Kawartha Lakes Public Library Digital Archive

Fenelon Falls Gazette, 2 Nov 1894, p. 6

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TUSSLE WITH TIGERS. ‘ AN OLD BRITISH SOLDIER BELATES AN EXCITING ADVENTURE Ionnled on an Elephant. lle leesi Battle to Two Tigers wltls Only n nuns- ln: linlre torn Weaponâ€"A (lose (all. t Some twenty years ago, saidabittle-scar- i red veteran of the British army the other; day, my regiment was stationed at one of l the British posts in the interior of India. There was no fighting to do, and as we were right at the edge of an immense jun- gle where there was an abundance of big game we spent all our spare time hunting. One morning some native runners came to our camp and reported that two immense tigers had come out of the heart of the jungle and were killing all the children in a village some ten miles away. They wanted us to rid them of the pests, and I volunteered my services. The villagers ‘brought out an undersized elephant, which had the good quality of being very tame and gentle, and in less than an hour after my arrival at the village I was heading for the jungle on the trail of the tigers. Hot as it was, we went along at a fair rate of speed and in a little more than an hour after leaving the outskirts of the village we approached a large patch of dense underbrush and tall grass, the whole well shaded by some tall trees. Knowing something of the habits of the tiger, I at once decided that this was just the place where the brutes we were after would seek refuge from the hot sun. I moved around to the left until I came to an opening among the trees at the edge of the jungle, and where I took my stand in a shaded spot. Keeping the elephant driver with me to manage that animal, I sent the two guides and the other villagers around to the other side of the jungle, with orders to beat up the brush and drive out the game to my side. THE GAME APPEARS . There was no long wait this time. In half an hour afterthe natives leftmeI heard their peculiar cries on the other side of the jun- gle as they started in to drive out the game. My elephant had evidently been tigerhunt- ing before, as he pricked up his ears as soon as he heard the shouts and kept his eyes sharply on the open space in the jungle di- rectly in front of us. His eyeSight was no better than mine, but 'his sense of smell was kecucr, and in five minutes I knew by his actions that he had scented our game. I held my rifle in readiness and kept my ~ eyes on the open spot at the edge. of the jungle. I did not have long to wait. In about three minutes I saw two long, shag- gy, striped bodies leaping up and down in the tall grass like cats at play, and I knew that the tigers were coming straight toward me. My elephant and his keeper saw them at the same time. The latter, with a bowl of terror, left his post and started to run away. But he Was too badly frightened to run, and, falling down, tried to hide his face in the ground. The elephant was frightened enough to run away, but he knew, probably from ex- perience, that if there was ’going to hen fight it would be better for him to keep his face to the foe. THE DEATH STRUGGLE. My men in the jungle were now making an awful din, and the tigers came straight ahead, leaping along at a good pace. They were a male and a female, and. the finest specimens I ever saw. Just as they cleared the end of the jun- gle I fired at the tiger in front. But the elephant, now thoroughly scared, swerved to one side a little and I missed. At the sound of the shot the two big cats stopped for a second, and then as the noise made by the natives in the jungle increased they bounded forward towards me. Then just as I was ready for a. second shot, with the animals not more than 100 feet av. ay, my elephant lost his nerve com- pletely, and turned tail to run. I was standing up to get a. better aim, and his quick turn almost threw me to the ground. As it was, I only saved myself from fall- ‘ ing by dropping my rillc and clutching the canopy over my head. \Vith a bellow of terror the elephant was now running away as fast as he could . My only weapons now were an army pistol and a long-bladed hunting knife. By the time I recovered my balance and was able to look around the tigers were upon us. With a single bound the tigress landed on the haunches of the elephant, and began to tear up the flesh with tooth and iihil. I fired a shot at her with my pistol, but close as she was my aim was bad, and the ball st ruck her 0d the shoulder, making a flesh wound that simply _ MADE llEl‘. FIGHTING MAD. The beast seemed to notice my presence than for the first time, and tried to spring at me. Her fore feet caught in the rudely constructed elephant saddle, and with her weight pulling it to one side, and the fran- tic struggles of the elephant to shake her off,the saddle was twisted over to one side. \Vitha desperate effort- I got out of it in time and somehow managed to land astride the here back of the elephant. I dropped my pistol and only the knife in my belt was left me. The tigress was now clinging to the side of the