The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1901-10-04
A GREAT ELEPHANT SHOT.
Remarkable Exploits Of Oeaoral Michael
On Indie.


stan corps, who was In his time Q |
noted elephant shot, a correspondent |
OF the Madras Mail states that one Of |
Michael's earliest exploits inspired his |
native ATTENDANTS with a wonderful |
amount of confidence in him, as we'll |
~ might .e got among q herd OF !
elephants In very long grass, and for |
some time could not get a shot At
last he got up to one, and dropping 1t
dead, jumped onto the body. and with
q second gun dropped two more ele-
plants before they had time to make
of. / had heard it said OF Michael
that he was in the habit Outgoing out
with three double barrelled guns, and
had frequently got hyo elephants In
FIVE shots, but could never get
sixth, as he always made 1t rule to
keep one barrel in reserve. l had an
opportunity of asking him If this we're
true / cannot recollect what he said
about having performed this feat more
than once but he told me how he Just
missed getting a sixth elephant out Of
a herd through a mistake. He got up
to a herd in jungle and commenced
operations on a tusker that was stand
ing by a clump of bamboo. The
smoke hung and he could not see
what happened, but on the other side
of the clump of bamboo he saw a
tusker, which he presumed was the
one he had just fired at, so promptly
dropped it, He had got three more
out of the herd, and was reduced to
his last barrel, when another elephant,
a tusker, l think, gave him a very
easy chance, which he could hardly
have missed, but he would not break
his rule, so let him go. On returning
to the clump of bamboos he found two
tusEers dead, making five elephants in
all, and regretted he had not broken
his rule for once. Think Of three
brace" of elephants for a days bag.
The following is the feat in the rec
objection of which l happen to know
the general himself finds most salts
faction because he considers it showed
thorough knowledge Of the game: One
! day he was out botanizing with a
friend, and was unarmed. They heard
elephants in a sholah below and
Michael sent back for his rifles. On
getting down into the sholah Michael
found his quarry was two tuskers, evil
IDENTIFY travelling one behind the other.
He intercepted them and had covered
the leader and was just going to fire
when it flashed through his brain
that the second would escape him
greedy man. He accordingly dropped
the hindermost elephant first, and, as
he anticipated the leader wheeled
round, got blocked by his PROSTATE
companion, and gave Michael time to
lay him out beside him-the two fell
with their tusls together. General
Michael shot the majority of his hun
dred and odd elephants with lahore,
which in the days of the muzzle load
ers, was the ordinary gun, just as a
12-bOre is now The maximum charge
in the gauge of his powder flask was
five drains, but when he was loading
for elephants he used to add a little
more. Compare this with the metal
and charges used for the game now.
His success in this particular form of
sport was due quite as much to a per-
feet knowledge of the game as TO
splendid shooting. His directions for
finding the way to the brain Of an ele-
plant were as follows:
Imagine a ramrod (there were ram.
rods in those days. passed from. ear
hole to earhole through the elephants
head, and another bisecting it verti-
cally; in whatever position sou may
be, aim for this point of dissection"
have heard it said of Michael that he
used to so concentrate mis- thought OF
this one imaginary point that he, in
a sort of way, lost sight of everything
else ! presume that it goes without
saying that if you find yourself in sucI
position that your gun cannot pene
trate to the desired point you mus
not fire at all In the old days wilC
elephants were looked upon as things
to be got rid of, and government gave
rewards for shooting them-I thinl
it was GO rupees for COW. 80 rupees
for tusker-and the tuslls were tn
property Of the shooters.-Londol
Globe.