The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-07-28
ARMY OF ORANG-oUTANGS.
LED BY A WOUNDED OLD CHIEF,
SEEKING REVENGE.
The Family Saved by the Heroic
seIf-Sacrifice of IA Native Servant.

The Family Saved by the Heroic
seIf-Sacrihce of IA Native Servant.
NaIacca Correspondence Globe-Demorcrat
Although my house in this mountain
Gus district is but four hours from Penang
over the carriage route through the for
est. one may reach the sea in half the
time on horseback along the river front.
/ The neighborhood abounds in wild ami
mails. yet. until six weeks ago. I was not
aware that the Orang-outaugs are hume
rous in these parts. I made the acquaint-
I ance of the man-of-the-wOods at the time
mentioned when returning from the coast
on horseback. Ny Malay servant, Pamba,
a noted tiger hunter. and fearless TO the
/ backbone, was IN my company.
We came upon the apes quite unexpected
" within sight OF my farmhouse. There
were thirty or forty of them. a fact that
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, "Orang-outangs do not live in society
except when a pair has a family in
charge" revived in my mind. but the spec
tacle before me was not favorable 10 a
reminiscent mood.
The loOse-haired apes were in a great
state of excitement. They seemed to dis
cuss a matter Of immense consequence TO
themselves. and shrieked wildly, gesticu-
/ latiRg at the same time after the manner
of the low Italians. All appeared to be
above five feet high indeed many of them
must have reached seven feet. When I
first caught sight Of the troop of apes the
majority were on all tours. but now that
I their sava geness increased they swung the
/ body awkwardly forward between the
/ arms, supporting il 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 l could see their left
/ hand principally. Then a gray-haired
| man-of-the-woods let out a terrifying
screech, which was probably a signal, for
! Immediately afterward himself and all
/ his mates began to tear to pieces the com
rade condemned to death. I heard his
| bones break, SO near was I TO the place
I of execution. The ourang-outang cried
| piteously, his voice resembling that of
woman in sore distress. The novel quar-
/ tering process lasted for about thirty to
1 thirty-five seconds. AS the ourang-ou-
| tangs formed circle around the mutilat-
ed body of their victim I heard a shot
| Pamba had fired in the midst of them All
fled but one. an old ape. who rolled on the
! ground with a broken arm. The Malay
| advanced upon him, whereupon the ami.
NAL ran OF.
My servant is a native of thes parts and
IS intimately acquainted with its animal
world. He gave as his opinion that these
1 Low Ivnarr co. -. -
man and did not know anything of fire
arms. The shot had startled and frighten-
ed them.
When we recountered our adventure at
home my wife almost swooned away with
terror. As it happened she had received a
visit from a missionary's wife stationed in
| the interior of the peninsula that very
day who had filled her mind with various
stories descriptive Of the orang-outangs
! ferocious and revengeful nature. To
soothe her I promised to go out of the way
Of orang-outangs thereafter Pamba
was ordered never under any circum-
stances to hunt them. I also ordered my
servants not TO so out into the forest alone
and TO always carry firearms when leaving
the stockade. The whites in this neigh
boThood all wear duck or linen suits the
bright color Of which frightens away ami
mails, 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"
walked out into the veranda. and, fol-
lowing the Malays direction, observed a
large number of ourang-outangs assem-
bled at the end of the carriageway lead
ing to my house. In front of them stood
a colossal gray haired ape, who undoubt-
edly acted the part of the leader. He was
screeching and chattering away at a ire
mendous rate, pointing toward US as he
did so. Look at his arm" said Pamba.
That is where my shoot struck him"
1t was indeed the orang-outang we had
encountered, to his sorrow, some time ago
The longer 1 observed him the more con.
WINGED I became of the fact. I'VE ought
to teach him lesson" / said. Fetch
my guns" Pamba, trembling with blood
thirstiness, after the manner of his race
went and returned with lightning rapdity
but before we could raise the rifles 70 ouI
checks the orang-outangs had vanished
The servant was rather proud Of the fact
'Man-of-the-wcods is smart animal" he
said; knows when he has enough VII
not stand in front of a gun"
Next nornig we found the body Of a ma.
tive child in our front yard. The little one
had been strangled to death. The mai
marks az her neck were long and sharD
The orang-outangs had entered upon thei,
campaign of revenge.
This death in the circles of natives in.
trusted to our care struck my poor wife
as an evil omen. Her condition became
worse and her excitability at last so pro
nounced that l decided to take her TO Pc.
nang at once and send her home by the
next mail steamer. Last Saturday after.
noon at 3 oclock our carriage was brought
10 the door. Pamba took me by the arm
and said: IF the master be wise he VII
wait until tomorrow and not drive
through the forests, which are full of fe.
rocious Beasts
! l laughed away his misgivings. MY good