The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-06-24
slBERlA'S BIG TIGERS.
FOUND IN THE SOUTHERN PORTION
OF RUSSIANS POSSESSION.

Beasts Are NIan-eaters-Larger ana
More FerOciOas Than the East In
dian Species-Hunting Them Is a
sport Attended with Great Dam
ger - Instances of Their Blood
thirstiness.
From the New York Sun.
What do you think Of this for a tiger
skim" said the manager of the fur store.
He had been showing to a reporter some
tiger skins from India. Several of these
We're very large. measuring eleven feet in
length. The skin that he now spread out
on the floor was fully twelve feet long and
broad in proportion. Not only in size but
in other respects it differed from the skins
he had shown before. On the East In
dian skins the hair was short and fine, the
stripes of black were sharply defined upon
yellow ground, giving a splendid APP
pearance on the skin now shown the
hair was long and thick, having somewhat
the character of fur; the colors were dull
er, the yellow being pale, the black mark
ings less wildly defined than in the Indian
skins.
1T is the skin of a Monaghan tiger"
the manager resumed. "Mongolian is the
trade name which we apply to all tiger
skins that come from China and regions
beyond to the north. 1 happen to know
the history of this one. It came from ST.
IBERIA. 1t sounds strange TO you, no doubt,
that there should be tigers in that bleak
part of the world where you rather would
look for wolves and Russian bears. 1t
was strange to me when 1 was new in the
business, but one finds out many queer
things in the fur trade. Some of the big
gest skins that we receive come from
there. You understand, when you think
of Il, that Siberia is a very big region and
IL stretches from the Arctic ocean very
far to the south. II is In the Amoor val
ley-the valley of the great river that di-
vides the Russian province of Amoor from
Manchuria-that the Siberian tigers are
found. The climate there is no colder
than in New York and the tigers md shell
ter in the forests and dense cane thickets
along the river banks
through the summer the AMOR tigers
are shy and usually keep away from the
habitation of men. There is an abundance
OF deer wild pigs, and other game for
them to prey on at that season. 1t is in
the winter that the tiger is most to be
feared by man. Then he finds 1t harder to
secure food in the forest and he becomes
raveuous.
There are native hunters on the AMOR
who, like the East Indian shikaries, make
q business OF hunting the tiger for his skim
using guns, traps and poison for the pur-
pose. This skin was obtained In another
| way. The gentleman who brought this
here to be mounted is an American, who
bought it in Vladivostock. in Siberia and
f~q rho -elH F,Il L
the story of the way in which the tiger
was killed.
"On the AmOor river about 800 miles
back from Nladivostock, is the town Of
Moro Tchestra, place of some Importance
on the frontier. Twenty miles below it Is
native village, with some unpronounce-
able name-a little hamlet of about twenty
houses lying near the river with woods
and cane jungle all about it. 1t was in
midwinter, after snow had lain on the
ground for weeks, that the tiger began
to come 10 the village from time to time
by night and kill COW or a sheep. That
was bad enough, but presently he carried
off an old man, and the week afterward
a girl.
Some people saw him and told great
stories of how big he was, and the size
of the tracks he left In the snow backed
up their statements. The villagers felt
that they were not equal to dealing with
him, and they sent a deputation TO the
officers of the garrison at Novo Tchestra,
asking them to get up a hunting party to
come out and kill the tiger. That was good
enough sport for them, and four officers,
with ten or twelve private soldiers to act
as beaters, came to the village next day.
With them was an Englishman named
Norris, who CHANGED to be staying at NoVo
Tchestra. They brought with them a pack
of Russian bearhounds to use at pinch,
ali
thing as killing them outright to set them
after a tiger. The party arrived in the
afternoon, too late to hunt that day. The
officers. with Norris, stopped at the home
of the head man of the village. The sol
dlers were billeted among the villagers, and
adj hands waited for the morrow TO begin
their hunt.
"As the party in the head mans house
sat drinking Vodki and smoking, a scream
was heard outside and then a cry of
Tiger They rushed to the door to find
that a soldier had been carried off by the
tiger His cries We're heard several times
diving away in the distance, but it was
useless 10 try to pursue the tiger in the
darkness. 1t appeared that the soldier
had left the hut where he was quartered,
against the advice of his host, to visit his
comrades in another hut. He never reach
ed it. Between the two houses the tiger
had pounced on him and carried him off.
could plainly be seen in the snow, and the
ttacks where the tiger had prowled watch
ing the houses for victim.
This was bad beginning, but it made
! every one more eager than before TO kin
! TIE tiger. The tracks We're plain on the
route the tiger had taken when the party
set out next morning, so the dogs were
| left at the village. Half a mile away,
| in an evergreen ticket. they came to
where the tiger had stopped to devour his
1 victim. What he had left of the body
/ he had dragged under the thickest bushes,
| as if he had meant 10 hide ii. From this
| spot he had gone straight to the nearest
watercourse and drank then turned to-
ward n place, three miles away where a
! Buddhist monastery once had stood. Il
| had been a ruin for centuries but part ot
| the. wall with broken arches still was
! standing. The tigers tracks led to a hole
! where an arch had partly caved in, ana
/ there they ended.
"HOwNto get TO the tiger or to get him
| out was the next question. The soldiers
/ had their rifles along, but the order to
| them was not TO fire except by word of
! command. AS the officers stood before the
| hole talking over what they had better
! do i'm the matter, Norris, who was a dare
! devil sort Of fellow went close to the wall
/ with the idN1 n Taeriper into tho boIa ort