The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1909-08-17
. TALES or
GETTING M GORILLA ALIVE.

GETTING a. GORILLA ALIVE.
Captain Fritz Duquesne, the Boer
ivory hunter. was commissioned by a
German naturalist society to capture
one of each species of African quad
rumana He was entirely successful
in the work, except that he could OBJ
tain no gorilla, he writes in Hamp-
toms Magazine under the title, Hunt
ing Ahead of Roosevelt in East
Africa" Finally pigmy pointed out
a portion of the dank jungle in which
gorilla had been seen.
For four days" continues the Cap
tain, I'VE camped in this hotbed of
disease Beaters went in all direc-
tons searching for the gorilla. At
last some deep, wide scratches were
found on cluster of vines. On close
examination the unmistakable hair Of
the gorilla was found on broken
twig. After some hours we found the
tree where the gorilla lived. We
could tell it by the greasy appear
ance of the bark, made so by the re-
peated rubbing of the gorilla's body.
We could tell by the fresh marks.
with sap still wet, that the ANIMAL had
recently assembled the tree. The
scratches were short and deep, show
ing that it had lifted itself up and not
slid down, which would have made a
long, shallow scratch.
"We spread strong net around
the tree in circle sloping upward on
the outer side. Around the top of
the net there were drawn ropes from
four directions held by half dozen
natives hidden in the bush. These
were to bring the top of the net to-
gether and thus bag our game.
After waiting some hours the
leaves above rustled and then opened
as six-foot male gorilla descended
unsuspectingly and entered the trap
signaled, the four ropes were pulled
at once, and we had our animal-for
a moment He roared in fury, twist
ing, jumping and biting the rope into
pieces. The natives were pulled about
like dolls as he tried to reach first one
and then another. The professor
jumped about in excitement, trying
to focus a. camera on the Infatuated
animal
s6. AT last the mighty arms Of the
gorilla broke a hole through the net
and he tore the rest from him as
though it were a rotten rag Most of
the natives fed in dismay The pro-
fessor dropped his camera and tried
to escape; in moment the gorilla
grasped him in its terrible hands.
Il seized my rife and fred in the
air to brighten the animal In my po-
sition could not shoot at him with
out hitting my friend For moment
the gorilla stood still, holding the
now unconscious man as though he
we're baby, the brute's lips drawn
back from his glistening teeth. l
thrust another cartridge in my rife.
AS did so there was a buzz in the
air, and an arrow, shot by native,
pierced the gorilla's side. A roar
burst from his red throat and he
dropped his victim. Like flash, be-
fore could shoot, a native sprang
from the leaves, and, half throwing,
half thrusting, drove an assagai into
the gorilla's heart. With a groan
the brute fell dead.
Examing the professor I found
that his right arm was broken and
that some of his ribs were crushed
into his lungs. We gave up the ef-
fort to get live gorilla, and, placing
the injured man in a hammock, car
ried him back toward the east coast.
He died on the road. Out on the
veldt beside native village a lonely
little slab marked Carl Bloch sticks
up above the grass. 1t is the profess
sor's grave. Hunting is not all ex-
sitting adventure and laughing VIC
tory. 1t has its tears, like other
things"