The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1892-05-28
FIGHTING WITH A BAB0ON.
A Mans Desperate Hand to Hand Battle
with Monster Anthropoid.

A Mans Desperate Hand to Hand Battle
with a Monster Anthropoid.
was walking through my lands
and had my gun with me, and the
balloons were screaming on the top
of the rocky precipice that over
hangs my homestead. The dogs in
the farm, on hearing the noise the
baboons were making, rushed up to
the mountains and were soon en-
gagged in a deadly fight. l took up
my gun and climbed up the mountain
for the purpose of assisting the dogs
and in the hope of saving them from
being torn to pieces. When l
reached the summit OF the krantz a
number OF balloons fled. l fired and
wounded one in the shoulder; he was
Immediately pursued and tackled by
the only dog leift, the others having
been torn to pieces. The struggle
for lite or death was taking place
between the wounded baboon and
the dog on the very brink of pre-
cipice. had not another cartridge
for my gun, so put it down and
picked up a couple of large stones
and walked to within few yards of
the spot.
l was just in the act Of hurting one
OF them at the baboon when sudden
ly a tremendous male baboon, the
largest | have seen, came straight at
me in bold and defiant manner,
his eyes cleaning with anger and
his huge jaws working together as if
in anticipation of the crunching that
was in store tor me. | just had time
to hurl the stone in my now unraised
hand when he was upon me. He
seized me by the leg first and bit me
with such violence that thought
every bone in my leg was smashed
to atoms. | kicked with all my
might, l tried to get hold of a stone,
| attempted to seize him by the
throat, dealt him several blows with
my fist, but it was all useless; the
strength of the enraged African
mandrill overpowered me complete
ly.
After he had finished with my leg
he raised himself on his hind legs,
put his arm around me and siezed
hold of me on the chest with his
powerful jaws What could | dor
Every now and then he let go his
hold of my breast and snapped
my throat. | seized him by the
throat with my right hand and
clinched my fingers, but he would
not yield his grasp for single
moment. Every time l moved he
dragged me nearer to the edge of
the precipice, and we were now with
in three feet OF the brink and the
ground sloping down to it. | knew
that if | for a moment lost my foot
ing down we should go into the
chasm below. The wounded baboon
and the dog, that were responsible
for the awful predicament in which |
now found myself, had just rolled
over into the abyss. We had been
at it nearly an hour, and as the
baboon showed no signs OF releasing
me | felt | should not be able to
hold out much longer, as | am an
old man, considerably over sixty.
At this stage l thought myself of
a penknife l had in my waistcoat
pocket. II | could only get it out
might ward him off by stabbing him
in the face. | gradually got my left
hand into my pocket and got the
knife, the brute scratching and tear
ing my face with his hands ali the
while. l got it to my mouth and
held it there till l had an opportun-
ity of opening it with my left hand.
| then began stabbing and prodding
him, but the knife was not large
enough to do him much damage. l
drew blood, however, the sight of
which only made MIN more vicious
still. By this time l had scarcely a
vestige of clothing LETT, and my lac
Grated body bore tokens of what a
South African baboon can do when
he chooses to tackle and fight an
unarmed man.
l was wondering how all this was
going to end, when one of the dogs
that had been wounded in the fight
and had recovered sufficiently to make
his way to where we were seized the
animal from behind. l felt the brute
wished to get at the dog. He threw
himself from me upon the dog. >ehey