The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-01-23
FIERCE Fight WITH A BABooN.
Struggle for Life on the Brink OF q
Precipice.
From the Graf Rsfast Advertiser.

Er6ClplC6s
From the Graf Reiaet kdUertiser.
Twas walking through NV lands and had
my gun with me, and the balloons were
screaming on the top Of the rocky prscipice
that overhusg my homestead. The dogs in
the farm yard on hearing the noise the
balloons were making rushed up the mount,
ain and were soon engaged with them 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
arrived at the summit of the krantz num-
Der of balloons fed. fired and wounded
one in the shoulder; he was Immediately
pursued and tackled by the only dog Ieft,
the others having been torn to pieces. The
struggle for life or death was taking place
between the wounded baboon and the dog
on the very brink OF the precipice. had
not another cartridge for my gun, so put
it down and picked up couple OF large
stones and walked to within few yards of
the spot. was Just In the act Of hurting
one Of them at the baboon when suddenly
tremendous male bsboou. the largest have
seen, came straight at msin bold and de-
FAINT manner, his eyes cleaning
with anger aud rage, aud his
huge jaws working together as
If in anticipation OF the crunching shat was
in store for me. IjussaIhad timeIto ohnrl
the stone, in my appraised hand. at him
when be was upon ms. Bd1e seizad 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 | tried to get hold of a stone, | at
tempted to seize him by the throat, dealt
him several blows with my fist, but it was
all useless; the strength of this enraged
African mandrill overpowered and mas-
tered me compile ely.
After he had finished with my leg he
raised himself on his hind legs put his arm
around me aud seized hold Of me on the
chest with his powerful jaws What could
| do! Every now aud then be let go of my
breast and snapped at my throat l seized
him by the throat with my right hand and
clinched my fingers, but he would not yield
his grasp for a single moment. Every time
moved he dragged me nearer to the edge
Of the preclpice, and we were now within
three feet of the brink and the ground
sloping down to it; l knew that
if l for moment lost my footing
down we should go into the chasm below.
The wounded baboon and the dog that
were responsible for the awful predicament
in which l 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
ouOu4O uOb Db dDlb ~ uOkQ Oub uluCu iOn~
ger, as am old man, considerably over 90.
At this stage bethought myself of pen
knife l had in my waistcoat pocket IL
could only get it out might ward him off
by stabbng him in the face l gradually
got my left hand in into my pocket and got
the knife out, the brute scratching and
tearing my face with his hands all the
while. got it to my mouth and held it
there till bad an opportunity of opening
1t with my left hand. / then began stabbing
and prodding him, but the knife was not
large enough to do him much damage. |
drew blood, however, the sight Of which
only made him more vicious still. By this
time had scarcely vestige of clothing
left. and my lacerated body bore tokens OF
what South African baboon can do when
he chooses to tackle and fight an unarmed
man. was wondering how all this was
going to end, when one of the dogs
that had been wounded in the fight,
and which 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; they had
one rough-and-tumbe and then the baboon
walked sullenly away along the ridge of the
precipice, looking back frem time to time as
If undecided whether he should renew the
attack. 1t was some time before / could re-
cover sufficient strength to descend the
mountain. got home, however, and the
dog, too, after an encounter, such as | shall
never forget and the like Of which hope
never to experience again.