The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1909-08-20
TALES OF
GETTING A GORILLA ALIVE

Captain Fritz Duquesne, the Boel
Ivory hunter, was commissioned by q
German naturalist society to capture
rumana. He was entirely successful
in the work, except that he could OBJ,
tain no gorilla, he writes in Hamp-
tons Magazine under the title, Hunt
ing Ahead of Roosevelt in East
Africa" Finally pigmy pointed out
portion of the dank jungle in which
gorilla had been seen.
For four days. continues the Cap
tain, 1--WE camped in this hotbed OF
disease. Beaters went in all direc-
tions 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 a 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 ascended 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 a strong net around
the tree in a circle sloping upward on
the outer side. Around the top of
the net there were drawn ropes from
four directions held by half a 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 a six-foot male gorilla descended
unsuspectingly and entered the trap.
1 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 infuriated
animal
"At last the mighty arms of the
gorilla broke 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 pro-
fessor dropped his camera and tried
to escape; in a moment the gorilla
grasped him in it's terrible hands.
Il seized my rifle and fired in the
air to frighten the animal. In my po-
sition 1 could not shoot at him with
out hitting my friend. For moment
the gorilla stood still, holding the
now unconscious man as though he
were a baby, the brute's lips drawn
back from his glistening teeth. I
thrust another cartridge in my rifle.
AS I did so there was a buzz in the
air, and an arrow, shot by a native,
pierced the gorilla's side. A roar
burst from his red throat and he
dropped his victim. Like a flash, be-
fore 1 could shoot, a native sprang
from the leaves, and, half throwing,
half thrusting, drove an assagai into
the gorilla's heart. With groan
the brute fell dead.
"Examing the professor 1 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-
citing adventure and laughing vic
tory. 1t has it's tears, like other
things"