The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-04-22

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seen that the thick leg of an animal step
| ping on this trap. set on the trap hole,
will be spiked with the spokes, which. OF
| course, cling to the leg and prevent the
rope from slipping. For three weeks
| every night the hunters were on the
| watch. but ii seemed as il the delicate
scent OF the beast found warning even In
/ the rustic Of the cane brake, and not until
| hope was almost gone did she appear one
| moonlight night and set her foot into the
| trap. Instantly she recovered herself and
started at breakneck speed through the
| jungle till the slack of the rope gave out
and the heavy log sent her into par
oxysm of fright and fury. For miles
around the quiet jungle awakened to the
| steam-lil1e wheeze of the maddened calf.
| She rolled herself amid crushing salings.
She tore and stamped and rooted the
ground in her frenzy till the cries of
| frightened macaws, the chatter of startled
| monkeys, and even the distinct roar Of
| lion were added to the cries of the other
awakened brutes.
1t was while the struggle was at its
hight that the two-horned mother of the
youngster appeared for the first time on
the scene and charged furiously into the
the midst of the crowd of natives, who
almost totally unprepared, fell easy prey
to the angry animal. To add to the diff
fcuIty neither Hill nor Saunders dared
shoot by the dim light, fearing to kill
some of the men who were being gored.
Finally when their guns crashed in quick
succession and the mad mother stumbled
TO her knees two natives had been literal
ly dlsembowled and lay dying. a third had
had his neck broken and four others were
down. badly manned.
Only one method could conquer the dan
gerous calf. She must be left to exhaust
herself and to starve herself into submits
sion. Meanwhile, under the supervision.
of the white men, a strong, wood-barred
box was built and at the end Of three
days, when the captive was half dead
~'ith fatigue and hunger, she was placed
Into the box and shipped by OK wagon to
the coast w. W. Cole, once famed as
the Cole Circus" owner, whose show
thirty years ago was what the Barnum
6, Bailey show is today, bought the rhi-
nocerous in England, and after using 1t
for three years in his menagerie, sold 1t
Smiles has oeen ever since, to this day
an unruly and dangerous brute who re-
fuses to become reconciled TO captivity.
In a cage on the east side of the lion
house, alongside the striped hyenas, there
may be seen a pair of black African Loop
ards, whose capture cost a man leg,
even though the youngsters were taken
while mere cubs. A gentleman named
Muller employed by the Hagenback ami
NAL concern to hunt big game in Africa,
dow m
ing intending to shoot something for his
dinner The method of shooting birds
in a Jungle is different from that used in
our own open woods and forests the
hunter advancing stealthily and surpris-
ing his game before ii has chance TO
fly Instances there are where hunters
have stalked their game, only to be
stalked in turn by jaguar or a panther,
and. on the whole, the sport is dangerous.
This with a variation, is what happened
to the Hagenback man. He caught sight
of a wira turkey-a fat, awkward speci-
men, almost too heavy to fly. The bird
noticed him at first and began TO run. Di-
rectly in front of the German was fall
len tree which obstructed his view; he
jumped it, and in the same instane
startled a big black panther which sprang
to its feet with a bound and darted away
in flight The hunter raised his gun and
was in the act of pulling the trigger when
an uneasy, strange feeling impelled him
TO hesitate. instinctively bringing the
muzzle of his gun around In circle and
pointing it alongside almost into the very
eye of a second panther. about ready to
spring. The act was one Of those mex
plicable workings of the humand mind.
which, when keenly aroused, seems to de-
velop sixth sense. In an instant the
gun had sent its load into and nearly tore
off the head of the beast, but one paw
had already darted forward and cut deep
into the calf of the slaver's leg, who no.
ticed only then that the panther had
cubs and had stayed to defend them,
while her mate had fed.
Muller captured the black kittens and
bound up his wound as best he could.
but blood poisoning set in and he had TO
leave camp to go to headquarters, where
the member was amputated close to the
trunk in order to save his life. But the
cubs were raised without trouble under
care of the experienced animal men. To-
day they are sad, battle-scarred pair
with faces covered with healed gashes
and sashes, like the "countenance" of
black tomcat. An unloving, fighting
brother and sister are the pair, frequent
ly mailing each other to the tune OF shril
cat squeals till the barbed poles of keep
ers are thrust in TO settle the dispute.
But the chief object of interest in them is
that they cost a famous hunter his leg
and reduced him 10 a helpless cripple
But not all the histories of the menag-
erie animals are fun of bloodshed. Some
OF them are pretty and pathetic as, for
instance, the story Of how Nellie, the |
lthe-limbed, soft-eyed Mexican deer, was
caught by n mining engineer who was
opening up mines in that country five !
years ago. II Is not generally known by |
those but little given TO the hunt that If !
you shoot a doe who has her baby with |
her, the little one will come running UP to !
you looking for protection and willing |
TO be taken up in arms and coddled. |
The greatest sin committed by man is /
when a hardened hunter-and nine out |
Of ten pride themselves on this quality |
cuts the tiny orphans throat But the /
explanation that Nellie was uncared for !
and needed sympathy and human hands |
Is all that can account for her adventure 1
which finally landed her in the comforta- |
bic quarters at the zoo, where now she |
has her own tiny ones around her The |
engineer was surveying = trail when |
ahead of him he saw mite OF a fawn. |
no larger than a fox terrier. Its legs |
We're thin and delicate almost like pine |
stems. Its color was a golden yellow and |
its eyes large and black 1t did not start |