Evening star., 1897-07-31
A REALISTIC PICTURE.
Photographing a Tiger In the Very
AoE Of Springing.

Aot Of Springing.
Speaking realistic pictures of AMI
mails" i'd al New York dealer in wild
beasts te writer for The Star. II re-
call seeink IN india about two years ago
tiger photographed under very exciting
circumstances A party of natives were
going ahprt in Ragpootana with full
grown BHhgal tiger, which they had tanned,
as they falled it. What they really did,
howeverGwas TO keep it tightly roped by
all four legs, and by the neck. and each
man heldson by main force to stout rope.
In this way they led the tiger. or the tiger
place op exhibition.
well. It thecourse of their wanderings."
continued the dealer, they came to a vii
lage near Bombay, where a photographer
fapIencd to be passing through. and he
hearn'g OF the strange company sent for
them. Now. about the only performance
that the tlser IA particularly savage beasD
had in his repertoire was killing animals.
and it occurred to the artist that an in
stantaneous photograph of the great brute
i'll the very act OF striking down its victim
would make an interesting picture. So ar
ranSem'nts were made. A full-grown buff
falo was procured and taken out to the
edge of the jungle. where it was tethered
with twenty-five feet of rope to stake.
The photographer took up his station on
foot outside the radius; of the animals
tether andsthe tiger was then brought up
on the opposite side and shown its VIC
tim. AT once it fixed it's dreadful gldring
eyes on the doomed creature. Its lips curl
ed back in a hideous snarl. and it began to
move stealthlly toward the buffalo. The
ropes were then one by one Slipped off,
and there twenty yards apart stood the
TWO beasts. But the buffalo gave no sign
Of fright or even consciousness of any
danger.
1t simply stood staring in a helpless
sort OF fascination at the advancing brute.
n GrSt l,n
stood erect, and. with restless tail. and
teeth all flashing out of the red gums,
stepped slowly forward across the inter-
vening space. Foot by foot the interval
between the buffalo and death-cruel, re-
lentieSs, frevitable-was diminished. Yet
the great horned beast never stirred. Its
eyes were fixed on the tigers. Its breath
came quick and hot from its nostrils. Once
ara again, and once more, the beast of
Trey paced on-and then stopped. 1t was
"ltn1n striking distance
Tie blnalos sides were now heaving
rapidly, and its terror was audible In its
painting. And then, quick as flash of
.lghtnng, the great striped body was
launched through the air. There was a
dull sound as 1t struck the buffalo, and
as IL sElitten by a thunderbolt,- the huge
animal. Its neck broken by the blow of the
tigers forearm, fell At this moment, this
lndehnable point of time. the artist touched
the trigger of the spring shutter. and in
the fraction of second the picture was on
ms plate-the tiger i'll the act of striking
And none too soon. for. before the hand
could slip i'll another slide, the buffaios
Knees bent beneath it. and the dead hulk
fell The tragedy was complete"
And the photographer"
he mad some trying moments. Indeed
tnefe were times when it looked as if tie
t1ser preferred the srtist to the beef; and.
mad the victim retreated to the end of its
tether the beast of prey would have been
as near the one as the other But it was
tame tiger. you know. and so the pho
tographer got his sun picture
Neither alive dead was the huge
victim seen at the exact moment of time
When 1t was sinking under the weight of
It's dreadful murderer. Swifter even than
ceath itself. the sensitive plate seized the
renection of the collapsing buffalo before it
mad time to die. and though the end was,
numanIy speaking, instantaneous. the one
teat OF the heart that interviewed between
the awful blow of the tigers paw and Its
victim s actual surrender of existence suf-
nceo 1or the artist to catch and fix with
unerring fidelity the attitudes of the SLAYER
and the slan.',