The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-11-14
THE TIGER MAN.
by NJ. Quad.l


The recent death of the Hindoo known
all over the province of Bengal, india
as the "Tiger- Man" will probably be
hailed by the English government of
that country with a feeling of relief.
He had been pensioner anda cause Of
anxiety for half a century.
Directly after the Mutiny had been
put down, and while the country was
still in an unsettled state, the Tiger
Man appeared in the province of Ben
gal and did such strange things that
the natives were ready to look upon
him as a spiritual being. Perhaps his
first idea was to fan the dying flames
into life again, but the English
promptly took him in hand and would
have made short work of him had he
began preaching sedition.
When he had been held as a suspect
for some time they offered him terms
and he accepted them. They did not
want to stir up any feeling by order
ing him to leave the district, nor could
they hold him in durance any longer
without preferring specific charges,
and as a compromise they offered him
monthly pension for the rest of his
life to remain in at least neutral po-
sition. The Tiger-Man was then about
thirty years old and man of fine
physique and superior condition. There
was considerable mystery about his
antecedents. but it was generally be
lieved that he came from Ceylon with
the idea of becoming a new leader of
the whipped and covering Sepoys. He
was a high caste native, given to his
books, and much of his philosophy has
been quoted in European countries.
After his agreement with the govern
ment, the Tieer-Afan took up his quar-
tiers in the ruins of an old temple on
the outskirts of a dense jungle, and
there he made and maintained his fame
as a tanner of wild beasts, particularly
tigers. He did not actually tame them,
but the influence he exercised over
them was no less than wonderful. Even
with a thousand witnesses to corrob-
crate facts, one finds it hard to believe
in some of his dOings.
Had he been so minded he could have
cleared the whole province of tigers in
two or three years and enriched himself
with the bounty offered for their heads
and the heads of other dangerous beasts
and deadly serDents, but he positively
refused TO bring harm to a single denl-
zen of the jungle. He would throw no
obstacle in the way of hunters. and he
expressed no sorrow when he looked
upon a tiger slain by others. but he
had laid down a rule and nothing would
induce him to sWerve from it, 1t often
happened that natives who had lost rela-
tives or oxen by the hunger of the king
of the jungle came to him and prayed
for vengeance, but in every instance
IT am sorry for you, but tigers must
have food as well as men. I will not
help you to kill one. but I will talk
to the beasts and ask them to be more
careful hereafter. I am sure they Will
do this for me-
AS soon as the Tiger-Man's reputation
began to spread, there were many who
desired TO put him to the test. and dur
ing the long years of his life it was
seldom that he refused hundred
times over he has gone out into the jun
sIe alone at night and called tiger
to him and led the beast to the ruins
for all to see. Sometimes the tiger
would crouch and creep and whine. and
again he would be hercely defiant and
menace the spectators.
If the report came that a tiger in a
certain district had killed human be
ing. the man would set off for the
place without asking for fee or reward
He would learn all he could about the
beast and then enter the jungle to
search him out Sometimes he would
be seeking for several days. and when
night overlook him he made his camp
amene the beasts and serpents OF the
thjckets. When the tiger had been
found. which was nearly always the
case. e he had not left for another
locality. he would be taken by the ear
to the village in which he had seized his
victim, ana then be made to rosi in the