elephant, and di ing her claws into his flesh in order to heal on. All the time she was making frantic efforts to get at me, and I could feel her hot breath in my face as I lay down on the back of the elephant, and held on for dear life. Somehow, I never knew just how I managed it, I got hold of my knife, and striking out blindly at the third stroke I sent the blade to the hilt in the body of the tigress, just back of her left shoulder. I fortunately reached a vital spot, and in a few moments her hold on the elephant relaxed, and she dropped to the ground. Then for the first time since the conflict began I got a chance to look around to see what became of the tiger. My ele hant hadnll the time been turning arena in a Cerif', and ,whenl raised my head Isaw THE CZAR wnoss DEATH 15 HOURLY EXPECTED. waiting for a. chance to spring on his back or neck. When the tigress dropped from his side the elephant, who was bellowing with pain and fright, got a. chance to use his trunk. He struck the tiger several blows with it, but they were not he rd enough to do any damage. Holding my knife in my teeth, and clinging to the neck ’of' the elephant 36“ OF (RUSSIA, [SUBJECT or ILLUSTRATIOXJ THE CZAR 0F RUSSIA. Speculntlng on the Outcome of Ills 111- 1105.9. Assuming that the Czar of Russia is with both hands, I raised my head in time responsibilities of absolute sovereignty over to see the tiger crouch for a spring. ELEPHANT VERSUS TIGER. Then the elephant, considering how bad~ ly he was frightened, did a. most remark- able thing. With trunk uplifted he charged straight at the tiger. The latter hounded into the air like a. huge ball, and, just brushing the descending trunk. landed squarely on top of the elephant’s shoul- ders. His long knife-like claws sank deep into the flesh, and the blood of my poor elephant spattered all over me. Looking up I could see the eyes of the great cat glaring down at me like two balls of fire, and his hot breath was in my face. My head was almost within reach of his open jaws, and one blow of his powerful paw would send me to the ground to be trampled to death. But the elephant was by this time fight- ing for his own life, and fighting hard. \Vith a quick swing around in a half circle he brought his trunk down across the back of the tiger, and getting a powerful grip on the long yellow body he held on. The tiger was driving his claws deeper and deeper into the elephant’s flesh in a desperate struggle to free himself. I saw that my chance to lend a helping hand in the fight had come. Steadying my- self as well as I could, I took my knife in my right hand, and, leaning forward, I drove it to the hilt three times in the body of the tiger. Then I saw the blood-stained claws relax, the yellow bodyigrew limp, and dropped to the ground,where it was quick- ly trampled into a shapeless - mass by we maddened elephant. I had just enough strength left to slip down to the ground, and stagger away out of reach of the hoofs of the ele hant, and then I fell over in a faint. The battle had been too much for my nerves. .â€"â€"â€".â€"â€"â€"â€"â€"â€" THE 'GREAT BRITAIN. She Was the First Screw Steamer to Cross the, .lllnlillc. \Vith all that has been said of early ocean steamships and the historic transatlantic voyages of the paddle steamers Sirius and Great \Vesterp, away back in 1838, the fact is less Well known that the real forerunner of the mammoth screw steamers of the pre- sent day was the steamship Great Britain, commenced in 1839 and floated in 18-15- thelfirst screw steamer to cross the Atlantic. Her length all over was 322 feet, herextreme breadth a little over 50 feet, her depth 32 feet, and her displacement at a load draught of 18 feet, 3,618 tons. Her first voyage from Liverpool to New York was commenced on July ‘26, 1345, and occupied neatly 15 days, the average speed during the run being nine knots an hour. After remaining on view about a fortnight in ‘New York harbor, the homeward passage to Liverpool was successfully accomplished. Voyages back and forth were made with satisfactory re- sults until the autumn of 1846, when, on a very dirty night in'the month of September, she was stranded off the coast of Ireland. There she remained for eleven months, through a tenipestuous winter, until she was finally floated in the following autumn and taken to Liverpool for repairs. After a com- - ' ' the vessel entered upon a , plete overhau new era in her existence, being put by her owners into the Australian trade, where she retained the name being a splendid sailor and a fairly succe lsteamship. Qitering upon this trade in 1853, she remained in it for '21 years, until the requirements of modern passenger transit had outgrown her capabilities. Finally her propelling ma- chinery was removed, and only a few years ago she was seen passing up the English Channel as a full-rigged sailing ship. She is probably still in existence, having last been nown to do duty as a coal hulk in one of the Pacificislsuds. W more than a hundred million of people can- not belong deferred, one is naturally dis- posed to speculate regarding the probable