The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1901-12-30
TRAPPING A TIGER.
IBy NJ. Quad.1

copyright. 1901. by c.. B. Lewis.1
There are no inns along The highways
of India, as the average reader has
probably been told before, but the
traveller seeking rest and refreshment
turns into one of the free bungalows
provided by the government. He finds
cooking utensils, fishes and a bunk,
and there is generally a native care
aker- The rule of the road is that no
traveller stops longer than over night
except in case of sickness or accident
Few of the bungalows have doors or
and unless in the height of
the rainy season no blankets are hung
up at the openings.
1t was in a bungalow on the highway
between the towns of Rampore and
Bagrah, in the province of Bengal, that
Sir Edward Potter. an English tourist
doing India, met a tragic fate. A party
of six had arrived at the bungalow, an
hour before dark When supper had
been prepared and eaten, the gentle
men smoked and chatted for a couple
of hours and then lay down on the We
randa to Sleep-that is, five of them did,
while Sir Edward had a bed made up
for him in the large room The near
est jungle was a mile away, and as the
grounds had been beaten over for SER
penis no one felt any fears as he made
ready for sleep. 1t was a starlight
night, with everything quiet, and all
the party fell into a sound sleep. They
were awakened at midnight or a little
later by a shrek for help, and as they
got to their feet they beheld an enor-
nous tiger trotting off with Sir W
in his grip.
The tiger had stolen out of the near
est cover and taken a thorough survey
of the bungalow before Selling the vic
tina. Any one of the five sleepers Of
fered hin an easy victim, but he pass
ed them by. He made his way between
two of them and entered the room by a
window and seized Sir Edward by the
shoulder. The shouts of the others did
not rattle the beast in the least. With
a twist of his head he threw the man
over on his back and went off at a lei
on nor pursued. No enc dared shoot
for fear of killing the man, and to have
pursued the tiger into the jungle would
have. been f~oolishness. As none of the
party was a tiger hunter, there was
nothing to do but resume their journey
and give notice at the next post Of
what mad occurred. They had scarcely
left the ungal when q man I'M ed
Reed arrived there. He was an Ameri-
can and what the English call a "cute
Yankee" He had gone out to India
from New York after tiger skins. In
stead of taking rifles and cartridges he
had taken beartraps. Landing in Cal
cutta with no less thai two dozen mon
ster steel traps, he was making his way
up to the tiger country to do business.
He wasn't blowing his horn very much,
a. he knew that every Englishman in
India would look upon him with con-
tempt, but as there was no law against
- RRA4 lA6S46 IN SCA ~ RSAA4 $3.50 1
a shipload of skins If he could.
Reed had no sooner heard of the trag-
edy of the night before than he baited
his trap for his first tiger. He traced
the beast into the jungle for 200 yards
and then set one of his traps or a path
and baited it by tying a kid to a stake
just in the rear of it. This was done
early in the morning, but with no hope
that the tiger would leave his lair until
late in the evening. He did leave 1t,
however, much earlier than that.
Strangely enough, he contented himself
with sinking his fangs into Sir Edward
and killing him, but did not mutilate the
body in the slightest. The bleating of
8 o'clock in the afternoon. n at that
same hour the bear-trap man went
forth to see If ais trap was all right. As
he was advancing along the path in one
direction the tiger was coming up from !
another and the result was that as Reed
halted within five feet of the bleating |
and frightened kid the tiger looked him
in the eyes from a distance of about
forty feet. Both stood still and stared
for q minute. Reed had a rifle, but ne
was a poor shot and dared not take the
risk of firing. The tiger was no doubt
astonished and puzzlSd, and perhaps a
yell would have frightened him off. but
as no yell came he began to work up his
temper. For two or three minutes he
switched his tail and growled and then
of a sudden rose in the air like a bird.
He had divided the forty feet into two
leaps. but the second was never made.
AS he touched the earth after his first
he fell upon the pan of the trap, and
the laws closed around both forelegs. /
The trap was secured by a chain stout
enough to draw a sawlog, but caught as
he was the beast soon broke the chain
and went off into the jungle with the
trap. 1t was while he was being fol-