The Lafayette gazette. [volume] (Lafayette, La.) 1893-1921, 1894-03-17
A HUNTRESS OF INDIA.
Her Victorious Encounter with a
Savage Man-Eater.

Her Victorious Encounter with a.
Savage Man-Eater.
Mrs. A. w. Salmon, wife of an Of
Hcer in the Indian police, enjoys the dis
tiDction of being one of the few ladies
who have sought for and found a genu-
Inc man-eating tiger and laid the king of
the jungle low, unaidcd by hunters Of
the sterncr sex. Mrs. Salmon has had
the pleasure of bagging two of these
ncrce brutcS. and has also shot a
panther and any number of smaller
fry, such rs jaclxals and deer.
Mrs Salmon is at present visiting
some old friends in San Francisco. and
told reporter the story of how she
shot and killed a ten-foot man cater ur
In the Nilgherry hills. in the Madras
district.
81 first went to India in 1888, and
during the seven years of my stay
there l Travelled nearly all the time.
My husband was continually on the
move, and was always with him when
possible.
T. Before I went TO India passed two
years in the western part of the United
States. and had learned to use rifle
pretty well, and often tried my skill
on 3ackals, deer and such animals as we
met on our trips from, place to place
Through the jungle. The hills around
The sanitarium are covered with heavy
brush and long grass. and as a rule are
rather free from tigers, but that sum-
mer the heat was so great that, like
ourselves, the big man-eaters sought
the nt;is, and soon after we got settled
down the natives began to bring in
stories of tigers which had been seen
in the vicinity.
My favorite weapon was an meri-
can Winchester repeating rifle-one of
those 44-caliber guns which seem to be
a favoritc with American hunters. Be-
sides this had heavier rihe-also a
Wlnchester-andi it was with this rifle
that ] bagged my big tiger.
s'During the summer of 1886 a party
of my husbands A-iends, who were
stopping at the Ootacamund sanitari-
UNI. way up in tho Nilgherry hills, in
vlted us up on n visit, and, as the heat
in the lower country was simply ter
rife, we gladly accepted the invitation.
Little was thought of the story until
one morning when the mail carrier
failed to appear, and when a little
leather pouch in which he carried his
letters and his stick of bells used to
scare away wild animals in the jungle
were found in the road about eight
miles from. the sanitarium, the gentle
men began to clean up their guns and
talk tiger.
Several hun ting parties went out,
but in spite of the most thorough search
not a single tiger could be found. and
then the excitement began to die down.
The birthday of one of the gentlemen
was celebrated by a picnic to spot on
the banks of the Pycarra river about
twelve miles from the sanitarium,
where we intended staying a week.
The camp, which consisted of seven
tents, was set up in the widest spot
imaginable. and we had u very pleasant
time until the fourth day, when Capt
w h went wit
other gentleman, had the misfortune
to fall in a hullah and injure himself
SO badly that he could not get out. His
companion hurried back to camp for
assistance, and as the scene of the &C
cident was not m. re than half mile
along, leaving the ladies in care of a
couple of men servants.
s.Thinking that hot water might be
required when Capt. Rays was brought
to camp, one of the ladies sent An
thony, one of the servants, to the river,
not more than one hundred yards
away, to fill a water jar. A few mo-
ments after the servant had started we
were startled by a wild cry for help.
and then all was quiet again. Think
ing that the man had been attacked by
q jackal. I seized my heaviest gun and
ran down the path toward the river.
The low brush hid everything from my
SASAe0s uAeA N1u IcdCnSu pOiuI u OOuG
twenty yards from the river, and there
saw something that made me tremble
with fear.
There on the bank of the river lay
poor Anthony, and by his side, licking
the blood from her paws, was a big tig-
resa For q few moments the sight fair
~ froze my blood, and then q sense of
personal danger and the thought that
should be the next victim, filed my
:. Up to this time I forgot that
nad rifle In my hand. and then came
Z. wild desire to try my skill. with the
t1Rress~as target All thought of
what the result would be should
Shorthand miss or only wound the big
man-cater fled from my mind a. SOW
me terrible brute pick up the body of
epe servant. md. after taking Q few