consequences of his death upon the situation in Europe. Among the rules of govern- ment that are acknowledged by the Russian sovereigns as binding is the law of succes- sion, which, according to a decree of the Emperor Paul of the year 1797, is to be that ofregular descent by right of primogeuiture, with preference of male over female heirs. Itis, however, probable that the Czare witch will become regent before he becomes actual ruler, and will therefore ascend that dangerous eminence upon which his grandfather was assassinated, and Where his father has lived in daily dread of bullet and bomb, after having had at least a short experience in directing the affairs of the Empire. There seems every reason for the belief that he is hardly as well fitted to rule the Russians as was Alexander III. at the time of the catastrophe of 1881, for, while he succeeds, perhaps, at the age of about twenty-six. his father did not succeed until he was ten years older. But while he has been trained to rule, his father was edu- cated, without reference to the possibili- ties of succession, in such, a. way that he might win the only thing for which he really cared-«a great military repué tationâ€"and became at the age of twenty heir to the throne. In character, the young Czarewitch is said to resemble his father, and it is supposed that he will pursue his father’s policy of peace. But the peace-lovers of Europe seem to contem- plate with dismay the substitution of the I youthful hand for themore experienced one, i for in an autocracy like that of Russia pre~ l judices andprepossessions are likely to have far-reaching and important effects. Russia. is more Asiatic than European, is reaction- ary in its tendencies of government, and is under the bondage of race traditions, and it is therefore the more difficult to preserve concord and amity with the progressive and onlig tencd na- tions of Europe. The administration of the Empire is, however, entrusted to four great boards, or councils, pos- sessing separate functions, and although their existence depends upon the Czar’s sovereign will, they are more powerful and the Czar less a free agent than is generally supposed. It is said that the Czarewitch is strongly philo-German in his sympaâ€" thies, and since the German Emperor, at least in the matter of the recent commercial treaty, is disposed to meet Russia more than half way, it is quite probable that there would be a renewal of friendly relations between the Governments of Berlin and St. I’etersburg. It is further quite reasonable to believe that the substitution of a revived league of the three Emperors for the pre- sent triple alliance might ultimately follow, with the isolation of France and Italy as a consequence. “ Awfully Stuck Up.” o A Charming Romance. He could not explain her indifference, sometimes he thought she was trying to conceal the love she had for him, and some- times he thought she hadn’t any. “You are heartless," he said to her one evening in the twilight shadows. “Yes,” she admitted trembling, “some. Abner Dorseti, anegro living in Hickory on b“ when it, “fly from me." Mountain township, North Carolina, has a head which measures 'thirty-two inches in ch that the tiger was circling around him, Circumference. Upon this be rushed away and pur- ring. them, but they realize they cannot afford, when brought in keen competition with the sgriculturists of the United States and elsewhere, to have their profits cut down ously ill, and that his release from the seed a large and. elegant engagement FOX HUNTING T00 EXPENSIVE. English Far-users no Longer Allow Tres- passlng In Pnrsnlt “Bernard. The change that is taking place in the social condition of England is strikingly brought out by circumstances which seem to threaten the extinct-ion of fox hunting. When the time comes that the English gentleman is no longer permitted to ride after the hounds, to take the highest fences and widest ditches without fiinching, a sport which Englishmen have looked upon as peculiarly national and productive of not a little of their national character, will have passed away. This decline and fall is not due to lack of interest, says the Boston Herald, for it seems to be admitted that the Englishman of the present generation is quite as fond of for hunting as his pre- decessor of one, two or three centuries ago. But what he would term the mercenaryspirit - of the age intervenes and bids fair to make the sport altogether too costly,both directly and indirectly, to be engaged in by anyone other than a multimillionaire. In the old days the hunt used to sweep across the fields of the farmers, with hounds haying and bugles sounding, while the farmer an his men stood aside in open-eyed and open- mcuthed astonishment,clapping their hands at the fine sight and quite indifferent to broken fences, demoralized plowed fields and possibly damage done to cattle and live stock of all kinds. The dwellers of the country side were only too well pleased to have suffered something in order to afford pleasure to the great folk. But that time has gone by. The English farmers