The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-10-22
MAN-EATERS OF INDIA.
Some Thrilling Narratives of Mar
row Escapes From Them.

row Escapes From Them.
From the Wide World Magazine,
The most strictly accurate and graphic
accounts of man-eating tigers in India fail
to convey an adequate sense of the awful
terror which these terrible brutes inspire
in the breasts of the unfortunate villagers,
whom they haunt like evil demons. In or
binary cases the tiger or leopard attacks
the village herds more or less openly, and
the herdsmen, finding that the enemy will
as a rule, retreat on being shouted at with
vigor, are not m bodily fear all the time,
although 1 have known instances of the
herdsman being killed by a tiger that he
mad presumed to interrupt while enjoying
meal from one of mis- cattle.
They become more dangerous when they
have tasted the blood of their victim. ana
are not usually disposed to give it up
without fight. I remember the case OF
a survey officer in India who, being told
of "lill' near his work. went to inspect
it unarmed. The tiger, disturbed at his
meal, rushed out suddenly at the party,
and in his headong fight the officer, most
fortunately for himself, tripped and fell
into some long grass and bushes. The
tigers attention being drawn to the ma
tiVes, who were climbing trees like mon
keys in hurry he made for them, allow
ing the officer to crawl away in fear and
trembling as quietly as he could.
But in the case of the man-eater every
thing is different Having discovered his
power to kill the genus homo more easily
than big ape, he takes every possible ad-
vantage of it at every turn. Neither by
night nor by day are they safe, and life
become one long terror, for whether the
natives are working in the fields or fetch
| tho
the well, they know not at what turn they
may be seized.
1 know one man-eater in Mysore that
was credited with over 800 victims, and
| the government offered a reward of 500
| rupees for his skin. He was so bold as
| to think nothing of bounding into a crowd
| of travellers on the high road in daylight,
and of carrying off either a pedestrian or
the driver of bullock cart from his seat
He was not content with the usual tao
tics of Selling his prey outside, but used
to break into hutS to get at them. Two
English officers, friends of mine, who went
after this scourge. were shown a hut out
side the village Enclosure, where a poor
| Dher, low-caste man, not allowed 10
! dwell within the village precincts for fear
of polluting them, had lived with his wife
and infant. He was blind and, one night,
| being awakened by a strange noise be-
gan to crawl and grope about the hut
ne put Ills maui Suuu6IlX on the man.
eater, which had pushed the door open,
killed the woman and child, and was
drinking their blood, when the man hand
was laid upon him Doubtless suspecting
trap, he bounded out of the hut without
touching the man. What a picture for a
Landseer
But among the multitude of such sto-
ries l venture to think that the following
bears away the palm for grewsome hor-
ror, and its truth has been confirmed from
many sources. l had it from a relative
the owner of the tea estate in Assam
where 1t occurred. S. B. was not many
years ago-and, for all 1 know, still is
the manager of a tea garden In Assam
where man-eater was in the habit of
carrying off the estate coolies for his din
ner, probably finding them much less
trouble than deer or a pig. At last, en-
boldened, no doubt, by unhindered sue
cess IN obtaining victims, he took to car
rylng OF coolies who were sleeping in the
verandaS of the managers bungalow
Many traps had been laid for him tbe
bodies of his victims poisoned, watchers
with guns on the lookout over the killed
men, but so great was his cunning that
he had escaped them ALL
Everything having failed, things had be-
come desperate, and B. and some Of his
planter friends determined to sit up for
the tiger in the veranda, with native
blankets disgusting them-an exceedingly
exciting business, for, be 1t remembered
no lights were allowed and the brute
cared nothing for numbers, so that his an.
pearance might be too sudden for IN
steady nerves. One of the planters after
they had sat a long time in breathless
suspense, entered the house for something
that he wanted, and while looking for II
was startled by a sudden terrible uproar
in the veranda, which he had lust left
Selling his rifle he rushed out to find ALI
the party gone, but from the dark tea
garden he heard the voice of s. b
calling out In agony: Help, for Gods
sakel Help! The tigers got me! Help,
helDr
Fixing his bayonet he ran toward the
spot, and in the dim gloom made out the
outline of the tiger dragging b. who
was walking by its side his hand in the
brute's mouth! Without a moments hest
tation, he rushed up TO the tiger plunged
the bayonet into its side and a the same
time pulled the trigger. The tiger fell re-
leasing b, and both rushed back to the
house; but before they could reach the
steps the tiger was upon them and again
seized poor b, biting and clawlng his
back and shoulders in a terrible manner
1t was mercifully, an expiring effort for
the brute fell dead before II could Kill B.
II then transpred that the tiger had stolen
IN upon the watchers like a shadow, with
out the slightest warning, and had seized
the nearest one who happened to be b
by the hand, which he had raised to de-
fend himself. and had commenced to drag
him off. In his agony he rose to his feet
and after descending the steps Of the
bungalow, was actually walking off with
his hand In the tigers mouth, to be de-
voured when his friend, by his courage
and presence of mind, rescued him from
an awful death The other watchers. ut
terly panic-stricken, had made for the
nearest door, and had 1t not been for the
GOODNESS OF his brave rescurer, b would
have been added TO the long HIST Of the
man-eateT's victims. After being in for
many months B. recovered, 10 tell the
awful tale Of how he had been led away
10 be eaten.n