The sun., 1903-11-15
IN DANGER FROM BIG GAME.
CLOSE SLAVES T. HORNADAY
WHILE HUNTING.
Charged Once in India by = Female Elephant
whose Calf He Was Trying to Capture
Caught . Crocodile With Hook ana
Line-The Three Disa appesrins Bears.

y IL
whose Calf He Was Trying to Capture
Caught Crocodile With Hook and
Lne-The Three Disappearing Bears
Friends of William T. Hornaday. director
OF the New York Geological Park say he
knows more about wild animals than any
body else in the world. He was born in
Indiana, 40 years ago and most OF his life
since has been spent in getting acquainted
with them.
or course he has had lots Of adventures.
He was sent to Florida to collect zoologlcai
specimens and won his spurs there by dis
covering the first specimen OF the FLORIDA
crocodile which ever came out OF the
country. That cpcodile is now IN the
National Museum at Washington.
Mr.. Hornaday. with companion tracked
the crocodile to a creek running out OF
the Everglades They hid in the early
morning near the beasts home, and after
waiting for hours managed to get shot
at it,
Mr.. Hornaday sent bullet through one
OF it's eyes, which did not kill It. but simply
crazed IT, It clung to life 30 tena-
ciously that seven bullets had to be fired
into its thick hide before it finally gave
up the ghost.
In 1879 Mr.. Hornaday was sent to the East
Indies on his greatest trip, to spend two years
roaming at will through the jungles OF
India, Ceylon, the Malay Peninsula and
Borneo. 1t was on this trip that Mr.. Horna-
day made a reputation among big game
hunters.
Elephants, Indian bison. tigers, leopards,
crocodiles, orang -outangs, ,chimpanzees, glib
bons and bears fell to his gun by the score,
to say nothing of hundreds Of antelopee,
axis deer. gazellee, monkeys and such
small fry. His bag Of orang-outangs alone
numbered forty-three.
Many time he narrowly escaped death
from the wild beasts he hunted. He lived
on terms OF intimacy with the head hunters
OF Borneo, and formed 30 high an opinion
of their manners and morals that he now
holds them up as the superiors Of civilized
man.
When he is asked which OF his adventures
was his CLOSEST shave. Mr.. Hornaday usual
tells how he was charged by female ele-
phant In an Indian forest belonging to
the Rajah Of Kulunyud.
While tramping through the jungle he
came upon q herd OF elephants. which in
ouded this female elephant. and her smooth,
shiny calf. about three feet high ..
Il never saw more demure and cute
looking animal than that absurd little
elephant says Mr. Hornaday. 'and fairly
ached to steal up and grab hold Of his trunk
and have q tussle with him.
Rajah who owned the forest permitted
him to shoot only male elephants. Lying
hidden in the dense underground he watched
the herd for over half an hour. =.
Presently the baby elephant wandered
of, and Mr.. Hornaday tried to creep noise
tl~~ hn t,tN nIn Qf q
was heard, and before he realixed his peril
the branches which screened the herd
parted suddenly and the female elephant
was upon him.
.she had sufficient distance to get under
full headway,' Hornaday says, -and al.
though my breath stopped and my heart
stood still with sheer fright. yet realized
she was the grandest living object ever
saw--and the most terrible.
curled up under her mouth. to be unooiled
when within reach OF me. ! suppose. Her
ears seemed to stand out straight from her
head with the tips curled forward, and the
strides of her massive legs. were enormous.
Luckily she came on In dead silence,
or should have been frightened out Of
my wits AS 1t was felt as if I was 60
ing to be run over by locomotive. I
knew 1t was useless to run, for In .
few strides she would have % been upon na me, T.,
quickly and faced her, threw my gun up
to nv shoulder, and fired both barrels at
the base Of her coiled-up trunk. In tho di-
rsotion of the brain. She was within fifteen
PAGES OF me when fired, but the thunder
crashing into her skull close to her brain
stopped her charge.
aShe sheered of suddenly and rushed
into the forest, trumpeting shrilly once
or twice; Directly there was j. grand
broke away and started of. and that was
the last we saw or cared to see of It.
.Then had time to reflect on what might
have been had my caps failed to explode
or my powder been damp.
sOnce, when walking on railway track
in a snowstorm, was very nearly run over
by locomotive coming. down grade In
muffled silence, and my sensations then
were precisely the same as when that old
female elephant came Ins charging charging down ,H
powerful machine and the living monster
seemed exactly alike
A few days after this experience Mr..
Hornaday fell In suddenly with three black
dead. deas' and ID chased fs ih the others. e' '' "
After hot pursuit a second bear was
shot and apparently killed. Bear No s
was then pursued, but got away.
Mr., Hornaday returned to the spot where
found no bear there:
Il suppose he concluded. = said the hunter,
shat he wasn't dead nough to skin, so
he picked himself up nd went about his
business.
After trying in vain to find him. Mr.
Hornaday and his native beaters went
back to the place where they had killed
the first of the three bears. That bear
was gone also. She hadn't been killed,
either, and had gone off. dragging her
wounded hindquarters after her. Mr..
Hornaday and one Of his beaters followed
her bloody trail and came suddenly within
twenty feet OF her before they knew it.
1She saw us first" Mr.. Hornaday said.
.She wheeled around and came charging
at us, dragging her headquarters after
her. Her jaws were wide set and her eyes
glistened fercely. while her angry growls
told us that she was desperate and meant
mischief,
"My beater shouted a warning and then
vanished, but l stood still until she got
within ten feet OF me and then fred at the
centre Of yellow crescent on her breast
That shot finished her
When on the seacoast OF Selangore
East Indies Mr.. Hornaday did a new stunt
as a fisherman which gained him some local
reputation. With hook and line he caught
a crocodile ~ feet long and weighing AIS
pounds.
Needless to say it was not an ordinary
hook and line. The hook was a piece Of