and as the i.l2a wolf came down it v1s full upon the hyel2'5 ,bac.l. He uttered terrible scream Gs Ee stt-.cl;, and the hye2a gave vc2t ssa Sar-4a--s-.- l.l-- :. stz..ek. They rolled over