Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1895-08-14
ORANG-OUTANGS.
An Army Led by Chief Seeking
Revenge.
ATROCITIES PRACTICED BY THEM
Settlers Loved by the Heroic Self saeri-
fee Of Native servant-The Loose
Haired Apes.

Democrat: Although my house in the
mountainous district is but four hours
from Penang over the carriage route
through the forest, one may reach the
sea in half that time on horseback along.
the river front. The neighborhood
abounds in wild animals, yet until six
weeks ago l was not aware that the
orang- outangs are numerous In these
parts. / made the acquaintance of
the man of the-woods at the time men,
toned when returning from the coast
ON horseback. My Malay servant.
Pamba, a noted tiger hunter, fearless
to the bone, was in my company.
We came upon the apes quite unex-
pectedly within sight of my farm
house. There were thirty or forty of
them. fact which is quite contrary to
the conviction of some of the noble
gentlemen who write books on zoology.
Instantaneously the memory of this
sentence from an old-time text book,
"rang-outangs do not live in society.
except when a pair has a family IN
charge" revived in my mind, but the
spectacle before me was not favorable
to a reminiscent mood.
The loose-haired apes were in a
state of great excitement. They seemed
to discuss matter of great consequence
to themselves and shrieked wildly. ges-
ticulating at the same time after the
manner of the low Italians. All ap-
peared to be above five feet high; in
deed, many of them must have reached
seven feet. When first caught sight
of the troop of apes the majority were
on all tours. but now that their savage.
ness increased they swung the body
awkwardly forward between the arms,
supporting it by their bent knuckles.
Suddenly the entire mob turned
against the orang-outang that stood in
their midst like a prisoner. They
beat him, using, as far as ] could see,
their left hand principally. Then gray
haired man. Of the-woods let out a
terrifying screech, which was probably
a signal, for Immediately afterwards
himself and all his mates began to tear
to pieces the comrade condemned to
death. l heard his bones break, SO
near was to the place of execution.
The oraDg outang cried piteously, his
voice resembling that OF woman in
sore distress. The novel quartering
process lasted for about thirty or thirty
five seconds. AS the orang-outangs
formed a circle around the mutilated
body Of their victim / heard shot.
Pamba had fired in the midst of them.
All fed but one, an old ape, who
rolled on the ground with broken
arm. The Malay advanced upon him.
whereupon the animal ran off.
Ny servant is native of these parts
and is intimately acquainted with Its
animal world. He gave as his opinion
that these orang-outangs had never
seen a white man and did not know
anything of firearms. The shot had
startled and frightened them. When
we reconted our adventure at home my
wife almost swooned away with terror.
As il happened she had received a visit
from missionary's wife stationed in
the interior of the peninsula that very
day, who had filled her mind with
various stories descriptive of the oraDg-
outangs ferocious and revengeful
nature. To sootht her promised to
go out of the way of the orang outaDgs
thereafter. Pamba was ordered never
under any circumstances to hunt them.
also ordered my servants not to go
out in the forest alone and to always
carry firearms when leaving the
stockade. The whites In the neighbor-
hood all wear duck or linen suits. the
bright color of which frightens away
animals. even tigers; besides, we kept
to the house after dark.
About a week ago Pamba appeared
breathless in the dining room, just as
we were sitting down to our evening
meal. "They have come" he cried.
"See for yourself master. /"
I walked out onto the veranda, and.
following the Malay's direction. OBJ
served large number of orang- outangs
at the end of the carriage
way leading to my house. In front of
them stood colossal gray haired ape.
who undoubtedly acted the part of the
leader. He was screeching and chat
tering away at tremendous rate,
pointing toward us as he did so.
Look at his ARM" said Pamba.
THAT is where my shot struck him."
1t was indeed the orang- outang we
had encountered, to his sorrow. some
time ago. The longer l observed him
the more convinced / became of the
fact. 1--WE ought to teach him
lesson" I said. Fetch my guns. +"
Pamba. trembling with bloodthirsti-
ness, after the manner of his race, went
and returned with lightning rapidity.
but before we could raise the rifles to
our cheeks the orang outangs had van
ished. The servant was rather proud
Of the fact. "Man. of the woods is
mart animal" he said; ''knows when
ne has enough. Will not stand in front
Of gum
Next morning we found the body of
/ native child in our front yard. The
nail marks at her neck were long and
harp. The orang-outangs had entered