Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1909-05-07
GETTING A GORILLA ALIVE.
The Story of Vicious Struggle in an
African Jungle


Capt Fritz Duquesne. the Boer ivory
hunter, was commissioned by German
naturalist society to capture one of each
species of African quadrumana. He was
| entirely successful i'm the work exceDt
that he could obtain no gorilla, he writes
/ IN Hamptons Magazine, under the title
| hunting Ahead of Roosevelt in East
Africa. Finally a pigmy pointed out a
| portion OF the dank jungle in which a
gorilla had been seem
! FOR four days. continues the cap
tain, we camped in this hotbed of dis
ease. BeaterS went out in all directions
searching for the gorilla. At last some
! deep. wide scratches were found on n
cluster of vines. On close examination
! the unmlStakable hair of the gorilla was
round on a broken twig. After some
hours we found the tree where the gor-
MA llYed. We could tell it by the
greasy appearance of the bark made So
by the repeated rubbing of the goriIla's
body. We could tell by the fresh marks,
with sap still wet, that the animal had
recently assembled the tree. The scratches
We're short and deep, showing that if
had lifted itself up and not slid down,
which would have made a long. shallow
scratch.
We spread strong net around the
tree II circle Sloping upward on the
outer side. Around the top of the NET
there Here drawn ropes from four direc-
tons held by half dozen natives hid
den in the bush, These were to bring
the top of the net together and thus bag
our game.
After waiting some hours the leaves
9anve rustled and then opened as a six
loot male gorilla descended unsusDect-
ingly aud entered the trap. | signaled.
the four ropes We're pulled ut once, and
we had our animal-for Il moment He
roared III fury, twisting, jumping and
biting the rope into pieces. The natives
We're pulled about like dolls as he tried
to reach first one and then another The
professor jumped about in excitement,
trying TO focus camera on the infuriat.
ed animal,
AT last the mighty arms of the gor-
lila broke Il hole through the net and he
tore the rest from him as though it were
a rotten rag. Most of the natives fled in
dismay. The professor dropped his cam
era and tried to escape; in moment the
gorilla grasped him in its terrible hands.
Il seized my rifle and fired in the air
to Brighten the animal. In my position
| could not shoot at him without hitting
my friends. For Il moment the gorilla
stood still, holding the now unconscious
man as though he We're baby, the
brutes lips drawn back from his glis-
tening teeth. thrust another cartridge
in my rifle. As | did so there was a
buzz IN the air. and an arrow, shot by n
native, pierced the gorilla's side. A roar
burst from his red throat and he dropped
his victim. Like q fash, before / could
shoot, n native sprang from the leaves,
and, half throwing, half thrusting, drove
an assagai into the gorila's heart. With
a groan the brute fell dead
Examining the professor, | found that
his right arm was broken and that some
of his ribs We're crushed into his lungs.
We gave up the effort to get live gor-
lila. and, placing the injured man in a
hammock. carried him back toward the
east coast. He died on the road. Out
on the welt beside n native villnge n
lonely little slab marked Carl Bloch"
sticks up above the grass. 1t is the pro-
fessor's grave. Hunting is not all excit.
ing adventure and laughing victory. 1t
has it's tears, like other things