THIRTY NATIVES KILLED

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 5 January 1935, Page 12

THIRTY NATIVES KILLED

gAVAGE man-eating iions, trapped in a great stockade in the African jungle by terrorised natives, were lately accounted for by two young British administrators who defied death, ventured into the stockade alone and gradually shot the man-eaters after a long vigil. The two Britons are Mr Charles Patrick Lyons, a district officer in the Tanganyika administration and an exarray captain, and Mr Gerald Nelham Clark, assistant district officer. Mr Lyons was on safari near the Mikindani district in the Lindi Province when he learned that 30 men of the Makonde tribe had been killed by man-eating lions. He responded to appeals for his help. The natives had erected a huge stockade over a mile in circumference and ,18ft high. Imprisoned inside was a band of lions, and hundreds of terrified natives were on guard outside. Mr Lyons took a young kid as bait and went into the stockade, his sole companion being a native learned in lion lore. The couple climbed a tree and waited for an hour or so in darkness. Mr Lyons shot down two lions. A third —a big female—was wounded and she made savage attempts to leap up at the hunters. Out of the bush leapt other lions and, falling on the carcases of the two that

Man-Eating Lions Caught in Trap

had been killed, they' began to tear and eat the flesh. The wounded lioness had crawled away. When dawn came Mr Lyons and the native cautiously made their way out of the stockade. Later Mr Clark arrived and the two British men entered the stockade alone. They located the wounded lioness, and five other lions were prowling round, waiting to pull her down. After some hours a favourable opportunity came for a shot and the lioness was killed. Three days were spent in trying to trap the other beasts. Poisoned meat was distributed in the bush and cunning traps were laid. But the maneaters refused to be baited. Climbing into a tree again, Mr Lyons shot three more lions. The lions made desperate efforts to get out of their prison and the watchers saw them licking dew from the leaves of bushes to quench their thirst. They were growing lean with hunger and, consequently, more dangerous. For over a fortnight the fight went on, but at last every beast was killed. Altogether ten- lions were shot. Mr Lyons was born in Cawnpore, India, but he comes from Irish stock. Before joining the fith King’s African Bifles, Mr Clark was lieutenant in the Worcestershire Begiment. He was educated at Dulwich College.