The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-02-01
A TIGERS FIGHT FOR LIFE.
Thrilling story of Contest in
Singapore JungIes.
From the Stralts Time


To the Editor of the Straits Times-Sir:
With reference to your account in Mon
days paper of the shooting of tiger at
Tampenis by myself you would make it
appear that Messrs. Nav and Ovens beat
ers simply put out the beast, and it was at
once shot dead by Mr.. Owen. This, how
ever. conveys anything but a fair account
of what really happened, and in fairness
to another sportsman, who was very much
more lin at the death" than myself | shall
feel obliged by your giving your readers
the following account of the shoot.
For weeks past, the manager of the Clear
Water Dairy Farm at Tampenis has been
anxious to get rid of a tiger which had
taken up its abode In the jungles between
Changie and the farm and had taken off
three of his calves during the past three
weeks. Knowing the tiger to be paying pc
riodical visits to the farm. | left couple of
my crackers at Tampenis to keep a look
out for him, and whenever they tracked
him into anything like a beatable bit of
jungle to let me know, and Mr.. Nav and
myself held ourselves in readiness to go
out at a moments notice, This led to our
paying frequent visits to Tampenis within
the last fortnight with view to beating
him out of jungles into which my men
had tracked him, but he invariably man.
aged either to sneak away without being
seen or lie up in some impenetrable jun
gle.
On Sunday he was tracked into small
strip of jungle quite close to the Tampenis
road off the seven and a half milestone.
We beat this jungle with the result that
we put him out, but, as on previous oc-
casions, he managed TO evade the guns.
We, however, saw the place he broke COW
er and the direction he was moving in.
Tv.n he sr,fa S,1Y,e 10
about a couple of miles away Mr.. Nav
and myself ran to the opposite side of the
jungle in order to cut him off before he
got through, telling the beaters at the
same time to follow the footprints of the
tiger and beat him out to where we were
going TO take up our positions. In this
they were successful, and after about an
hours beating the tiger broke cover in
front of my position, and having got clear
of the jungle and travelled about a quar-
ter of a mile in the thick fern and lall-
ang without being seen by either of the
guns, he had to cross a couple of bare
sandy patches, some 120 yards to my
right. When we reached the first patch
1 found he was moving in the direction
of the second, which was a few yards
nearer to where | was standing, so I
waited until / got the closer shot, and
then / put two into him from my SIT eX-
press rifle-one a body shot, the other
breaking his hind leg in a most ghastly
fashion, completely SCATTERING the bone
to fragments.
In spite of this he managed to get
away, and by following up the blood
tracks, which were easily visible, wherever
| he went, we tracked him into another
| jungle behind where l was standing. TAX
| ing it for granted that he would not go
| very far in his wounded condition, Mr.
| Nav and myself ran to the opposite side
/ Of Ia to in h i'm in
| structed the beaters to again follow him
up and endeavor to put him out. Up till
| now nothing very thrilling had taken
| place, although ones feelings were not of
| the pleasantest when following up the
! blood trial through thick underground,
! not knowing the moment you might al
most walk on top of him.
| Now, it happened that another party of
! sportsmen, Messrs H:enerWadel and Kess-
/ Ter, We're beating this piece of jungle into
which the tiger had moved-for pig. They,
1 hearing the shots and knowing that we
were beating for the tiger. stopped their
! beating for pig and took up positions on
the top of hill, judging that if the tiger
We're put out and got past us he would run
in their direction. which happened to be
/ the case for one of their crackers had two
! shots at him and Mr. HienerWadel got one
1 at about eight yards distance; the brute
| then moved in the direction of bit of
| swamp about half a mile off and was there
| put "at bay by some of Mr.. HienerWa-
! ders dogs. Mr.. Hienerwadel pushed his
way through about 200 yards of thick I'M
dergrowth and got to within five yards OF
| the wounded beast, when he put shot
| into him from a 800 Winchester repeater.
| The tiger then moved on little further and
! Mr. H. followed him; in doing so he got
his feet entangled in creepers, and some
what to his establishment found himself
within two yards of the tiger He then
fired four shots in quick succession, and
| as Mr.. Fl. expresses it ''he received every
/ bullet with tremendous roar Mr.. ri.
having exhausted his supply of ammuni-
ton then climbed up a tree and called to
his men to bring his second gun.
Mr. HIS account of the last moments OF
the poor beast is: 1.-THE tiger pulled himself
together again and went on, but the dogs
were so keen that they did not allow him
| to go further than three or four yards at
a time | am really astonished at the pluck
these pariahs displayed in sticking to MIN
in the way they did. In this manner the IL
ger moved for about twenty or thirty
| wards, when he lay down, making a splen-
did struggle for life, hitting IN all directions
with his paws with apparently considera-
BILE force. 1t was a splendid picture and
rare one to witness When l got my sec
ond gun / went closer to him and gave
him two more bullets
Thus ended the career of fine, Well
| conditioned tiger which measured feet 1
inches over all-the tail only accounting
for feet inches of this measurement
hight at the shoulder feet 3 inches, ] am
etc. U. T. owen
Singapore, Dec. 2.
A pu5FUly II