The daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Ind. Ter. [Okla.]) 1898-1902, 1899-11-09
THE SAVAGE RHINocERos.
making Him IL a angerous Tnsk
Eears Nothing n j. Ai""s
Ready for a Fight.

in circuses nnu Noos.
con 4 herd of 20 wild elephants driven
into an Enclosure and made captive ais
r,ost without trouble. / have trapped
four and five lions and tigers in q Week.
,v,tb never a man even scratched. AS
for wolves and hyenas, they can ~
carght as readily as fish. It's when you
tackle n rhinoceros that you tackle
business. It's worry and work ana oan-
per from the moment you set about IL
/ am talking about the one-horneo'
black rhinoceros of Africa When ma
ture created him she gave him more
strength according to bulk than any
other animal on earth. She gave him
an abundance of muscle and ~ rev
narves. He has q hide almost bullet
proof, a vision like a hawk, a sense Oh
herring as keen as a fox, and ms cour-
aoe ia really sublime. You may add 70
III This that the rhinoceros is always
mad. The fercest Of other beasts AVE
their good-natured hours, but this fei-
low always has a chip on his shoulder.
Nothing is too big or too small for MN
to charge. He'll turn oil steam ana go
crashing through the bushes AFTER a
iackal at one time, and an hour later
win charge into a herd Of elephants OF
scatter a family of lions. It is agreed
bv all men who have studied him that
he is totally without fear. II he ever
runs away from anything it Is through
mistake. But for two defects in his
physical makeup he'd 0 % exterminate
all other animals in Africa. His ranged
vision is like that Of a whale-dead
ahead-and he is so bulky for his size
hat he can't turn except in a consid-
cradle circle.
captured Barnum's first rhlnoceros'
and that animal cost him more than any
four lions or tigers he ever owned. l
was the first animal hunter sent over
to Africa by an American, and | had II
ali ia learn. I sent home lions, g1raffes,
elepbants. buffaloes and hyenas with
out any great trouble, but it was a
whole year before | got my first rhinoc-
eros. / had to make q study OF the
animal and take advantage OF his char-
ac+eristics. The natives had killed one
occasionally, but such a thing as cap
turing one alive had ~eyer been hearu
az IT seemed to me that the easiest
yvav was TO moose him. There are well
defined paths all through the forests
Of Africa, and these are used more OF
less by all animals, especially where
they lead to water, | made a IN
a new two-inch rope big enough 70
take in a ~rhinoceros, and then CLIMBED
info a tree above to manage it. spent
the best part Of three days up there
before a victim came along. He scented
me and was suspicious, but neyerthe-
less came on and was neatly noosed.
| believe that rope would have held a
schooner q" .nchor off Montauk Point,
hut that h. 4noceros made n plunge
and broke it like a thread. ! hadnt
realized his strength up to that time.
NV next move was to seek a point on a
Dath several miles from camp erect
q barricade. This barricade ran to a
V-sbaped point, and was made strong
enough to hold an elephant. Ii a
rhinoceros took that path he would fol-
low II TO the last inch, and when he was
in close quarters we would be on hand
TO tapgle him up. We had a visitor
almost before we were ready. When
the rhinoceros got along to the barrl-
cade he halted for a minute 70 snll1 me
air. Then he lowered his head ana
went charging down the path.
7 believed we had him for sure, but he
struck the logs and rocks at the point
of the V with the power of a wild loco
motive and battered his way through
1 now turned to a pit. At a soft spot
on a path leading to a water hole we
ding a pit 20 feet long, 10 feet wide and
7 feet deep. This we covered with
poles, branches and dirt, until no one
could detect the danger lurking be
meath, but we had our trouble for ouI
reward. The rhinoceros does most OF
his roaming BY day, and is careless
4 whether he follows a path or crashes
through the bushes. The night after
the Dit was ready we caught two hyena'
in At. The next day we caught a deer
the mcknight another hyena- The ont
animal we wanted did not appear. w
tried again at another point, and thu.
time Il was a success, because 1 hat
the details more in hand. When the pi,
had been prepared l went up the patti
about half a mile to an opening and
hung a red shirt On a bush. Iknew tina
81 a rhinoeeros sighted that shirt h
would charge the bush. 1 climbed
tree and waited, and in less than az
hour 1 heard an old fellow coming ful