are no doubt as will- ing to permit of fox hunting as they were of old, if it is carried on without a loss to through the destruction caused by the pleasure-seeking hunters. A case was tried in Nottingham, England, a short time ago where a farmer brought action against the master of thc Quorn bounds and certain members of the hunt for trespassing and crossing his farm in pursuit of a fox, also for consequential damages. The total claim was placed at $2,500, but the award of damages was S250, a sum con- siderably less than demanded,but much too large for the master of the bounds to run the risk of having to pay to any or all farmers whose field he might cross. It 18 possible that some arrangement may be‘ made as has been made by Myopia Hunt at Hamilton,by means of which the farmers do not consider the passage over their land as trespass. But in England the hunts have neither been paper hunts nor anise seed hunts, but fox hunts, and there has been no knowinng what direction the fox will take, so that unless the right of way was obtained from scores of farmers the possibility of a suit for trespass would always stare the master of the hounds and his huntsmen in the face. â€"â€"â€"â€"â€".â€".â€"â€" POETRY 0N BANK NOTES. The Itch for Scrlbbllng Spares Not Even the Paper Used for Money. Much of the writing found on old bank notes is due to the love of scribbling pos- sessed by many persons. ridiculous rhyme unworthy of repetition but occasionally it is smart and apposite to the purpose of bank notes. A sample or two of such writings may be given. On an English pound note appeared the following : Ye ugly, dirty little scrap ! To look at. hardly worth a rap ; And yet I’ll give my hearty vote None can produce a sweeter note. Another inscription : It’s odd that any man should wish A dirty, scrabbit rag like this; Yet mony a one would cut a caper To get a wheen sic bits 0’ paper. A contribution to bank-note literature is found in Lookhart’s “ Life of Scott. ” Lady Louisa Stuart sent the great novelist a copy of some lines which were written on a guinea note then in possession of Lady Douglas. They were as follows -. Farewell! my note, and wheresoe’er ye wend Shun gaudy scenes, and be the poor man’s friend. You’ve left a poor man ; go to one as poor, And drive despair and hunger from his door. Sir \Valter expressed himself as very much pleased With these lines. Bank notes have not now so' long an existence as for- merly ; they are withdrawn from circula- tion whenever their external appearance is unsatisfactory and are consigned to the flames, the close retort being most com- monly used in their destruction. Several banks have big occasional burnings ; while others have numerous burnings for smaller amounts. \Vhen notes are present- ed for payment ins. defective condition, from whatever cause, it is the practice of some banks to pay according to the propor- tion of the note which is presented. Notes are destroyed in various ways. D . cattle, sheep and cats chew them. La ~ dresses have been known to wash their patrons’ garments containing notes, reduc- ing them in the process to a sad state of pulp. Hens have picked at them, pigs have gulped'them, mice have nibbled them. .â€"â€"â€"â€"â€".â€".â€"â€"â€"â€"-â€"â€"â€" Inductive Reasoning. Little Boyâ€"“ Its wickeder to move your arms than your legs on Sunday. " Little Girlâ€"“Guess not." Little Boyâ€"“ Yes. it is. Momma will let me take walks on Sunday, but she won’t let me go rowing in a boat.” Why the School-teacher Does It. Motherâ€"“ How is it that you get so many bad marks at school ?" Little Johnnyâ€"“ Well, the teacher has got to mark somebody, or else folks will think she an't attendin’ to her business." Modern Improvements. School, Boy (wesrilylâ€"“W'hat’s the use of learning all this stuff?" Teacherâ€"~“It is chiefly to cultivate the memory." ‘ School Boyâ€"“Don’t you think it would be more sensible to buy a phonograph?” British and Fore \Yomen have recent! been appointed to clerkships in the Ban of England, after passing preliminary examinations. At Nogent sur Seine M. Bachimont, a Radical and Socialist, has just been elected to the seat in the Chamber of Deputies oc- cupied by M. Casimir~Perier since 1876. The vote was unusually heavy,bringiug out 9,900 electors out of 11,400 on the lists. In Madrid recently, Lord Plunket. the Archbishop of Dublin,assisted by the Bish- op of Clogher and Burn, consecrated the Protestant church and immediately after consecrated Senor Cabrera, a Spanish cler- gyman, as the first Protestant Bishop of Madrid. There is a Spanish proverb that " On Tuesday one should neither travel nor man ry :" and this superstition is so ingrained in the Spanish mind that even in Madrid there are never any Weddings on Tuesday. i and the trains are almost deserted by native travellers. Wotton parish, St. Miry-W'ithin, Glou- cester, has a census popul-ition entitling it to a parish council. It turns out, however. that the bulk of the population consists of 700 lunatics in an asylum, with t-lieiriiurses and attendants, who are not entitled to the franchise, which