The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-07-24
MANY VICTIMS OF LIONS.
TWENTY-EIGHT RAILROAD MEN
KILLED BY THEM IN EAST AFRICA

edies in Speech-The Terror OF
the Native Hamlet and the Rail-
road Camp-DiGerences Between
Man-Enting and Ordinary Lions.
A man-eating lion is one that has tasted
human flesh, likes it better than the meat
of any of the animals upon which las kind
Is wont to prey, and thereafter will eat
nothing else if 1t is able to kill man, woman
or child. In the past two years it hes been
more than usually in evidence in the large
region of East Africa between Mombasa
and Victoria Nyanza. It's exploits have
brought heartrending tragedy to not few
native villages and il mas repeatedly
thrown into a panic large bodies of work
ingmen who are grading the roadbed ana
laying the track for the Uganda Railroad.
on May II last this terrifying brute was
brought into unusual prominence In
speech delivered by the Marquis of Sails
bury at the dinner of the Railway BeneV-
olent Institution in London. Sir Guilford
Molesworth's report on the Uganda Rail-
road. published by the British government,
last month, said that twenty-eight Indian
coolies had been killed by man-eating lions
II is not often that a beast of prey receives
| attention in the speeches OF prime minis
ters and in officials reports of technical
| character but this African animal mas
| fairly won its present distinction. Here
| are the remarks that Lord Salisbury de-
voted TO il in the course of his address on
the peculiar difficulties of building ran
roads in far away end barbarous amos;
I'VE suddenly learned said his lord
ship, chat We had altogether wrong no.
! ton of the confguration of the country
! through which we were building the ran
! way and by altering the route we were
| able to save 100 miles of our journey. But
| there We're other surprises that awaited
| the construction of The railway in that
| country. The whole of the work came 10
a standstin for three weeks because
party of man-eating lions appeared in the
| locality and conceived most unfortunate
| taste for ali our laborers. At last the
| labOrers entirely declined to work unless
! they were guarded by iron intrenchmentS
| q course it was very difficult to carry on
| railway building under these crcum-
| stances, and until we found enthusiastic
sportsmen who undertook The task OF get
| ting rid of these man-eating lions ana sue
cassfuly carried it out our enterprise was
| seriously hindered.'
The man eater is very different from the
ordinary lion that has not acquired the
!
are not such ferocious and fear-inspirlng
animals as many imagine them 20 be.
| They very seldom attack any one unless
! they are persistently pursued or have been
wounded. If they see a person approach
ing them they usually prefer to stink OF
into the jungle and hide in its depths But
It is very different with the man-ea ing
lion. II marks the human being for It's
prey, and killing mankind is its profess
sion This is the reason it is very difficult
to catch the man eater in the traps gel
for it, A nut is reared with wide en-
trance and inside a kid or goat is tempt
| irg,v disD,aved in such a way that if the
lion tries to carry him off the rope thai
ties the intended victim will release the
door through which abe brute has enter
ed 1t falls behind the animal ana II Il
trapped and may be dispatched a leisure
But nine times in ten the strategem fali'
to work. The king of beasts has not en-
tered the village in the Stiffness of th'
night for goats or kids. 1t much prefers
to dash through the low doorway OIL
habitation and seize a sleeping man Of
woman and then bound through the jun
gle with the victim in its powerful jaws
! and if in the morning the natives are
brave enough to beat the tall grass around
the settlement they may find perhaps {
rn,'e away the bones of their unfortunate
friend
The wavs Of the man eater are enough
10 terrorize the stoutest heart, and 1t il
little wonder that hundreds OF these IN
dian toilers who when trained Tor mll
tary service have proven that they WI
march undaunted to the lannon's mouth
are thrown into the direst panic by tn
r sudden advent of one of these creatures
! It's appearance is as unexpected as
: thunderbolt from clear sky. 1t is per
fectlv willing to attack by day, crouchin;
in the grass beside the path or at tn
village edge till the time is ripe for tn
, fatal spring About half OF these twenty
eight victims were killed as they VIII
hundreds of their fellows were scattere'
tbicklv along the line levelling the road
bed The animal is not dismayed by mum
hers If only it may be unobserved TIL tn
very moment of action. In an instant
has sprung into the crowd, tore with /!
claws long gashes in the flesh of the ma
it has marked, buried its teeth in the vac
TINS thigh, crushing the bone ana IS OF
in the Jungle with the prey, usually Dam
= ing pursuit by it's heetness. The importe
s Indians could not stand this sort of thing
O and finally struck work till they were as
sured of the determination of the ma
eater In their neghborhood. Fortunatel
n the lions that prey on human beings ar
q still a small minority. Most lions avoi
q men and are after the big game that nun
tiers 60 to Africa to shoot. Lions haun
= the high grassed plains where zebras' an
r telopes and gazelles abound
t Though the man eater is not afraid t
$ single out a victim in a crowd and ru
off with him, II also loves campfire N
: blaze around the tents or nuts or an Q
= gunfring scares 1t off. The animal wi
n spring into a group of twenty men slttin
e around a fire and carry off one befor
$ the others have time TO realize what ha
d happened 1t has also been known
s the railroad line to Uganda, to spring upo
h a fat car loaded with men and donkey
!, while the locomotive was putting and tn
5 train was slowly moving, seize a man an
: iurnp with him into the jungle and Off on
n of hearing before the train could Z
o brought to a standstill-
IS The nights were full Of terror for III
Indian coolies after one of them, Resin
: from his days work, had made Dime
l. for lion. The rest Of the men took
i roosting very high. None of them woul
l. sleep less than twenty feet from IN
Al or 10 n