The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1906-05-08
A TIGER DRIVE.

hssssa an hour or 50 before he Eirae
fxsd for The princes start from
en-n Before ne had Eone hzH
nile, says q correspondent az the In
ssan Picaesr. ne Eot glimpse Of the
sale cn which the uAharA5sh con
darts his operations
For the purpose Of this single bea1
upwards q 20 huts had been cor
srructed. on1y q oouEks and leaves !.
Is tue. bat stIn hufs quite As sub
stzntizi Gs thcse EhieA the Tar0s in
the Ter1i consider good enough for
permanent hahstzricz These huts
were built IN 4 perfectly straight lire
about - yards apart this line being
in fact The chord az an arc. the arc
itself formed ~ close Gordon Of els-
plants
By day for several previous days
these huEs. open towards the arr had
been occupied BY groups Of soldiers
azd shikzries Who BY the noise Of
their chatter and the ciattsr Of their
cooking and wood cutting quite de-
p-iTed the tigers in the forest in front
ct them Of any fancy for strolling that
wzy: and by night these sentries had
maintained huge fires between ezch
hut. which fires had the same result OF
barring the way during the dark
hours- In front OF thfs lire OF nuts
. path about ten yards wide had been
cleared of timber 50 As 70 permit
the convenient approach Of the
princes elephants to the scene Of ac-
ton
BY this time the prince and his
party we're beginning TO arrive. 50
ms maharz5ah pushed forward TO
meet him. and we Joined in behind
Nov the plan OF operations. which IS
indeed OF the utmost simplicity. began
10 develop itself The Gordon Of 80
or 40 elephants which | formerly men
toned. and which marked one end Of
the arc or semi-circle Of elephants.
nov extended themselves in line, di-
rertly the princes party had passed.
SO As to form the chord OF the arc.
ss far as their number permitted In
the manwhile. the prince and maha-
ed along the line OF huts until they
came TO the last, where was the other
extremity OF the arc
The elephants Of our party galsc
perhaps 30 or 40 IN number) were
then extended backward so as to Join
hands with the pad elephants which
had sufnced to furnish. say. half the
chord, and then the ring Of elephants
around the doomed tiger was com
plete Three elephants only were ex-
erapted from forming links in this
chain. those Of the prince. the maha-
rajah and Gen Prohyn- These were
within the ring and free to go wher-
ever desirable, all others to keep In
their places in the circle so far as
intervening trees would permit, and
simply press convergenIly to the cen
ter. Strict directions we're given that
no one under any circumstances was
TO fire except the prince. Even jung
Bahadur and Gen. Probyn would not
fire unless in the case of the princes
extreme peril. Then the ring Of the
elephants. every mahout pressing
toward the same central point and the
prince and his two companions NOV
ing toward the same point, but with
in the ring. and a little in advance oi
our part OF it, began to close in
There were about 900 elephants en-
pIoyed- | should guess that at first
there may have been on the average
Z 4- ~--7~ t.n&L-rn~ o-a~- 49, -
plants. Allow six feet for the breadth
Of the elephant itself. and the circle
may be roughly estimated, as a mile
and a half round Soon. however. ths
interval between the elephants dwin
died to three yards. two yards, one
yard At last. except where the trunl
Of a tree interposed. the elephants
were almost touching each other.
Before it had actually come to thi:
large herd Of spotted deer. with twt
fine stays among them. had showr
themselves at various points Of tbs
circle. seeking where to break through
At last, maddened by the shouting anC
crashing Of branches as the elephants
marched on and in utter desperation
one hind rushed between two ele
plants near me aud the rest OF th'
herd followed her.
The deer. however. had soon al
passed, and the ring was again con
tinuous At this time q shot wal
heard. l could not see the prince OF
account Of some intervening under
wood. but it was. Of course. he whit
had fired. Then came TWO shots Ii
rapid succession. and the shouting o
the. mahouts redoubIed: and the nois'
was indeed so alarming and stupefy
ing to the birds within the circle thai
black partridge actually few ant
stunned itself against an eIephant'i
head.
Then came fourth shot Still w
pressed inward Only now there wal
not room for all the elephants to keel
in their places in the too narrow cir
Gle and a great number Of pad ele
plants were jostled out Of the from
rank and had to keep In the secon'
row. At first could not make th'
tiger out, but he moved, and then