leaves nine electors to choose a council of seven. Two adventurous aeronauts, M. Mallet and M. de Fonvie‘le, have undertaken to makes. sky trip around France, keeping their balloon as near the eirth as possible, so as to be able to descend with ease occa- sionally. They want to prove that agreeable and economical journeys can be' made by balloon as well as by rail or water. In making treaties with China each for- eign country has chosen its own name. England is Ying kwo, the flourishing country; France is Fa kwo, the law-abid- ing country; the United States Mei kwo,the beautiful country ; Germany .le kwo, the virtuous country ; Italy I kwo, the country of justice, Japan is Ji kwo, the land of the sun, but she perfers to be called Ji pen, the land of the rising sun. Mecca was visited last year by between 250,000 and 300,000 pilgrims, a much larger number than usual, as the principle day of the pilgrimage happened to fall on a Friday; 90,000 came by sea, of whom nearly 10,000 died of cholera, while of those who went by land, most of them from British India, 15,- 000 perished. The mortality was ten per cent. ,of all the pilgrims. According to the Athenaeum, among the family papers of the Earl of Dartmouth a number of letters and documents relating to America have been found. As the second Earl was Secetary of State for the Colonies from 1772 to 1775, much which is valuable may be found in them. The material has been placed in the charge of the Historical Manuscripts Commissioners, and will soon be published. A new tablet just brought out in London is finding a place on the tea tray. It is a tea-toning lozenge which is dropped into an infusion of tea, and acts as a solvent to the tannin never absent from even the most delicately-brewed of this beverage. Its component parts are gelatine and alkaline salts, and its alleged office is the neutraliz- ing of any injurious digestive effect of the cup which “cheers” indeed at the moment of drinking, but often chides bitterly after-. Much of it is 1 ward, Manchester’s new water works, which it has taken over seven years to construct, are nearly ready. The water is brought from Tliirlmei'e lake, at the foot of Helvel- lyn, through an aqueduct ninety-six miles long: It passes through one tunnel three miles long and through another of a mile and three-quarters. The River Ribble is crossed by a siphon nine anda half miles long, with a pressure of water of 400 feet. The addition to the city’s water supply is 10,000,000 gallons a day. With the possible exception of young Lionel Walter Rothschild, the eldest son of Lord Rothschild, there is not a single son of the male Barons Rothschild who is com- petent to take the place of his father in the firm. Theseus of the Paris Rothschildsiiro both physically and mentally stunted, the result of too close intermarriageâ€"a practice the object of which has b(cn to keep the money in the family and to prevent the business secrets of the five-iiciiued bank from leaking out. The total fortune of this great house is estimated as being over $2,- 000,000,000. Doctors’ Commons, at the southwest cor- ner of St. Paul’s churchyard. with its Pickwickian associations of wills and mur- riage licenses, is about to disappear com- pletely to make room for a large warehouse. The old house and archway forming the entrance to the buildings are now to be torn dowu ; they were used for offices by Sir Christopher Wren when he was design« iiig St. Paul's Cathedral. The corporation of Doctors of Law, which monopolized ecclesiastical and admiralty cases, was dis- solved in 1862 ; the buildings were then sold at auction,and have all been demolishv ed save the entrance. The corporation of Paris are, it is an- nounced, prepared to receive, until Novem- ber l, detailed designs for the suppression of the smoke nuisance, the prizes being 10,- 000, 5,000, and 2,000 francs. A similar competition has been determined upon for the purification of the River Seine. Tests are to be made by a specially appointed commission, and that result will be consid- ered most successful which gives a clear. colorless water without disagreeable taste and free from microbes of a character dan- gerous to health. The prizes vary from 1.000 to 3,000 francs. The designs or details of existing systems must be sent in before September 15. Lady Burdett Coutts, whose whole life has been spent in doing good to the poor, recently received a remonstrance from the secretary of a house Ipaipters’ societyagsinst the sinting of the rookfield stables by the stab emen. In reply, after pointing out that the stables beloa ed to her husband and that the matter d‘fd not concern her, she declares the interference to be "mous- trous and’ oppressive. it would deprive every working man and woman of the right to work out their own advancement by their own energy, and it would rob them of what the good old radical principles in whichl was brought up taught me to cherish through lifeâ€"that birthright of personal liberty under the law inherent in every Englishman." v, u "a i a E l

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