The Courier. (Genoa, Nev.) 1899-1904, 1902-01-03

Zine animal" yentured the reporter
to the stranger, who had stood for half
an hour IN front of a cage In the New
York Central Park zoo, containing a
splendid Indian tigN. The man raised
0 sallow, thin face, In which pair OF
steely gray eyes, steady as church,
were the only feature,
yes" he said, with nod Of assent.
"Know hlmY
Eyes, rather"
did you capture himT' asked the re-
porter as venture,
Yes"
That was not the answer expected.
Then the stranger sat down in the
"hospitalY of the menngerie, in the lit
tie shed behind the elephants house,
where Keeper Snider has travelling
cages in which he treats lions when
they suffer from locomotar ataxia and
tigers and tigresses when they have
their occasional Illnesses. Seating him.
self on bale of hay aud hugging his
knees with his hands, he began:
Il trapped that tiger when he was
little fellow end his mother had trap
ped nle " hen l did 1t. ! sold him to
Hagenbeck of Hamburg by the time
bad fully recovered from my encoun-
Ter ana la senteck traded him to the
menagcrie here IN part exchange for a
baby hippopotamus. You may not
think 1t, but man has weakness for
the welfare of animals he catches.
happened TO be In New York and to re-
member that my friend the tiger lived
here, and that | might look upon him
TO see what Kind of a chap he made.
"By the middle of the afternoon
had seen what | wanted of my land
and was ready, accompanied by my
two men, to return to my bungalow.
One of these | had left with my horse
about q mile back, where there were
shade and grass the other | now sent
to the rear to notify the man with the
horse to bring the animal around by
the read to point where | would meet
them. | went my way, picking II along
jungle trail TO the point designated.
Along the sides of the trail was bamboo
grass higher than my own head, and to
make the thicket even denser there
were interspersed with the grass
clumps of bushes and low-topped kor-
linda, and here and there trees.
II had left my rife with the man
with the horse, and 1t was not until
now that feeling Of uneasiness crept
over me, and felt that | would be
Ia Il hnH I
with me. argued down my fears, how
ever, and was stroling along the trail,
when, without an lnstant's warning,
there was a tremendous commotion In
the tall grass. The bushes directly In
front of me moved violently, then part
ed, and before | had time to realize
fully there was vision Of yellowness.
deep-throated roar, and tigress had
me, her hot, ill-smelling breath brushed
my face, and she fastened her jaws into
my shoulders in a single mighty
crunch. Just then there was a noise In
the roadway and the animal raised her
head. In another moment she had
swung me clear Of the ground, and car
rying me by the shoulder bounded off
In great leaps.
THE tigress carried me all OF fifty
yards before she set me down in her
home, where there were two tiny cubs.
their eyes not yet open. The tigress re-
treated crouchlng, and gazed at me
from sprlnglng distance rs IL she was
praying for me TO make move for the
sake OF enliyening the fun. Then
sound broke the stiffness. | saw the
brute whirl toward the direction from
which II came and she rose to her hind
feet But before she could make
move shot rang out and a bullet
crashed through the tigress' heart. She
fell, turning half somersaut, and lay
still An hast Indian tiger hunter,
passa Balhu came toward me from
out OF a tree where he had been lay
Ing for the tigress for many day
'Dassa caught both Of the kittens In
his arms and they nestled close, poor
orphans, searching about his brown
body FOR the dinner which they thought
was long coming. | was borne to the
hut of Dassa, and in three weeks
when | had somewhat recovered, was
taken to my own bungalow, whore. un.
der skillful treatment, my wounds re-
paired as much rs they viii ever repair
"Dassa raised both kittens until the,
were able to eat solid food, when one
night one of them broke a chain and
escaped. The other he presented to
me, for we had come to know each
other we'll and had by that time hunt
ed much together"
The stranger opened loose outing
shirt, drew the shirt partially off and
showed the gnarled and purple marks
deep in his shoulder and the upper
part of his arm.
.'Ihere are the scars of that days
work and the little tiger is now the big
one In the cage in the lions house
You see the scars and you see the tig-
or in the cage. See for yourself If the
records of the menagerie do not show
that Hagenback traded the tiger 60