The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1897-03-25
HUNTING 4 "ROGUE'
BV CHAS 3. LEWIS

his stamping ground. lie made MS
first appearance in 1865 and for years
was veritabIe terror to an area Of
country fifty miles long by thirty
broad.
A rogue" elephant, as has often
been explained. IS male who has
either voluntarily left the herd be,
cause Of defeat On has been driven in
TO exile by his companions fer reasons
not known to man. He no sooner
takes up his solitary life than he be
comes ylndictive and reckless, and it
goes without dispute that one of these
''rogues," especially if past the age of
fifty, Is more dangerous than herd
Of dozen ordinary elephants.
This fellow was called "The Wick
ed' by all the natives in that territory,
and some OF the stories told of his do
ings were really wonderful, as well as
strictly true. His territory was along
the Suddar valley. On the eastern
edge of this valley, which is from one
to five miles wide, is dense jungle
fifty miles long, and this place was
his retreat. He was probably hunted
J after more than any other rogue"
ever heard of ia India. After a year
or two the government offered re
ward of t1O0 for his death, and before
he was finally disposed of this reward
had been increased to $500. He was
hunted on several occasions by bands
| numbering 400 men, and at least fifty
different white hunters journeyed in
T. n hn Il lIGtr al boI +,.,r Of H.,
1t was wonderful how The Wick
ed" managed to escape death so long,
but It used to be asserted that he was
an elephant only in form. The na
tives fully believed that he was the
Evil One in disguise, and more than
1000 people moved out of that pro
ductive valley on his account. The
official records of his doings would
make big book. He began killing
as soon as he appeared. One night
about midnight he entered a native
village containing about seventy huts,
penetrated to the centre, and killed
five people sleeping in hut. Even
the dogs knew nothing of his presence
until he got to work. He put his tusks
under the foundation poles of the hut
and tipped it over, and then he tram
pied on the family sleeping in the mid
die of the mud floor.
Only three or four people caught
sight of him as he moved away. A
grand hunt was organized, but he was
not even discovered. 1t was hoped
that he had been frightened out of
the district, but two or three days Ia.
ter, as native was driving bullock
cart along road at the edge of the
forest, the elephant, who was III hid
ing behind a clump of bushes, picked
the man off his seat with his trunk, and
flung him twenty feet into the air. In
the same minute he drove his long
tusks through the bullock and then
disappeared. The native was SO bad
ly hurt that he died three days later
This was on Thursday. about II
O'Clock In the morning. At3 o'clock
in the afternoon the elephant was al Il
point up the valley, exactly thirty-two
miles away, and killed a ryot, or ma
tive farmer, who was at work in his
field.
La three years, according to otfici al
returns made, The Wicked" killed
upward of 100 people. destroyed thou
sands of dollars worth OF crops, and
caused the death of hundreds of do
mestic animals. His aim was to kill
and destroy, and he went about his
work In such queer and mysterious
manner as to keep all the people
afraid of him. Wild elephants never
leave cover during daylight. This
fellow stalked abroad by day as we'll as
by night lie moved as silently and
five natives, who had been stacking
some grain, sat down to eat their lun-
cheon. 1t was high noon, and they
were half mile FROM the edge of the
Jungle The elephant came upon
them over hard and stony ground,
where the footstep of a man would
certainly have been heard, and the
first known of his presence was when
he struck two of the five down. lhe
others escaped him by leaplng into
ravlne,
When | reached the valley 1t was
half depopulated, and all those re-
naming were in continual state Of
terror Not day passed that the
elephant did not kill or attempt to
kill some one. As one of the pre-
cautions against his visits after dark
the villages had been surrounded by
| walls of dry brush. The idea was
that in breaking a way through or
over, the animal would make noise
| enough to betray his presence On
two occasions he had removed enough
! brush to make an opening, and did it
so carefully that people sleeping ten
| feet away had heard no noise. When
discovered and shouted at The Wick
ed' always made off for the Jungle
without attempting further mischief,
but he generally managed to kill some
one before an alarm was raised. At
the time l reached his stampin e
ground there We're two British army
officers hunting him at the other end
Of the Jungle. out no one had seen the
elephant for about week lie had
not left tee district, however. and
neither had he been killed.
/ l took possession of an abandoned
village at the lower end of the valley.
Here the elephant had first appeared,
and here he had killed over "a dozen
people. The villagers had at length
| become SO terror stricken that they
had abandoned the fertile spot and
moved thirty miles away. There were
about forty huts still standing, but in
stead Of occupying any one of them,
L took up my position for the night in
a ravine at the northern edge of :he
town. L had two native hunters with
nae, and to lead the elephant to be
lie1e that the villagers had returned
We tied five or six dogs to as many
doorposts. 1t was looked upon as
! doubtful if THE Wicked would show
r up, and after watching until midnight
| turned IN for a nap, IearIno both ma