The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1891-09-16
THE TIGER MAN.

When at Bombay in 1859. making prepare
lions to go up the country and fill an order
for six tigers for Amsterdam, very singular
parsonage crossed my path. had boon in
India for two years as the agent Of the great
German animal house and had sub-agents In
dozen districtsL We were constantly for
warding serpents, jackalls, hyenas, wolves,
buffaloes, tigers, and such curiosities an fell
into our traps, and now and then received
an extra order. The order for ''six
wild, full grown tigers, males preferred"
came from Egypt Messages were sent
to sub-agents, and got ready for q trip to
the northeast, among the tiger junglea One
afternoon a stranger was announced under
the name Of Oval he was q tall, stiff
appearing figure, moving with all the dig
| nifty Of q prince, but his face was so horribly
disfgured that couldn't repress start Of
surprise. He had been born with a single
eye, and that almost In the center Of his
face. His nose was like that of a dog, and
his mouth was wide, almost without lips, and
full OF fanga He was more Of a freak than
Jo-Jo, the dog-faced, and would have been O
great card In a museum he expected 20 see
ms start with surprise, and he expected me
to look at him with surprise He gave me
plenty OF time, and then, bowling very low,
he said,
Il am told the sahib is a hunter of beastA
"Yes"
"You capture them aliveF'
"Yes.n
II SHOULD like to go with you. am
| called the Tiger Man lam not afraid Of
any wild beast No animal dares attack men
He informed me that he had come from a
village called Johpur, on the Gadavery river,
200 miles away, and that scores of people
| would vouoh for the truth of his statements.
Twice within the year had heard of this
man and his wonderful doings, but had put
no faith In the stories That he possessed
wonderful magnetism over the animal crea-
ton he soon gave me proofs The next bunga-
low on the right was occupied by Capt.
Richard Taylor, Of the Fifty-nIst Native in
fantry. He had savage dog chained up in
the rear of the house. The brute was dan
gerous, and bad not boen free from his chain
for two months. The servants had to throw
him his food, and even the captain dared not
go within reach
III you are tiger man you are not afraid
OF savage dogr lqueried as he finished a
statement of his wonderful powers.
Lead me to the beast he CURLY replied.
| The captain was at home, and l won't over
and told him Of the natives presence. Then
we called the man over, and after the cap
tain had satisfied his curiosity he said to
him:
"You may be brave man, but do not ex-
pose yourself. My dog viii kill you If you
go near him l shall have him shot this
week.
Your dog will cover and whine" soberly
answered Oval
well, the risks be on your own head"
We passed around the bungalow and
through gate, and the dog, who was about
fifty feet away, at once sprang up and tug
ged savagely at his chain. There could be
no doubt Of his savage fury. His eyes blazed,
he frothed at the mouth, and his efforts to
break the stout chain filled me with alarm.
The native waited q minute before showing
himself. As soon as he stepped in front OF
us there was a change in the dogs demeanor.
Indeed, he seemed to dodge, as If q missile
had passed close to his ear Tho native slowly
approached, and before he was within ten
feet of him the dog was down on his belly
and uttering whines for mercy Oval un-
fastened the collar on his neck, spoke three
or four words in low voice and then walked
about, and the dog followed at his heel. Such
change from savage fury to utter servility
was astounding. 1t was plain that the dog
was cowed and afraid, and that Oval had
wonderful powers He approached us and
as be came close up the dog never raised his
eyes to give us a look. He kept his eyes on
the ground, and We could see that he was in
a tremble of fear
as the sahib satIsaedr quietly asked
Oval at the eud Of ten minutes
"YeRn
EIa rand i,,otsd tba ,,oIia, n,d Al
into his box, SO cowed and overcome that a
child might have used whip on him. While
this adventure with the dog did not prove
that Oval would have equal success with
wild beasts, saw that he was valuable man
for our party, and at once engaged him He
stated that the district from which he camo
was infested with many large serpents and
wild beasts, and his suggestions as TO our pro-
ceedings wero very busineSslike and valuable.
Besides the six of US regularly engaged in the
traffic, Maj. Lawrence, of the Eighth Light
cavalry; Col. Shaw, of the Nineteenth regi-
ment, and Capt Smith, commanding a bat
/ terry attached to the Eleventh native regi-
ment, were allowed to accompany u.s. they
having permits Of absence and desiring to go
on hunt. We occupied twelve days on the
| Journey, which were without startling Incl
dent, and one afternoon arrived In good
shape at the village of Johpur. Without a
hint to me, and in some manner yeaIlnknown,
the Tiger Man had sent word on dhead, and
the first thing we saw on entering the village
were six stout cages, which the natives had
constructed to hold the six tigers we had
come for. 1t was case of providing the
cage before the bird was caught, and it set
tied my belief that Oval was what he claimed
to be.
We received warm welcome at the VII
lage and atter a little the head man told me
further about the Tiger Man. He had been
found in the forest when only couple of
weeks old, and had ever since been regarded
as only half human. He possessed strange
power over wild or domestic animals, and
had several times compelled man eating
tigers to follow him into and about the vii
/ lage like dog. When | asked why he had