The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-04-10
HUNT THE TIGER
Vanderbilt and Friends Enjoying
the Sport In India
U0w the Biggest Tiger in India Wa
Caught-A New Wrinkle In
the Art Of Tiger
Hunting.
pooPYRroBT, 1894 !

rived a. Calcutta and is the guest of
my young friend, the raj ah of India.
The press dispatches further state that
the male portion of the Valiants pas
bengers, consisting of Ogden Goelet,
Eouverneur Morris, Robert Osgood and
bther New York swells, will go hunt
ing for the festive tiger among the
Islands of the Delta of the Ganges,
while the ladies will remain at Cal
cutta and enjoy the hospitality of the
native princesses. The hunt, of course,
will be conducted under the personal
direction of the rajah, who viii thus
endeavor to repay Mr.. Vanderbilt. in a
measure, for the many social cour-
ltesies extended to him on the occasion
of his recent visit to the United States.
Well, L can promise Mr.. Vanderbilt
and his party rare fun if they enter the
spirit of the game and be ''in at the
death" Tiger hunting is indeed
royal sport.
For twenty years l was engaged In
the pleasing pursuit of capturing
lions, tigers. jackals, hyenas, ele-
plants and other wild animals for the
late p. 7. Barnum, and can truthfully
assert that tiger hunting is the grand
est sport of all
had one nights experience in the
Jungle that will never forget. 1t was
while hunting for a monster tiger
which was the terror of the do
main over which, like the Brit
ish lion, he had established a sort
of self-constituted suzerainty. He had
killed no less than sixty natives of a
village situated on the left bank of the
Punjah river, tributary of the great
Indus; about three hundred miles east
of Ajax, the scene of Alexander the
Greats famous passage. The natives
had become thoroughly panic stricken
and left that section of the country in
q body. Indeed, the pretty little ham
let. when got there, resembled Gold
smiths deserted village" Not single
OK, buffalo, or even a sheep, was
In sight. Troops of British soldiers
from 'Taxila and other garrison
towns hunted for weeks for his
striped majesty, but in vain. Jupiter,
as this king of beasts was appropriate
~ termed by Capt. Helyars, of the
Eleventh light dragons, was too cum
ming for them all. He avoided all
Snares set for him, and kept far away |
from the reach of either the poisoned |
Arrows of the natives or the rifles OF
the whites. Yet, Jupiter kept up his |
depredations with marked success. !
Besides the sixty natives mentioned, |
4 Al hi
The eliminating atrocity was
reached when his tigership bounced |
upon an unfortunate soldier one |
night and ran away with his |
prey before the very eyes Of his
comrades, without even volley
being fired, so quickly was the deed
done. The soldier was one of hunt
ing party which were out four nights
looking for Jupiter, and it was his turn
70 do guard duty. The poor fellow was
half dead with exhaustion and nodded
when he should have been wide awake.
Ind met an untoward fate.
Iarrived at Atak about this time |
and heard of the exploits of Jupiter,
which were indeed the talk of that en-
tire section. l determined to catch
that tiger. cost what it would. l had
with me three true and tried white
men, the best tiger hunters that ever
invaded q Jungle, and one hundred and
twenty natives, whom l had secured
with great difficulty, so far-reaching
was the terror that Jupiter had in
spired meant to take him alive, too,
and have Barnum exhibit the greatest
tiger ever seen either in ancient or
modern times. That, you may surmise,
would be no easy undertaking.
There is only one way to take the
tiger alive and uninj urcd, and that is by
means of the trap Of these there are
two kinds-the box trap, which the
Chinese use on one side of which there
is a mirror The tiger is attracted by
his own photograph, and tugs away
viciously at the fastening of the lid,
which he succeeds in opening and is
caught very much after the manner OF
< - :, -ririature concern
The best way TO capture tiger, in
my humble opinion, is that employed
BY Hagenbeck, myself and other ex-
perienced hunters. 1t is exceedingly |
simple and effective. The tiger. being
tho most ,carnivorous of carnivorouS
\ nimals, cannot live far from water.
He must infest jungle near a river,
stream or creek. There he goes every
night to satiate himself with water.
Hence his track can be easily found.
Hero is the trick to catch him: Dig
, pit about twenty feet wide, twenty
Iset deep and twenty feet long.
Etretch across that bamboo sticks,
|nterwoven in every way, and over
these sprinkle dead leaves. so as to
look like natural ground. Then from
bach side o: the pit have stout wooden
slaves project to point Immediately
above the center of the pit, SO as to
form a perfect cone. From the apex of
tho cone have . goat or sheep sus-
pended by rope. The bleating Of the
rictim is sure to bring the tiger to the
.oene of operations. and he quickly
springs upon his prey. The slaves
give way before his weight and he
falls into the pit. For hours he will
strive TO jump out of the pit, but, OF
course. he cannot. When be has dashed
himself into an fmpotent rage and lies
weak and helpless in the bottom
Of the pit. push down a small cage,
lust enough to cover him. of tough
bamboo sticks, with only three sides
covered. Then the fourth can be easily
built under him by digging into the
ground and weaving sticks of different
grades of thickness from side to side.
When this is done the cage can be
lifted up and brought to the nearest
station. where the tiger can be trans
ferred to an iron cage and then shipped