River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1890-05-15


man-eater who had rendered himself a
terror to a large district Hearing of
the presence of the American, they came
70 him instead. The Government bounty
on the head Of man-eater at that time
was sixty dollars The villagers offered
10 make up sixty additional and to give
the Captain a COW and four goats In
ten minutes he had closed a bargain,
and on the afternoon of the second day
we reached Aliwar. II was situated on
the Scindwala river, which Is one of the
tributaries of the Ganges. and within
fifteen miles of the foothills of the
Himalaya Mountains. The country
was badly broken and covered
with heavy forest and jungle, and
the Captain pronounced it the
finest tiger range in India The village
contained about seven hundred inhab-
itsnts, and had considerable commerce
with points lower down on the stream.
1t was on the bank of the river strung
out for half mile, and the cleared
space thus occupied was not more than
q quarter Of a mile wide. A DAYS work
on the part of the villagers would have
been sufficient TO clear away the cover
under which the tiger approached. but
not a move was made. The beast had
appeared about four weeks previous, and
the first intimatiOn of his presence cost
q woman her life. She was cooking at
a fire on the north side of the village,
not over ten feet from the door at which
her husband and three children sat,
when a tiger. who had come out of a
ravine and kept the cover of some
bushes, sprang upon her. This was Just
at shutdown The spring of the tiger
knocked the woman into the fire. lie
seized her by the foot and drew her out.
and, although her clothing was on fire.
he took hold of her shoulder, gave her
body twist 10 throw the weight on his
back and was off at a run The woman
must have been killed by the blow of
his paw as he sprang, IS she made no
cry.
In the four weeks which had elapsed
since the man-eater appeared he had
carried of seven people, and for a dis
tance of ten miles around the people
were in great terror. There were half
a dozen cid muskets owned in Al;war,
and these had been loaded and dis
charged at the ravine at high noon in
hopes to scare the tiger away. Two
nights previous 70 our arrival the tiger
had entered a hut through an open win
dow, seized a boy ten years of age, and
made his exit by the door. The cries
u the boy awOke every one in the viii
lage and could be heard long way up
the ravine. He had not come the night
before, but was expected to show up on
this, the night of our arrival We
reached the place about two hours be-
fore shutdown and as soon as the
Captain got the Law OF the land he
made his plans. Two huts on the
northern edge of the village were aban-
doned to us. The Captain and one of
his men took one, and a second native
and myself occupied the other. All had
guns, and the plan was to watch for the
tiger and pot him. The hut l occupied
belonged 20 storage merchant II was
9 solid building, made of small logs and
q heavy thatch roof. The ground floor,
which was the only one. occupied a
space of about 16x24 feet 1t had one
door and two windows The door and
one window were in front and the other
window at the rear Sixteen feet from
the door bamboo partition ran across
the room In this rear room goods be-
longing 70 various parties we're slowed
At fixed charge. while the family oc-
cupied the front room as a living room.
The door in the partition slid up and
down in grooves
When we began our watch we fastened
the door securely The window beside
1t was an opening about two feet square,
protected only By cloth curtain. The
one at the rear had a wooden blind. and
this was fastened on the outside.
IL was a hot and sultry night, and We
had jar OF water and brandy in the
stOre-rOOni- The front window COM
manded a good view of the country over
which the tiger was expected TO APP
prOach. and for two hours peered and
listened and waited, but without re-
ward. The native was stretched on the
floor and sound asleep. Weary with
standing on my feet and my throat very
dry for the want OF moisture. / quietly
aroused my companion and told him to