The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-10-12
THE MAN-EATERs OF INDIA.
Differences Among FeIines in Cour-
age and FerOclty.

Differences Among FeIines in Cour-
age and FerOclty.
Col. C. H. Trevor. in 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 de-
mons. In ordinary 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
in bodily fear all the time, although l
have known instances of the herdsmen
being killed by a tiger that he had pre-
sumed to interrupt while enjoying meal
from one of his cattle.
They become more dangerous when they
have tasted the blood of their victim,
and are not usually disposed to give 1t up
without fight. l remember the case of
a survey officer in India, who, being told
of a kill" near his work, went to in
spect 1t unarmed. The tiger, disturbed
at his meal, rushed out suddenly at the
party, and in his headlong flight the OFF,
Ger. most fortunately for himself, tripped
and fell into some long grass and bushes.
The tigers attention being drawn to the
natives, who were climbing trees like
monkeys in a hurry, he made for them,
allowing 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
| becomes one long terror, for whether the
natives are working in the fields or fetch
ing firewood from the forest or wafer
| from the well, they know not at what turn
| they may be seized.
know of one man-eater In Mysore that
was credited with over 500 victims, and
| the government offered a reward of 800
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 pedestrian or the
| driver of bullock cart from his seat. He
was not content with the usual tactics of
| seizing his prey outside, but used to break
| into the huts TO get at them. Two Eng
| lish officers, friends of mine, who went az
ter this scourge, were shown hut outside
a village Enclosure, where a poor Dher, q
| loW-caste man, not allowed to owen with
| in the village precincts for fear of pollut-
| ing them, had lived with his wife and In
FAINT He was blind, and, one night, being
| awakened by a strange noise, began TO
| crawl and grope about the hut. He put his
| hand suddenly on the man-eater, which
| had pushed the door open, killed the wo-
man and child and was drinking their
| blood when the mans hand was laid upon
| him! Doubtless suspecting a trap, he
| bounded out of the hut without touching
! the man. What a picture for Landseer!
| But among the multitude of suoh stories
! 1NAIr hat n al
bears away the palm for grewsome hor-
ror, and Its truth has been confirmed from
| many sources. I had it from relative,
| the owner of the. tea estate In Assam,
where 1t occurred. S. B was, not
many years ago-and for all know, still
| is-the manager of a tea garden in As
| sam where q nlan-eater was in the habit
of carrying Off the estate coolies for his
dinner, probably finding them much less
| trouble than a deer or a pig. At last,
| emboldened, no doubt, by unhindered sue
cess in obtaining victims, he took to car
| rying of coolies who were sleeping in the
verandas of the managers bungalow.
Many traps had been laid for him, the
| bodies of his victims poisoned, watchers
! with guns on the lockout over the killed
men. but so great was his cunning that
| he had capped them all. Everything haV-
| ing failed, things had become desperate,
| and b and some of his planter friends
| determined to sit up for the tiger in the
veranda, with native blankets ESguisng
| them-an exceedingly exciting business,
for, be it remembered. no lights were al
| lowed and the brute cared nothing for
| numbers, so that his appearance might De
! too sudden for unsteady nerves. one OF
| the planters. after they had sat for long
| time in breathless suspense, entered the
house for something that he wanted and
while looking for it was startled by a
| sudden terrible uproar on the veranda,
| which he had just left. Selling his rife,
| he rushed out to find all the party gone,
! but from the dark tea garden he heard the
voice of S. B calling out In agony;
"Helpl for Gods sake! Help! The tiger 8
got mel Helpl Help!'
Fixing his bayouet 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 hes
| itatlon, he rushed up to the tiger, plunged
| the bayonet into it's side, and at the same
time pulled the trigger. The tiger fell.
| releasing 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 clawing his
back and shoulders in a terrible manner.
1t was, mercifully an expiring effort, for
the brute fell dead before 1t could kill
B.. II then transpired that the tiger
had stolen in upon the watchers like a
shadow, without the slightest warming
and had seized the nearest one, who hap
pened TO be b, by the hand which he
had raised to defend himself and had COM
menced to drag him off. In his agony
he rose TO his feet, and after descending
the steps of the gungalow, was actually
walking or with his hand in the tigers
mouth, to be devoured when his friend,
by his courage and presence OF mind, res
cued him from an awful death phe
other watchers, utterly panic-stricken, had
made for the nearest door, and had t
not been for the GOODNESS of his brave res
cuer, B. would have been added to the
long list of the man-eater's victims, After
being i'll for many months, b recov-
cred, TO tell the awful tale of how he had
been lied away TO be eaten"
II am so annoyed I do not want to
invite that horrid Mrs. Prim to my recep-